Naujamiestis

The lone chapel (built 1816–1819), which is surrounded by trees, belonged to the Nishkovsky family. Jan Friedrich Nishkovsky (1774–1816), the chairman of the Vilnius Medical Society and the head of the Surgical Clinic, was buried there. If it were not for this chapel, it is unlikely that the most upmarket cemetery in Vilnius would be suspected of having been here. The cemetery on Tauro Hill was established in 1806 when the plot was bought by Gottfried Hahn, a member of the Vilnius City Council. Initially, the cemetery was intended only for the Evangelical Lutheran community, but from 1830, Protestant Reformers (Calvinists) were also buried here. The cemetery was famous for its attractive appearance – since the Protestant community in Vilnius was small and the burials were not a frequent occurrence, the carefully maintained and richly landscaped grounds were more like a park. Regular avenues were formed between the tombstones, following classical traditions. Unfortunately, the cemetery suffered a sad fate during the Soviet era: in 1958, the Vilnius authorities decided to close it down, and a few years later, to liquidate it completely and turn it into a park. The tombstones of several prominent people were moved to the Rasų, St. Eufronsinijos, Saltoniškių arba Petrašiūnų cemeteries, and the territory was finally spruced up in preparation for the construction of Vilnius  Registry Office (the Palace of Marriages) in 1972–1973.

Between 1911 and 1913, just before the First World War and the fall of the Russian Empire, the newest Orthodox church in Vilnius was built in honour of the Roman Emperor Constantine (306–337) and the Cappadocian Saint Mikhail Malein (c. 894–963). However, it is more often said that the idea of building a new Orthodox church was conceived to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the death of Konstantinas Ostrogiškis (1526–1608). K. Ostrogiškis (not to be confused with his namesake father, the Grand Hetman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania) was a deputy of the Seimas of the Commonwealth of the Two Nations, the Governor of Kiev, and an ardent defender of Orthodox rights. However, the people of Vilnius were struggling to raise the necessary funds for the construction of the place of worship, so it was decided to wait for the imminent possibility of getting wider support arising from another important date that was soon approaching – the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty in 1913. Thus, in preparation for this celebration and in honour of the first Tsar of this family, Mikhail Romanov (1596–1645, in power from 1613), the construction of the Orthodox Church began in 1911. It was the original intention to build the church on the site of the current Vincas Kudirka monument on Gediminas Avenue, but this site had already been occupied by another Orthodox chapel, which they did not want to move. Instead, a site on the so-called Zakret (which translates as ‘beyond the bend’) Square was selected, which was a must-visit for anyone coming from the West to Vilnius. In 1913, the construction of the Orthodox Church was completed. Despite all the hardships and the exile of the priest during the Soviet years, the Orthodox Church continued to function without interruption. During the reconstruction that took place a few years ago, the domes of the church were returned to their original gold colour.

In 1901–1903, at the intersection of the then Pohulianka and Kaukazo (now Jono Basanavičiaus ir Mindaugo) streets, the first ‘skyscraper’ of Vilnius was erected, towering over 7–8 floors, or 36 m. It is worth noting that the building was initially meant to be crowned with ornate turrets, raising it even higher in the city’s skyline. Although this and several other ideas were never realised, the complex immediately began to dominate the surrounding landscape. The new giant, designed by the architects T. Rostvorovsky and K. Korojedav, was hard for locals to accept at first and took a long time to get used to. In fact, the sheer size of the building was a testimony not only to the unprecedented development of cities due to new engineering achievements, but also to the power of the railway organisations of the time. The owner of the complex who had commissioned the construction at the beginning of the 20th century was the Polesia Railway Board, which operated the railways that ran from Vilnius through Lida into the Polesia region. As the land changed hands, the names of the institutions also changed; however, not the occupation – the railwaymen were the owners of the building until 2021.The complex has now been handed over to the state enterprise responsible for managing state property assets ‘Turto Bankas’, and the use if the building will change in the near future, but its exterior will remain unchanged due to its historical and cultural value.

