Chasing the wind

In a place whose name is associated with souls and spirits, next to the famous Pamėnkalnis Hill, you will find the first weathervane of the route, after turning into Pakalnės street. A hundred years ago, and even just a few dozen years ago, the yeasty smell that wafted from the brewery was particularly enjoyed by moustachioed men – the drink brewed here reached shops in Kiev and Odessa, Moscow and St Petersburg, as well as Łódź and Warsaw. For almost half a century, wooden barrels were lined up in the cellars of this complex of buildings, and a weathervane with the date 1860, the year the now-defunct factory was established, is still spinning on the stacks.

In a row of terraced ‘English’ townhouses – one of the five Józef Montwiłł’s quarters (known as the Colonies) – you will see a weathervane on a tower. It looks like a knight, but why does it have wings? From the end of the 16th century onwards, in order to frighten their enemies (these wings had an ominous silhouette and made a whistling sound when hundreds of soldiers were riding on a windy day) and to defend themselves against the hail of arrows or the swords of their opponents, the hussars of the Lithuanian Grand Duchy and the Kingdom of Poland began to ‘adorn’ themselves with these wings, and thus came to be known as the ‘winged hussars’. Here, on the weathervane, the soldier is not on horseback but dismounted from his horse, solemnly posing for you with his sword and shield.

Go to Kaštonų Street. This short street has 38 linden trees and 4 maple trees, but despite its name, there are no chestnut trees here. At the beginning of the street, if you stand with your back to the city’s largest square, Lukiškės Square (4 hectares), you will see a weathervane with the date of its construction on the turret of a historicist-style house.

Go to the street named after Jogaila (Jagiełło), one of the rulers of Lithuania who became King of Poland in the 1380s. This ruler gave his name to a dynasty that ruled Poland for several centuries (as well as to a university, a football club, an association, an innovation centre, restaurants, several city blocks, squares, streets, the name of a beer, etc.). It is one of the most metropolitan streets in Vilnius, with tall and imposing buildings, mostly in the historicist and modernist style, reminiscent of Riga. When you notice the two buildings with corner turrets that belonged to Count Ignotas Parčevskis, you will see a weathervane of fantastic beauty on one of them. The flag bears the date the building was constructed with the cardinal points depicted below in German S (Süd), N (Norden), O (Osten), W (Westen).

Turn into a street named after a country almost twice the size of Lithuania but with almost half the population of Vilnius. This brave country was the first to recognise Lithuania’s restored independence in 1991. As you approach the crossroads, you will see a weathervane above the turret of one of Vilnius’ most ornate historicist-style buildings; the stylised date of 1950 refers to when the turret was simplified, lowered, and reconstructed, yet embellished with this decorative weathervane.

Turn into Liejyklos Street and turn right into Šv. Ignoto Street. After spotting one of the city’s most interesting signboards (by the artist Arvydas Gurevičius) above the entrance of what was once the Vilnius restaurant ‘Bočiai’, which used to be located here, cross the street and observe the attics. Above one of the buildings, you will see a trumpeting boy flying on an arrow above the rooftops of Vilnius, with the date of the building’s reconstruction – 1983.

Until the Second World War, the building was famous for the Boleslaw Sztral café on the ground floor, known by the townspeople as the ‘Czerwony Sztral’ (The Red Sztral). The second floor was the home of the photography studio of the Lithuanian photographer Aleksandras Jurašaitis (later taken over by his wife and daughters), which required a large window for lighting. A turret was built above the roof of the building. In the post-war period, the window was reduced in size and the turret removed. In 2019, a reconstruction restored the former large window and the turret, which is decorated with the Lithuanian letters indicating the compass points: Š (Šiaurė – North), P (Pietūs – South), R (Rytai – East), V (Vakarai – West). There is a weathervane above them with three decorative arrows connected together.

At the Cathedral end of the capital’s most important avenue, look out for a very long building that children love because of its facade decorated with teddy bears eating chocolate (before the First World War, this was the location of the chocolate shop of the Vilnius ‘Viktorija’ factory). A few years ago, the bay window with a turret in the corner of the building was decorated with a ‘Vytis’ (the Lithuanian heraldic mounted armoured knight) and a golden weathervane.

Don’t go far, because if you look closely, you’ll see another weathervane erected in 2018. The luxurious gilded copper weathervane depicts Saint Michael the Archangel stabbing a dragon with his spear. It was also designed by the artist Arvydas Každailis. It is known that the 17th-century Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania had a weathervane depicting St. Michael, which was described as the guardian of the city by the Swedish-born poet Laurentius Boyer, who wrote in Latin.

