Laisvės alėja (Liberty Avenue) – the street of movie theatres, once movie theatres Romuva, Metropolitain, Palas, Triumf, Odeon, Glorija, Pasaka, Daina, Aušra, Forum, Kapitol were operating there. Today it is the longest pedestrian street in Eastern Europe.
Romuva is the only modernist cinema theatre that is still fulfilling its purpose and which has preserved not only the authenticity but also the Streamline aesthetics typical of US movie theatres. The first building constructed especially for a movie theatre in Kaunas was the movie theatre Odeon (today – Kaunas State Puppet Theatre). On the second floor of the building on the corner of Liberty Avenue and Maironis Street, there was the movie theatre hall Palas while on the first floor – Perkauskas’ confectionery and later the famous Orbita. The most abandoned modernist movie theatre is Laisvė, former Forum. After Liberty Avenue (before the reconstruction) you will go further with sculptor Robertas Antinis Jr. who makes jokes about the intelligentsia of that time. Herbačiauskas talks to Vienožisnkis about Krakow: “It’s at least a city. Well, and Kaunas is just home for philistines”.