Klaipėda City Municipality
Klaipėda
neo-Gothic post-office complex with a carillon
Liepų g. 16, Klaipėda
55.71020, 21.13430
20-40 minutes for the exterior; longer if you catch a carillon concert
the warm season, when carillon concerts take place; daylight for the facade
Klaipėda Post Office Palace, Klaipėda postal-station building complex
Why Klaipėda Central Post Office is special
Klaipėda Central Post Office is one of the most prominent examples of neo-Gothic architecture in Lithuania and one of the most recognizable buildings on Liepų Street. The red clinker-brick palace, with pointed arches, stepped gables, trefoil and quatrefoil decorative motifs, and green-glazed ceramic details, stands out from its surroundings and reminds visitors that Klaipėda belongs to the Lithuania Minor and German urban-cultural layer.
The second reason the post office is famous is the carillon installed in its tower. It is currently the only operating carillon in Lithuania, making the building important not only as architecture but also as music and city identity.
The 1893 post-office palace and its architecture
The present post-office palace rose in 1893, after construction from 1883 to 1893, to a design by architect H. Schoede, who later also designed the Klaipėda barracks. The Encyclopedia of Lithuania Minor states that the building was first a governors' building and later the post office, and that among old Liepų Street buildings the central post office retained its original function for the longest time.
The Cultural Heritage Register protects the entire Klaipėda postal-station building complex: the central two-storey palace with a mansard and two single-storey side buildings that once housed warehouses, a stable, and a coach house. In 2022 the complex was entered on the list of state-protected cultural heritage objects.
Lithuania's only carillon
The 42 m post-office tower holds a carillon, a bell instrument played from a keyboard. The first carillon was installed in 1987, cast by the Schilling foundry in Apolda, Germany. In 2006 it was replaced with a new 48-bell, 4-octave instrument by Royal Eijsbouts in the Netherlands; 122 steps lead to the carillonneur's cabin.
The carillon is maintained by Klaipėda Concert Hall and played by the city's carillonneurs, including Kęstutis Kačinskas and Stanislovas Žilevičius. About 50 concerts are held each year. In the warm season, carillon concerts by the post office have become one of Klaipėda's cultural traditions.
The post office in the history of Liepų Street
Liepų Street is one of Klaipėda's representative streets, named after the linden trees that grow there. Over time it changed names several times: after Tsar Alexander I visited in 1807 it was called Alexander Street, in the interwar period Antanas Smetona Avenue, during the Soviet period Gorky Street, and in 1989 the historical Liepų name was restored.
Representative buildings clustered on the street: besides the post office, there were governors' buildings, clinics, and a consulate. Today the Klaipėda Picture Gallery, or Pranas Domšaitis Gallery, the Clock Museum, and the Sculpture Park on the former city cemetery site are nearby, making the post office a natural point on one of the city's most attractive walking streets.
How to visit Klaipėda Central Post Office
In 2019 postal operations moved out of the historic palace, so the building is now visited primarily as an object of architecture and city history. Twenty to forty minutes is enough to study the facade and tower.
It is worth giving more time when carillon concerts are taking place, because Liepų Street then becomes an open concert space. Before travelling, check the current concert schedule in official Klaipėda city sources, as it depends on the season.
What to notice on site
Look closely at the red-brick texture, green-glazed ceramic bands, pointed-arch windows, and stepped gables: these are typical neo-Gothic elements. It is worth walking around the whole complex to see how the central palace relates to the side buildings.
Also look up at the tower containing the carillon and along the linden trees of Liepų Street. The building is best understood as part of the whole representative street, not as an isolated monument.
