Kurnėnai School among the nominees of "Heritage DNA"
After the State Commission for Cultural Heritage announced the nominees, joyful news came to Alytus district. The Kurnėnai Laurynas Radziukynas School has been selected among the best objects for the awards.
Candidates for the three categories - the most distinguished people in the field of cultural heritage, the best-managed sites and the most successful initiatives - were nominated by Lithuanian municipalities and citizens.
In total, "Heritage DNA" received 102 applications. After an intensive debate, the evaluators selected 3 nominees in each category. In one of the categories, the Kurnėnai School, initiated by Laurynas Radziukynas, who received the title of Honorary Citizen of the Alytus District (posthumously) this year, is among the top three.
The house of J. and A. Iljinas in Kaunas and the Museum of Wooden City Architecture in Vilnius have also been selected for the Object Awards.
The winners will be announced and acknowledgements will be given at the "Heritage DNA" awards ceremony in September, which will take place at the palace of the President of the Republic of Lithuania, the patron of the project.
The idea for the school was born across the Atlantic
Laurynas Radziukynas was born on 22 April 1881. He was born in Kurnėņi, Lithuania. There was no school in his native village, so the gifted child, born into a peasant family, walked nearly 10 kilometres every morning to school in Miroslav. And the same distance back in clumps. It was a tiring and painful journey, which left an imprint in the memory of L. Radziukynas.
Later, after studying chemistry and engineering at the Warsaw Technical University, he emigrated to the USA in 1921 in search of new opportunities. Laurynas Radziukynas knew that the young, independent Lithuanian state was in great need of people with a bright mind and high intelligence. Therefore, he decided to build a school in his native land, which would help to educate honest, intelligent citizens of his country.
In the summer of 1934, to the delight of many of the surrounding inhabitants, the construction of a new modern school was started in the village of Kurnėnai. Building materials and equipment were transported from Chicago to New York, from New York to Klaipėda, from Klaipėda to Alytus by train, and from there by horses to Kurnėnai. From across the Atlantic came windows, doors, white oak parquet, school desks, school boards made of slate all over the classroom walls, radiators, sanitary equipment, a wind turbine. Radziukynas donated an incredibly large sum of 160 thousand litas for materials and construction.
After the renovation, the Kurnėnai School opened its doors not only for education, but also for concerts, plays and cinema evenings.
Information from the Government Commission for Cultural Heritage and Alytus District Municipality
