Neįgyvendintas Klaipėdos II katalikų bažnyčios projektas Smeltėje tarpukario laikotarpiu ; Unrealized project of Klaipėda’s second Catholic Church in Smeltė during the interwar period

In 1923 when Klaipėda region has been affiliated to Lithuania, the city of Klaipėda grew up in its dimension and catholic population. Until then there was only one Catholic church in Klaipėda, what generated the necessity to build another church. During the interwar period there were very few contests concerning church projects in Lithuania. Up to this day historiography had most widely presented the contest of the projects for Memorial Kaunas’ Resurrection Church. In 1938 there have been only several hints about the contest of the project for Klaipėda’s Second Catholic Church as such, also mentioning the fact that a fund for the construction of a church has been raised. Still in 1939 an appeal to the Department of Culture was presented asking for a support to build the church, but Klaipėda’s annexation and the beginning of the Second World War postponed those plans. The sanctuary has been built only during the soviet period (1957–1960) after a new project (arch. J. Baltrėnas) and got the title of St. Mary the Queen of Peace. This article provides an attempt to reconstruct in more detailed manner the historical development of the contest of the project for Klaipėda’s Second Catholic Church and to evaluate the artistic value of this contest in the context of Lithuanian architecture. The research has been accomplished on the basis of extant documentation of Telšiai Diocese and Klaipėda Prelature found in the Lithuanian State Historical Archives and periodic publications of the interwar period as well. The article reviews the activity of the Committee of Klaipėda’s Second Catholic Church Construction trying to reveal the circumstances of its foundation and the difficulties it had encountered; as well as the historical development of the contest of the project. [.]