Naujamiestis… What does the name mean? First of all, that it was an exceptionally modern area in its time, so Naujamiestis really is New Town. If we compare the adjacent Old Town and New Town, there is a clear difference: in the old heart of the city, the streets are intricate, short and curved, whereas in Naujamiestis, they look as if they have been painstakingly drawn with a ruler and a set square.
Two old roads cutting through the district, leading towards Kaunas and Trakai, stand out a bit – the current Savanorių pr. and Naugarduko g. This strict urban structure of Naujamiestis is related to the developmental trends of Vilnius in the 19th century. It was in this century that the first attempts at city plans were initially drawn up. The first designs didn’t see the light of day and remained on paper, but the city development plan drawn up in 1875 was actually implemented, and almost all of the streets of the district today were already sketched out in it. Gradually, the visions became reality, with new housing and factories springing up, giving the district an industrial look and even smell until the early 20th century. This route offers an insight into the most interesting 19th and 20th-century historical sites to the west of the old town core.
What you’ll learn/see on the route:
- Where did the first grey block of flats in Vilnius appear?
- Which factory did Soviet cosmonauts visit to test equipment?
- What does the small brick ‘tower’ at Savanorių pr. 1 commemorate?