Facing Vytenio and A. Vivulskio streets from an unusual angle, the former building of the Vilnius Construction Workers’ Cultural Palace hides an unexpected history of the construction of one of the most interesting churches in the capital. The place of worship was designed by architect and sculptor Antanas Vivulskis. He was an artist of extraordinary talent, but many of whose works were unfortunately somewhat ill-fated: the Three Crosses were blown up by the Soviets in 1950, and the monument to the Battle of Žalgiris in Krakow was destroyed by the Nazis in 1939. However, the architect’s greatest love was for the Church of the Heart of Jesus – his first project created in 1906-7, which he later altered more than once before 1913 when construction began. It was the first consecrated building in Lithuania to be made of reinforced concrete, which was not used widely at the time, and its towering spire was to become a new highlight of the Vilnius landscape. Vivulskis was so passionate about the creation of this sacred building that would even spend the night in the church. However, in January 1919, the architect was struck down by acute pneumonia, and after his death, the construction of the unfinished church, although not abandoned, proceeded very slowly. It could not be completed between the wars, and things almost came to a standstill at the beginning of the Soviet era. Interestingly, both in the interwar and post-war periods, services and even weddings were held in the unfinished church in Naujamiestis, but in 1962 it was given a death sentence – Vivulskis’ remains were moved to Rasų Cemetery, and the church was transformed into… the Construction Workers’ Cultural Palace. If it weren’t for the strange layout of the building, we would have no idea that it was once a church. Some of the interior spaces of the building contain the surviving reinforced concrete structures of the former church. Next to the building, you can see a bronze model of the never-risen Church of the Heart of Jesus.

At the end of the 18th century, the defensive wall that had encircled the city for almost three centuries began to be demolished, and its gates were replaced by new, more distant town barriers – as many as 12 were built in the first half of the 19th century. Two authentic buildings of the city guardhouses have survived to this day – Liepkalnio g. 24B and Muitinės g. 45. The guardhouses were equipped with rooms for soldiers, and two white pillars with a barrier between them stood nearby. These guardhouses of tsarist Vilnius functioned until the mid-19th century, when it was definitively established that those wishing to enter the city illegally could find sufficient passages elsewhere (the gates were not connected by a solid wall). Interestingly, the White Pillars themselves were still standing after the Second World War, but were demolished when the street was widened. However, the 6-pillared guardhouse building has survived, although it is now used as a transformer station.

A glass skyscraper and a small red and yellow brick building are right next to each other – how did the latter manage to survive? Well, this monument of technology and geology was the first deep artesian well in Vilnius, which back then reached an impressive depth of 116.95 metres, with layers of earth buried beneath glacial deposits. The borehole was drilled between 1885 and 1886 and was intended to be used for the military bakery, which operated at 6 Savanorių pr. from 1882 until 2008. At the end of the 19th century, the area at the present-day S. Konarskio g. and Savanorių pr. was a large army food (Proviant) warehouse quarter, which included an impressive but defunct bakery and a borehole that was supposed to supply it with water. This history is mutely continued by the red brick building Savanorių pr. 8, which stands across the street and is now owned by the Lithuanian Armed Forces. Interestingly, tests showed that the water in the well was quite rich in minerals and had a composition more reminiscent of Druskininkai or Birštonas. At present, the building has no opening on the surface; the borehole is blocked and the floor has been concreted over.

The triangular block between M.K. Čiurlionio and S. Konarskio streets is worth a look, with its appealing stone and wooden houses, and in some places stone pavement. One of the most impressive is a mansion-type house with a 4-column portico. Until the second half of the 19th century, the plot of land on which this house stands belonged to Zakretas (Užvingis) manor, and the area was assigned to the Beržynas manor. From 1884, the land of the farm belonged to the Zacharovičius landlords. At the beginning of the 20th century, A. Zacharovičius sold part of the estate, and a few years later the rest of his land was auctioned off in separate plots, so that over time a large settlement developed around it, overshadowing the magnificent façade of the manor. In 1907, the owner of the building, P. Andrejeva, obtained permission to demolish the existing wooden balconies and terraces, and to replace the tiled roof with a tin one; she also added a stone colonnade, and rendered the exterior walls itself after removing the panelling. A parterre was designed in front of the building and a garden with walking paths behind it. During the Soviet era, the building served as a kindergarten. The building is now privately owned and houses various businesses.

