Klaipeda National Cultural Center was officially opened on March 5, 2012.

The decision to found a new state-financed organization was made in 2003. For this purpose, the building of the former wine house “Metų laikai” was allocated. The building is situated in the favorite resting-place of Klaipeda citizens– the Mazvydo Sculpture Park – which is in the very center of the city. The reconstruction began in 2008 and cost more than 900.000 litas.

The ceremony of cutting the red ribbon was attended by the mayor of Klaipeda Vytautas Grubliauskas, the members of the town council, and the representatives of Klaipeda’s municipality. The representatives of Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian and Polish embassies were also invited to the ceremony. The guests got acquainted with the plans and projects of the Center as well as explored the new building. Special attention was dedicated to the exhibition of the photographs, which depicted the most memorable and interesting moments of Klaipeda national communities’ lives.

According to Klaipeda’s mayor Vytautas Grubliauskas, Klaipeda was always famous for its tolerant attitude towards national minorities, as the representatives of different cultures were always able to get along and cooperate with each other successfully.

The director of the National Cultural Center Jelena Butkevičienė has noted that such cultural centers already operate in Vilnius and Kaunas, and are supported by the Ministry of Culture. However, Klaipeda National Cultural Center is a self-financed organization.

According to Jelena Butkevičienė, the main task of the center is the unification of the local national communities and the preservation of their culture and traditions. The new center intends to cooperate with the representatives of all active national communities of Klaipeda such as Belarusian, Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, German, Jewish, Latvian, Armenian, Azerbaijani, and Tatar Diasporas.