Grigiškės

Kauno Vokė is the largest village built along one main street in the surrounding area, which developed by the Vilnius-Kaunas road. At the end of the 18th century, Kauno Vokė belonged to the Benedictine monks of Trakai. The village was famous for its inns and taverns; it also had a sawmill and a decaying water mill.

A stretch of the old road to Kaunas has survived in Kauno Vokė. The tract, paved in 1938-1939 with square-shaped concrete paving stones reinforced with embedded stones, was designed by Władysław Tryliński, a resident of Vilnius of Telšiai descent, who was a road engineer and inventor in interwar Poland. In 1935, he patented hexagonal concrete paving stones, which were widely used in road construction. The inventor called his paving stone a ‘trilinka’ (a play on words based on his surname, meaning the three links of each hexagon that touch another paving stone), while the roads constructed using his invention were known as ‘trinlinkai’.

After Lithuania regained Vilnius and some of its environs in the autumn of 1939, in spring 1940 news appeared in the press about the planned Vilnius-Kaunas highway: a four-lane road divided by a wide central reservation. It was planned to build it in its entirety over 15–20 years, and the price was expected to amount to approximately 15 million litas. It was not until the 1960s that the implementation of this ambitious idea started. The then 2nd Board of Bridge Construction (Head: V.Štrimaitis) completed the first section of the future motorway – from Paneriai to Grigiškės. Beyond Grigiškės, the excavations to make the road were made in a hill more than 30 metres in height. The idea of building the best road in the Soviet Union was heavily promoted by Vladislovas Martinaitis, the Minister of Highways and Transport of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (LSSR). On the secondment of the Minister, engineers even crossed the Atlantic to learn the methods of construction and gain experience of building motorways. ‘Lietkelprojektas’ planned a new four-lane highway Vilnius–Kaunas (Chief Engineer: L. Antanavičius), which was completed on 27 October 1970 at a cost of 18 million roubles. In that year, traffic on the road amounted to 5800 vehicles, and at Grigiškės – as many as 9000 cars per day. In 2009, when the reconstruction of the road in Grigiškės started, it was estimated that 40,000 cars were already travelling along this section.

In 1922 a 4.2-metre-high dam was built in Grigiškės, which is also used as a bridge. A small derivation channel branches off from the dam. Two 1,000-horsepower turbines provided energy to spin the papermaking machines during the interwar period.

Between December 1944 and June 1947, the Grigiškės Hydroelectric Power Plant supplied power to Vilnius, whose power plant had been destroyed. The 6 kV power transmission line connecting the capital and Grigiškes was built in just 16 days, and the equipment for the power plant was assembled from various locations: the destroyed power plant in Vilnius, the unfinished Turniškės hydroelectric power plant, and materials from other ruins, as well as copper wires that had been hidden and buried during the war.

Since the times of independent Lithuania, the Grigiškės Hydroelectric Power Plant with a capacity of 340 kW has been renewed several times and produces up to 1.5 million KW/h of electricity per year. To the east and south of the dam lies a reservoir with an area spanning over almost 10 hectares, making it one of the largest in Vilnius.

Grzegoż Kurec, an engineer and industrialist of Belarusian origin, was among the richest business magnates in interwar Poland. According to an article published in the Polish press in 2018, he was one of the richest tycoons in Poland, ranking 78th out of 100.

The paper mill established by G. Kurec near the village of Kunigiškiai was built in 1922 and started operating in 1925. Throughout the 1920-1930s, the company continued to expand. To understand the scale of these constructions, we should look at the map to find where the 3 km-long Merkys-Vokė Canal was dug from 1928-1930 to divert most of the water from the wide River Merkys into Lake Papis and the River Vokė flowing from it. A dam diverting water from the Merkys to the Vokė was built, a large derivation channel was dug, a dam diverting water to the aqueduct was created, an embankment with a canal was formed, and a reinforced concrete aqueduct 800 metres in length was constructed. A 500 metre-long small derivation channel was also dug near the new factory and another dam was installed. Employing 1000 people, this was the largest paper industry company in interwar Poland.

Several ‘Grigeo’ group companies currently employ more than 600 people in Grigiškės. It is the largest paper industry group in the Baltic States.

The age of Grigiškės is calculated from the establishment of the factory, but the town itself is actually several decades younger. Between 1949-1951, the national architectural workshops in Kaunas designed a small 28-hectare town for Grigiškės Paper Factory Conglomerate (architect: P. Janulis). Grigiškės and Naujoji Akmene were the first new towns in Lithuania established in the 20th century, slightly older than Elektrėnai and Visaginas. The plans foresaw accommodation for 900 people on the site. The residential zone occupied an area of 7.1 hectares, and seven blocks were located there. 5 hectares were set aside for individual family houses, while 2 hectares were for two-storey buildings (constructed according to the 101- and 102-type standardised designs). In total, during the first stage of construction, 71 brick houses were built.

In addition to residential buildings, the town had a post office, a 5-bed hotel and shop with a hairdresser, as well as a clothing and footwear repair service, a medical centre with 5 in-patient beds, a school servicing 280 pupils, a nursery/kindergarten for 44 children, a 50-place kindergarten, a sauna with a laundry, a fire station, and a stadium. 2.3 hectares were allocated to these institutions.

Later, Grigiškės expanded and districts of private houses were built (this time wooden houses too); increasingly taller four or five-storey apartment blocks were constructed and eventually blocks with nine floors and lifts.

