Expedition on the ‘Eastern Express’ 6G bus

Hello! Today, we are looking forward to an eventful and dynamic journey by public transport. In the next half an hour, we will briefly discuss the historical highlights from the city centre to the outlying Naujoji Vilnia. We’ll be going fast, so please pay attention. So keep your eyes peeled as you listen along, and we hope you will be left with a lasting impression. Let’s get started!

Should the place where we are now be called Šnipiškės? Some people would say ‘yes’, while others would perhaps disagree. Although the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the name of the district is the neighbourhood of wooden houses, which is understandable, as it is probably the most charming part of the district – the cradle of Šnipiškės was at Žaliasis Tiltas – Green Bridge. In the past, as soon as the river was crossed, the beginning of this suburb was marked by the fork in the road where two important roads branched off. The one we are on now led to Vilnius Calvary, also known as the Way of the Cross. This was a hugely popular pilgrimage site, sometimes attracting tens of thousands of pilgrims from far and wide. It remains famous to this day. The other route was the old road to Ukmergė and Riga; the road was where the current pedestrian alley is now between the bridge and the CUP – Vilnius Central Department Store. This was the oldest part of Šnipiškės and the site of Povilas Šnipka’s mansion, which gave the suburb its name.

When we turn right into Šeimyniškių Street, we should recall the enigmatic name of Piromontas. Today, it is rarely used these days, and even some locals have never heard of it. The old toponym has origins that are not entirely clear and still under discussion. It is possible that the castle of Piro, the Voivode (local ruler) of Vitebsk (now in Belarus), once stood on this hill – yes, we are actually on a hill – during the times of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Later, its crumbling ruins were a source of wonder. The spectacular sight led Vilnius residents to call this place Piro-mont.

Before the Second World War, Piromont or Piromontska Street was also nearby – this is the present-day street named after Antanas Juozapavičius, which runs parallel to us one block south. The ornate buildings on the left, between Slucko, Šeimyniškių and Rinktinės Streets, are still known as the Piromonto Colony. This is one of the five neighbourhoods initiated by the banker Józef Montwiłł (Juozapas Montvila) at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. If you haven’t heard of Montvila’s colonies, you will probably have seen the most famous one near Lukiškių Square.

And did you know that Vilnius still has a Piromonto Street? It is located much further away from us in Žirmūnai, near Tuskulėnų Street.

Žirmūnai became the first large residential area on the right bank of the Neris during the Soviet era. With the construction of apartment blocks for 45,000 settlers, the issue of access to the city centre became more and more sensitive – after all, everything had always been across the river! It was obvious that the Green Bridge alone would not be enough, so the city’s developers started to design a new bridge – the one we will soon be crossing. It connected the two banks of the river Neris in 1965, reflecting a new phase in the development of Vilnius. The expressive silhouette of its overhangs and supporting abutments sometimes led to its being called the “dancing deer” within the architectural community. You would indeed have to go down to the waterfront under the bridge to see these shapes, but let that be your homework – or you can just look at the illustration on your phone! It is interesting that almost as soon as it had been built, this bridge became known as Antakalnis Bridge rather than Žirmūnai Bridge. This was because the name of the district of Antakalnis is very old, so it didn’t take much getting used to. However, when things settled, ‘Žirmūnai Bridge’ eventually stuck – its current name. During the construction of the bridge and the roundabout, several buildings had to be demolished in Antakalnis. While some of them were completely demolished, one of them remains as a severed wing – note the yellowish building of the British Embassy at number 2 Antakalnio Street by the roundabout. You will soon notice that it is not symmetrical, although it was once – the left part of the building was lopped off due to the bridge.

By the way, before the bridges were built, people used to take ferries between the two districts, even after the skyline of Žirmūnai was dominated by the grey apartment blocks that had replaced rural houses.

The part of Olandų Street where we are now is an old road that once connected Antakalnis with Užupis. And now it is the shortest route to get to the latter area.

But the current name of the street – Olandų or Holland Street – is rather curious. It has little to do with Dutch people, as it is unlikely that they lived here – at least not in significant numbers. It just so happened that those who changed the street names got it a bit wrong – they rechristened the area that was called Holendernia was renamed Holenderska in Polish, Hollendische in German, and Olandų Street in Lithuanian. But in fact, in the past, the original holendernia actually referred to a type of… cowshed. So, it was not Dutch merchants that were in abundance in this neck of the woods but cattle that fed the inhabitants of Vilnius. A misunderstanding, but fun nonetheless!

