Kaunas. The creation of a capital

European Network Remembrance and Solidarity

Kaunas was a relatively minor and neglected city which happened to became a capital of the new Lithuanian state after the Great War. By 1920, with Vilnius under Polish military control, it assumed this unique, temporary status. Geopolitical tensions and territorial conflicts, however, fostered growth and urban development of the city, where carriages and horse carts crossing the central Mud and Goose Streets were considered the most developed means of public transport.