This weathervane, raised on the spire above the building, which has been restored over the past dozen years and is of great importance to Vilnius and Lithuania, can best be seen from the square by the Gediminas Monument or the hill named after the ruler himself. You will recognise the coat of arms of Lithuania in the gilded weathervane above the Grand Duke of Lithuania’s cap, or mitre (also known as the ducal crown). The weathervane, designed by artist Arvydas Každailis, also commemorates the date 2009, the year of the first millennium of the first mention of Lithuania’s name. This weathervane was also raised in February of that year.

Visit the Great Courtyard of Vilnius University to see the crosses of St. Johns’ Church – these works of art are among the most beautiful crosses in Lithuania. Look for the tower, which was restored in 1992. The four astronomical spheres that decorate it remind you that the adjacent building was home to one of the oldest professional astronomical observatories in Europe (since 1753). The monogram of the founders of the University, the Jesuit Order, can be seen. The Latin abbreviation of ‘IHS’ can be translated in two ways: Iesus Hominum Salvator – ‘Jesus, Redeemer of the World’, or Iesum Habemus Socium – ‘We have Jesus as a companion’. The half-moon and two stars are from the coat of arms of Bishop Walerian Protasewicz, who was instrumental in founding Vilnius Academy and the University.

Follow the mysterious ‘tunnel’, where students’ voices have echoed for centuries, to the adjacent Observatory courtyard, and when you can tear your eyes away from the magnificent Observatory building (by the architect Marcin Knackfus), take a peek at the tiled roof of the adjacent building. There you will see a weathervane resembling the jaws of a fantastical animal with the date 1692 (when the building was rebuilt after a fire) and a dedication to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Pilies Street is one of the most important streets in the Old Town, connecting the castle  (whence it gets its name) and the town hall. A century ago, the famous Kazimierz Sztral Café, known as ‘Bialy Sztral’ (White Sztral) by the local townsfolk, was located on the ground floor of one of the buildings. It was a particular favourite among women for its delicious pastries and fragrant coffee. Incidentally, the sweet shop could be reached by dialling just three numbers – 686. However, it was not the pastries that contributed most to the fame of the building, but the signing of a very important document on 16 February 1918 by twenty prominent Lithuanian men who had gathered there. In their honour, this building is now known as the ‘House of Signatories’ and the document was, of course, the Act of Independence. The weathervane marks the slightly older date of 1895, when the building was reconstructed.

Walk along the street until perhaps the most beautiful modernist-style building in Vilnius that looks like a toy fairy-tale castle comes into full view. If you move a little further away from the turreted facade and look at the roof, you will see the diminutive decorative weathervane in the shape of a flag, which has adorned the house since its reconstruction in 1907.

If you go back a little and look again at the narrow intersection above the rooftops, you will see another – the most colourful – Vilnius weathervane, which was returned to its original setting in 2013 (sculptor Kęstutis Musteikis). It is a replica of the original weathervane that was found in the attic dozens of years ago, which has now deteriorated having watched over the building hundreds of years ago. If you look closely, you will see a half-human, half-dragon depiction of Satan, chained under the feet of Saint Michael the Archangel.

Follow the street whose name also means ‘writers’ (Latin for ‘learned’ or ‘literate’). Around the corner, you will see the former fence of a monastery. The entrance to the churchyard of one of the several Renaissance churches in Vilnius is guarded by a gilded weathervane in the belfry tower depicting St. Michael trampling the devil and binding him with a chain.

Enter the gate into the churchyard of the Bernardine Church and glance to the left and you will see some small flags adorning the pinnacles of the spires of St. Anne’s Church. This is another decoration of this church, which, according to legend, the French Emperor Napoleon himself wanted to take to Paris. The seamstress Jadvyga (Dunia) Gusikovska, who was the great love of the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko, used to attend the services of worship at this church. This flamboyant Gothic masterpiece can even be called the home of weathervanes (try counting all the little flags on the spires). On a windy day, you will not only be able to see the small flags flying, but also, if you listen carefully, you may hear the metallic screech of the weathervanes.

Let’s head towards the building where, according to legend, the Vilnius Basilisk lives – this terrifying snake-like creature can purportedly turn anyone who sets eyes on it into stone. In the 17th century, the building was part of the defensive wall of the city. In later times, after losing its strategic importance, the bastion was abandoned and turned into a dumping ground for the city, its cellars buried under several metres of rubbish. Perhaps the decaying organic matter and the gases in the rubbish were visible on foggy evenings in the form of fireflies, giving rise to the legend of the Basilisk that was curled up here? In the second half of the 20th century, the layer of rubbish was removed and the building, together with the defensive tower, was restored in 1984, as indicated by the date on the weathervane.

Once you reach the crossroads, turn towards the only surviving Renaissance gate in the city wall, Aušros Gate or the Gates of Dawn (Medininkų), whose greatest treasure is a preserved painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary carrying her child. As you walk up the street between the façade and towers of the Church of St. Theresa, you will see a gilded 18th-century weathervane depicting a trumpeting angel.