Like other railway station neighbourhoods around the world, Naujininkai has been labelled a dirty and unsafe neighbourhood for years. However, it must be recognised that the darkest times are behind us, and these days, only the most determined thrill-seeker would manage to get into a scrape here – it is no more likely here than anywhere else in Vilnius.
Being close to the heart of the city, Naujininkai has never been able to slip out of the capital’s cultural orbit. Incidentally, it is also one of the oldest and most historically interesting residential areas of Vilnius. The key date for understanding the history of Naujininkai is 1862, the year in which regular train traffic officially began on the first Lithuanian line, the St. Petersburg–Warsaw line, which ran right through Vilnius. Before the railway station was built, the area in question was almost uninhabited, but after it was built, factory chimneys and workers’ houses began to appear. The freshly built-up area began to be called ‘Kominy’ (Chimneys) and ‘Naujas Pasaulis’ (The New World, Nový Свѣтъ, Nowy Świat), and the transformation of the latter gave rise to the familiar name of Naujininkai. In its century and a half of existence, the district has always been known as a settlement of railway and factory workers rather than where wealthy urbanites congregate. Even the street names remind us of the professions, such as locksmiths, train conductors, steam locomotive drivers, pointsmen, and labourers) that once dominated the area – Šaltkalvių, Konduktorių, Garvežių, Iešmininkų, Darbininkų… And the route we propose to take will show you much more – you’ll be amazed.
What you’ll learn/see on the route:
- What did the Tyzenhaus family do in Naujininkai?
- Where is the wayside shrine that witnessed a historical path hidden?
- Where is the only Orthodox women’s convent in Lithuania?
