HISTORICAL CITIES IN RESPECT TO HERITAGE PRESERVATION

Rasa ČEPAITIENĖ

The article analyses the problems of the preservation and use of historical cities in the context of Western and Lithuanian heritage preservation. It reviews the historical evolution of this topic, especially accenting the changing significance of the historical conceptions of cities. It reveals how the different urbanistic and heritage preservation conceptions of these complex objects determined the one-sided attitudes, not all of which, unfortunately, were favourable to maintaining the authenticity of the hearts of historical cities. Thus it analyses the significance of various socio-political attitudes such as nationalism, regionalism, globalisation, and mass tourism on the present-day condition of historical cities.

In switching to a review of the preservation of Lithuania's old cities, special attention is paid to Vilnius, as our largest and most culturally endowed city, the heritage preservation of which the most distinctly reflects the different ways of acting that are dictated by various socio-political circumstances.