The shape of the sports hall, developed and revised over a decade, was a typical example of the soaring concrete architecture and open glass expanses that had become extremely popular in the Soviet Union at the time. The project’s architects were particularly impressed with the fluid concrete forms made popular by the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, specifically Pier Luigi Nervi’s Palazetto dello Sport, completed in 1957. During the design process the team was given as guidance the design of the Minsk Sports Arena by Sergey Filimonov and Valentin Malyshev of Belgosproekt, which has been implemented also in Chelyabinsk, Volgograd and other places. Excerpt from Marija Drėmaitė’s article in: SOS Brutalism: A Global Survey. Catalog DAM + Wüstenrot Foundation, Zurich (Park Books) 2017

In 2004, the Sports Palace was closed, has been vacant ever since and began to fall into disrepair. In July 2006, it was added to the Vilnius list of Cultural Heritage buildings. This protects the building from demolition and changes that would diminish its architectural design. In 2009, the building was banned from entry due to the risk of collapse. Light maintenance work was carried out on the palace in 2016. However, repeated changes of ownership did not lead to it being reopened. In 2019, a €3.42 million renovation plan was announced for the venue. The renovation planned to expand the building from 15,600 to 18,000 square meters, allowing the extended complex to be used for conferences and exhibitions as well. However, as the building site for the planned expansion is on the grounds of the Piramónt cemetery, the oldest Jewish cemetery in Vilnius, the plans met with resistance from the Jewish community. Ultimately, several complaints from relatives of those buried in the cemetery brought the renovation and reactivation plans for the Sports Palace to a halt. To this day, the future of the building remains uncertain.

Classified as red-blue (endangered and listed), this building was included in the red list, published in our exhibition catalog SOS Brutalism: A Global Survey (September 2017). After a status review on December 4, 2024, it is still classified as red-blue in the online database.