In 1978, the Grigiškės branch of the Vievis Music School (established in 1963) was housed in the former nursery school, which became an independent school in 2000. The Art School is one of the most important educational and cultural institutions in Grigiškės, not only for honing the students’ musical talents, but also for organising community celebrations in this town within the city.

The course of the Vokė is through the southern part of Grigiškės in a beautiful valley: the apartment buildings are built on a slope, while the river meanders closeby, some metres below. The hiking trail is built on the edge of the slope and there are benches – this place for leisurely walks and recreation is popular among local residents. The area is adorned with the pride of the area – the Pine of Grigiškės, an arborist’s treasure of the town. In the river valley, local people have built garden beds for cultivating vegetables and are engaged in gardening in their leisure time.

The suspension bridge over the River Vokė is a great attraction that will appeal to both young and adults. On the other side of the river is the Island Village. Crossing the river leads to another world: old wooden homesteads, typical of a village in Aukštaitija, dusty paths underfoot, and a sea of speckled flowers. Dogs barking, chickens clucking, and birdsong permeate the air, making this the perfect place for dreamy walks or romantic strolls, curious explorations, and relaxation from the hustle and bustle of the city. A little further away are the impressive areas of detached houses, ideally reminiscent of the American suburbs. A Lithuanian roadside cross adorns the village’s approach to the footbridge.

The settlement, which grew up next to a paper mill after the war, lacked a sacred accent – a church. The chapel in Grigiškės could appear only after Lithuania restored its independence and it was constructed in 1995 (architects: D. Juškienė, F. Vilimienė, I. Olšauskienė; engineer: P. Urbonas). This building also functions as the parish house and library. The highlight of the building is an impressive stained glass window visible from the outside (by the stained glass artist Prof. R. Mulevičius). At that time, due to a lack of funds, the post-modern design of the church was not implemented. Donations funded the new project (architects: K. Pempė, E. Petkevičius and E. Dedok) and construction of the church began in 2016. The church was consecrated in 2020. In front of the church, there is a town square for events. Interestingly, the Grigiškės parish, established in 1992 belongs to the Deanery of Trakai, not Vilnius, which is a legacy of the previous administrative division.

In front of the church, there are typical 1-464 series 5 and 9-storey blocks of flats constructed in the 1970s. Similar blocks of flats emerged in the Vilnius districts of Lazdynai, Karoliniškės, and Viršuliškės. The newest part of Grigiškės contains high-rise blocks in the south-western part of the town. The territory was built up in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as in the 21st century. The blocks of flats are mostly typical 120V series large panel-block houses, recognisable from various residential areas of Vilnius. Since the 1990s, several modern multi-apartment buildings have emerged: residential buildings with sloping roofs at Kovo 11 g. 48, 50, 52 (built in 1996; architects: R. Žilinskas, D. Raila), an apartment block at Vilniaus g. 65 (in 2003; architect: D. Raila, engineer: S. Mikhailovienė), which is visible from the highway, and a so-called ‘screen house’ at Vilniaus g. 67 designed to block out the noise pollution from the road (2008; architect: D. Ruseckas’ creative group).

In this part of Grigiškės, the most interesting feature is the ensemble of several interconnected buildings forming the Grigiškės ‘Šviesos’ Gymnasium. The southern building was built first (based on the slightly modified design of a typical kindergarten). In 1998, the opening ceremony of this school was attended by the President of Lithuania, Valdas Adamkus. Later on, the school was expanded with the addition of a central building and a block for sports facilities. Unlike many schools in Vilnius, which were constructed according to standard design projects, the main building of Grigiškės Gymnasium was built in 1999–2004 based on an original design project (architects: R. Žilinskas, D. Juškienė, I. Olšauskienė, engineers: P. Urbonas, O. Dobrovolskis).

When the Crimean Tatars settled in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 14th and 15th centuries, one of the most densely populated areas of the Lithuanian Tatars was the western outskirts of Vilnius, all the way to Trakai, where Tatar place names were abundant and still exist to this day: Keturiasdešimt Totorių, Kazaklarai and Karnaklarai, Kazbėjai, Totorinė, and Totoriškės. The most populous Tatar area is the valley of the Vokė River. Afindevičius is one of the Tatar villages currently part of Grigiškės. The origin of the name comes from the Turkic polite form of address ‘efeñdi’. Originally used to address the Sultan, and later to address all high-ranking dignitaries, it is now used to address any man. The Afindevici family name derives from Afendey, a Tatar serving as a translator at the court of Sigismund the Elder in the 16th century, who was the son of Barash and to whom the Vokė lands were bequeathed.

The name of Afindevičiai street and the few surviving old farmhouse homesteads with gardens and orchards are reminders of the freely planned plots of the village. Some old maps also depict Totorinė next to Afindevičiai. According to the 2001 population census, Tatars made up 1% of the population in Grigiškės sub-municipality and 0.2% of the whole of Vilnius.

Located near the river Neris, the village of Nerava also belongs to Vilnius City Municipality. Only a decade ago, Bieliūnai, which is located across the river and where a fish farm operated during the Soviet era, was still intensively connected by boat. In some places, large stones can be seen on the riverbank and in the riverbed. The rural farmsteads are situated a little further away from the water, on the upper terrace and on the wooded hills. The village of Neravai is a true paradise for cats. There is an abundance of these four-legged creatures, and one farmhouse even has a green roof terrace for cats!