8. Klaipėda Faculty of the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre / former Queen Augusta Victoria Lycée for Girls

About

In 1911, on the site of an old cemetery, the Queen Augusta Victoria Lycée for Girls was built – a rare example of the Jugend style (also known as Art Nouveau or Secession) in Lithuania. The technological innovations adopted by the lycée made it one of the most modern schools in Prussia. However, this was only the beginning of the story: the students were succeeded by future teachers; in 1956, the building became a boarding school; and in the 1970s, it began to serve as a training centre for art students. 

The various educational institutions that occupied the building throughout the 20th century have all left their mark, gradually expanding the structure and giving it a very complex architectural character. There have been attempts both to blend with the existing context and to introduce a foreign object, sometimes grotesquely altering the original historic fabric. Today, elements of the Jugendstil, Stalinist and late Soviet modernist styles – some barely altered – can be found throughout the building.