Location: Bank of Lithuania (Gedimino pr. 6)
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The exhibition was dedicated to the establishment of banks and other credit institutions in Lithuania throughout the years as captured in iconography – projects, photographs and postcards. The exhibition showcased images of banks in Vilnius, Kaunas, Šiauliai, Panevėžys and other Lithuanian cities. The oldest photographs and postcards date back to the second half of the 19th century. Many bank projects were put on display for the first time ever.
At the end of the 19th century, most robust growth in banking activities was observed in Vilnius and Klaipėda. New bank buildings were built in historicist and modernist styles. The buildings of the Vilnius Land Bank, which were built in 1889–1891, are still home to the Bank of Lithuania. After 1918, the architecture of Kaunas – the political, economic and financial centre of the State of Lithuania at that time – particularly stood out. In the 1920s, the architectural scene was dominated by academic neoclassicism. It was reflected in the buildings of the Bank of Lithuania (1928) and the Polish Small Credit Society (1933). Rationalism and functionalism gained prominence in the 1930s (buildings of the Land Bank in Kaunas and the Savings Banks). The buildings of a branch of the Polish Postal Savings Bank in Vilnius, which were erected in 1937, and the buildings of a branch of the Polish Area Economy Bank in 1938 were designed in the styles of functionalism and constructivism.