Hanza Kaunas 2011

How is Kaunas going to surprise Europe in 2011?

Kaunas has already started preparing for the international Hanseatic Days that are going to take place in 2011. It is expected that approximately 250 thousand guests will visit the international festival and our town.

These are not made-up figures. "They are based on the experience of the festivals that have taken place in Tartu town in Estonia and in Veliky Novgorod, Russia", says Darius Rumšas, the director of the public institution "Hansa Kaunas 2011". This is the institution to get the heaviest workload of in organising the event.

Rumšas expects for help of the local government and the townspeople. "This is not only the deal of the town. We are going to seek to make the international event the deal of the state", says Rumšas.

In the great hall of the local government on July 3, the participants of the enlarged meeting of the work group gathered for the organisation and coordination of the festival "Hansa Kaunas 2011" shared their impressions and experience obtained this year in Hanseatic Days in Veliky Novgorod.

"Each delegation was conducted by two or three young volunteers who helped in organising the festival. It is very important for us to make certain of this as well". Though the director of the public institution "Hansa Kaunas 2011" imparts his apprehensions that they are not sure whether they will manage to gather the proper number of people. According to him, the festival is a perfect opportunity to present Kaunas as an inviting town that allows having great time. "Plenty of the participants and the visitors proves the undoubted benefit both to business and to the town", says Rumšas.

The meeting was also attended by the representatives of both the local government and business. It is great advantage that an increasing number of people learn about the event. We receive many opinions and also new suggestions that will help preparing for the festival are made", says the vice-mayor Rimantas Mikaitis, the conductor of the work group.

Currently, a preliminary map of the events and a provisional plan is prepared. Regulative works on the exact places and implementation of particular projects are going to start in autumn.

This autumn, in a conference that is going to be held in Piarnu, Estonia, Kaunas will be to present the process of preparations for the event. The thirtieth international Hanseatic Days are planned in Piarnu in 2010. It is there that Kaunas will be given over the flag of the modern Hansa union that will flutter at home in 2011.

Kaunas is the sole city in Lithuania that can be proud of being the member of the well-known union of Hansa towns. The organisation prospered already in the middle ages and now it unites 167 towns of fifteen countries. The representatives gather together in one of the towns every year. The schedule of the event is drawn up for the period until 2036.

The information source: Kauno diena.