Laisvės alėja
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Laisvės Alėja (Eng. translation:Liberty Boulevard or Liberty Avenue) is a prominent pedestrian street in the city of Kaunas, Lithuania. It stretches between the St. Michael the Archangel's Byzantine style church to the Central Post Office and Kaunas Zoological Museum around the Kaunas Old Town, the oldest section of Kaunas. For a long time it was main comercial district of Kaunas.
Laisvės Alėja is one of the longest pedestrian streets in Europe. Motor vehicles cannot travel lengthwise up or down Laisvės Alėja, but can cross this pedestrian street at intersections with other streets where vehicle traffic is allowed. This boulevard is separated into two walkways by a median strip lined with linden trees.
Construction around Laisvės Alėja originally took place during the latter half of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, however some construction continued even afterwards. Because of at the time built Kaunas Fortress all the buildings were limited to 2-3 floor size, with few exceptions like in 1895 in a place of fountain built St. Michael the Archangel's church.
In 1982, Laisvės Alėja was reconstructed according to plans of architects V. Palauskas and V. Paleckienė, and completely transformed into pedestrian area (as it was planned as early as in 1953).