In the past, Olandų Street had another branch that corresponds to the current road by the funeral home on the left. Now, it is called Kirkut Avenue. This unusual name is a reminder that there was a Jewish cemetery in Užupis. It was opened in 1831, after the closure of the cemetery in Šnipiškės, near the current Sports Palace, and was used for burials until 1959. Unfortunately, the cemetery was destroyed a few years later, and today, there is only a memorial monument that reminds us of its history. The remains of some of the most distinguished personalities, including the famous doctor Zemach Shabad, were moved from here to the existing Sudervė Jewish Cemetery in Viršuliškės. 

The city of Polotsk, located in present-day Belarus, was once one of the most important cities in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The road from Vilnius to Polotsk was sometimes even called the ‘Salt Road’ as it was used to transport various luxury goods. Along the eastern route, a number of houses, taverns, and manor houses were built and formed Užupis, the oldest historical suburb of Vilnius. Polocko Street in Užupis and the bus stop with the same name remind us of the old highway. Imagine the lords, princes, and merchants who once travelled this route.

By the way, all the suburbs of Vilnius were formed along the historical roads – first, people trod these roots, then the surroundings were ‘covered’ with buildings, and finally, the accumulation of these buildings formed a large settlement outside the city.

Today, the end of Polocko Street is adorned with perhaps the finest wooden house in the capital, the Museum of Wooden City Architecture, which has been highly praised at the European level. Be sure to visit it.

We are now driving along a wide arterial road that is today known as the main route into New Vilnius. However, in the past, it was the same route to Polotsk mentioned earlier, or rather – a continuation of it. And what does the name Stephen Báthory (also known as Steponas Batoras in Lithuanian and István Báthory in Hungarian) have to do with it? After the representatives of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (the Republic of the Two Nations) elected him ruler of the state, the Hungarian embarked on a vigorous foreign policy. However, most of the work was done in the East, as Báthory launched military campaigns to reclaim lands that had been seized from the Lithuanians by the increasingly aggressive and powerful Muscovites. The Lithuanian and Polish armies led by Báthory were successful, and in 1579, after a fierce siege, our compatriots succeeded in recapturing Polotsk, which had been in Russian hands for several years.

Interestingly, a year later, in 1580, a Jesuit college of Catholic monks was founded in Polotsk, just as it had been in Vilnius before. This college became an important educational centre. By the way, although the Jesuits are no longer in Polotsk, a university still exists in the former buildings of the college, just like in Vilnius.

These traces of this great history can be traced in the present-day Stepono Batoro Street as far as the ‘Baltic Petroleum’ petrol station, which you will see on your right. Beyond that, the old Polotsk Road can be found further to the left, corresponding to the current Kojelavičiaus Street, which diverges to the right. Well, we prefer to continue along the motorway-like part of Batoro Street, which was built at the end of the Soviet era. The driver has put their foot down, so some objects will only briefly flash through the window as we zip past.

As we admire the expressive landscape, we can recall the Pučkoriai area. Now a charming landscape, this part of town once made Lithuania famous for its European-class cannon foundry – the Swedes, Russians, and French were all aware of Lithuanian cannons. The cannon foundry gave the place its name – cannons were cast here, known in other words as ‘puškas’. So the area was referred to as puškarnia, which then subtly transformed into Pūčkoriai.

There is yet more interesting war history coming to us from much later times – the interwar period. There are four combat bunkers in Pūčkoriai along Stepono Batoro and Kojelavičiaus Streets. The naked eye will not notice them through the bus window, but they are in fact very close by. They were built by the Poles who lived in Vilnius between the wars. The eastern approaches to the city were chosen for good reason – to prepare for defence against a possible attack by the USSR from the East. It is easy to find the bunker in Pūčkoriai, but other underground reinforced concrete forts have to be searched for more carefully in the forest.

Before we get to Naujoji Vilnia, we would encourage you to look to the right from time to time for an exceptionally high hill – Rokantiškės Castle. According to legends, the castle that guarded the approaches to Vilnius was still there in the 12th and 13th centuries and belonged to the Alšėnai family. It is difficult to say whether this is true, as archaeologists have not found any fragments of such an old castle. However, some spoils were uncovered; in fact, bountiful treasures, including 16–17th-century Gothic masonry, cobbles, and tiles were found on the hill. A recent image of a hypothetical reconstruction of the castle has also been created – take a look at the screen – if this is what it really was like, it must have looked stunning on the high hill! So far, when we climb up to the site of Rokantiškės Castle, we can only see the lines of the building marked with coloured paving stones, as the remains of the castle are preserved underground, but who knows, maybe one day it will be rebuilt and will grace the hills of the capital again? 

Welcome to another world! Administratively, we are still in Vilnius. However, after crossing a wide, green stretch of forests and hills, we find ourselves in a town of its own – Naujoji Vilnia. Let’s get to know the history of this extraordinary district of New Vilnius.

