page_title: Biržai
section_title: Architecture
hierarchical_section_title: Biržai / Architecture
caption_attribution_description: English: Kirkilai Tower near Birzai
context_page_description: Biržai is a town in northern Lithuania. Biržai is famous for its reconstructed Biržai Castle manor, and the whole region is renowned for its many traditional-recipe beer breweries.
context_section_description: After the unrest and conflicts have settled down, from the 19th-century wooden residential houses prevailed and with an ongoing industrial revolution at the time, asbestos or metal-sheet roofing was common. With the majority of buildings being wooden, masonry buildings eventually emerged to battle cold winters and hot summers. In the early 20th century, central roads were cobblestone. During the World Wars, the old town was destroyed and the majority of wooden buildings in the main street burned down.
  During the Soviet rule, the town's population grew twice its previous size. To accommodate the growth, around 60 new apartment buildings were constructed and main streets asphalted. There was also an increase in new houses being built from bricks instead of wood, and the majority of them were left not plastered.
  With the help of European Union's Development Assistance grants, the town was able to regain a unique style - since 2014 numerous apartment building renovations were carried out with more planned, the road infrastructure is being improved and some new constructions built to attract visitors and to restore the historic appearance.
caption: 32 meters tall canoe-shaped Kirkilai Tower with a viewpoint to Kirkilai Lakes opened in 2015. The architects of the observation tower are Giedrius Akelis, Lina Šantaraitė
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