In ancient times, in the times of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, this area was called by the same name as the castle we have just discussed – Rokantiškės. Huge changes began with the advent of the railway, or rather in 1873, when the present-day Naujoji Vilnia became not just a stop but a serious railway junction. Two strategic railway lines of the whole of the Russian Empire, the St. Petersburg–Warsaw and the Liepaja–Romny lines, connected and intersected in the area. The outpost settlement, which had acquired a special significance since the railway came to town, no longer existed under the ancient mantle of Rokantiškės and was given a new name in its own right – Novaja Vileika, Naujoji Vileika, or Naujoji Vilnia. Vileika, because it is near the Vilnia River, but why Nova? It turns out that the name ‘Vileika’ had already been taken; it was the name of a town in what is now Belarus, so we had to add the word ‘Naujoji’ to distinguish our new settlement.

Conveniently accessible by road and rail, and offering affordable land with a cheaper labour force, the town was soon popular among local capitalists, as well as foreign ones – soon, textile, paper, leather, and even world-famous scythe factories began to spring up here. The water tower of the red-brick scythe factory can still be seen in the skyline of the district today. The industrial image of the district has, therefore, been around for nearly a century and a half – and that’s not counting the mills built on the banks of the Vilnia River in the times of the Grand Duchy. As the population approached 10,000, the settlement earned its autonomy to self-govern, and in 1903, Novovileisk officially became an independent town. 

Naujoji Vilnia underwent significant changes during the Soviet era. In 1957, it was incorporated into Vilnius and became an integral part of the capital. Several very large factories – machine tools, construction compressors, and agricultural factories – also emerged in the district. On the outskirts of the district, Lithuania’s first electric train depot appeared. The population grew rapidly. Eventually, most of the industrial heavyweights failed the market economy test and went bankrupt, and for a while, the district became a flashpoint of social difficulties. However, Naujoji Vilnia is now recovering rapidly, and with its good accessibility from Vilnius, its natural surroundings, and its own abundant infrastructure, it attracts not only locals but also newcomers.

Did you notice that we have recently gone over a bridge crossing the river? It is the Vilnia and the railway that divide the district into two very different parts. In the north, which we briefly glimpsed at the beginning, there are many pre-war objects – houses from the early 20th century, a church, and railway workers’ buildings. And here, in the south, we can see blocks of flats similar to many of those seen elsewhere. On the one hand, there is nothing special – just a regular Soviet housing estate, but it must be noted that for a long time, there was a reason that there were no buildings here. At the beginning of the 20th century, the area was the site of a psychiatric hospital, which you will soon see on your right. The hospital did not only own the brick buildings but also a large area to the left, all the way to the Vilnelė. The humanist management of the institution wanted to give people with mental disabilities the opportunity to socialise rather than just being confined to wards, so they planted gardens and allotments on the former fields and created a park for walks.

The hospital on the right was opened in 1903 in Naujoji Vilnia. It was designed to accommodate 1000 patients, with 200 beds for each of the five surrounding governorates of Vilnius, Kaunas, Minsk, Grodno, and Vitebsk. The huge complex consisted of several interconnected buildings. The architecture of the ensemble, seen from above, was meant to resemble an eagle, and although not all the buildings have survived, this can still be seen today. Incidentally, several other hospitals were built in the early 20th century based on this design, for example, in Kazan, or even in the Siberian city of Tomsk, 4,600 kilometres away.

In the inter-war period, when the Poles ruled the Vilnius region, the hospital was converted into barracks. New housing for the military was built nearby, and a church for the military called the Church of the Holy Virgin Mary, Queen of Peace, was built. During the war, the complex was the site of a notorious prisoner-of-war camp.

The psychiatric hospital only reopened in 1961. During the Soviet era, the facility was known not only for its treatment of the sick but also as a place for healthy citizens who were not obedient to the Soviet system, such as writers, painters, and those who avoided serving in the Soviet army. But that is in the past. Today, the hospital continues to operate successfully after its renewal. If you are interested in architecture, you can walk freely in the courtyard and take a close look at the buildings.

And we are inexorably approaching the end of our journey. We sincerely urge you not to turn back immediately. At the final stop, walk through the apartment blocks, browse the district market, stroll through the Vilnelė riverside park, and, if you have the energy, cross to the other side of the railway and enjoy the panoramic view of Naujoji Vilnia and the surrounding area from St. Casimir’s Church on the hilltop. The view is worth the effort! Don’t forget that you can return to Vilnius by train as well as by bus.

We hope you had an insightful and enriching trip – goodbye, and see you soon!