“Attention, attention, this is Vilnius live on air. You are watching and listening to Vilnius broadcasting in sound and vision. We are launching the pilot programme of the Vilnius Television Studio” – these words, spoken in April 1957, ushered in the era of television in Lithuania; at that time, there were only thirty TV sets in the country. Interestingly, the television station was set up in an unfinished boarding school for the deaf and hard of hearing – note its rustic appearance, typical of Stalinist educational institutions. Next to the building was a metal-framed television tower (demolished when a taller one was built in Karoliniškės). In 1975, the first colour television signals began to emanate from Konarskio Street. The Lithuanian National Broadcaster is still located on the same site, and the most interesting way to learn about its history is to visit the museum, which is divided into three sections: Radio, Television, and the events of January 13th.

Simonas Konarskis was a participant of the 1830-1831 uprising against the Tsarist government and received the rank of captain for his bravery. After the suppression of the uprising, Konarskis fled to Western Europe, but his longing for his homeland brought him back to his native land. However, in 1838, the Tsarist authorities captured and imprisoned the stubborn rebel, and in 1839 sentenced him to death and public execution at the Pohulianka barrier. The hero’s tragic death soon made him almost a cult figure, but it was not until almost a century later, in 1924, that political circumstances allowed his name to be commemorated. The Polish authorities who ruled Vilnius at the time decided to erect a monument on the site of Konarskis’ death. The modest concrete block imitating a stone with the inscription “Here on 27 February 1839, we lost the national hero Simon Konarskis” (in the original Polish) was designed by J. Kłos, but the sculpture of an eagle on the stone has not been preserved to this day, and the fate of the eagle remains unknown.

The era of the grey landscape of Soviet dormitory districts began in Naujamiestis. It was here, at 11 Birželio 23-iosios g., that the first large-plan (or block) apartment block was built in 1959. The media proudly proclaimed that a building assembled from large parts could be constructed by a team of just one crane operator and 5 support staff. Thanks to their fast and cheap construction, large-panel houses soon began to proliferate throughout Vilnius, but improvements were made to their construction and their appearance (as far as the possibilities allowed). However, the first block pioneers are here in Naujamiestis, in a spacious residential area framed by four streets.

In the block surrounded by Vytenis, Naugarduko, Švitrigailos and T. Ševčenkos Streets, two exceptional factories operated at different times. In the interwar period, the star of the ‘Elektrit’ radio factory shone here. It was the only large industrial plant in Vilnius, which was under Polish rule and became a peripheral city. It employed around 1,100 people and the energy required by the factory was produced by its own power station; its conveyor belts hummed away to manufacture products that were updated every year, and won prizes at foreign fairs. From 1934-1936, the expanding company moved from some cramped premises in the Old Town to purpose-built U-shaped buildings at 16 Ševčenkos Street. Unfortunately, the turmoil of the Second World War meant that the factory was dismantled and relocated to Minsk. However, the ambition to have a high-tech enterprise in this quarter remained during the Soviet era, as a secret factory of the Ministry of Aviation  Industry codenamed ‘555’ was set up here as soon as the front line was broken. It produced various radar and radio equipment for the military and civil industry. Old residents of Vilnius recall that famous cosmonauts of the USSR could be seen in the vicinity of the factory, probably coming here to test their equipment. Today, the quarter has many owners, but among the many establishments, you can also find the ‘Elektrit’ bar, a hotel, and the ‘555’ gallery – all names that pay homage to the former companies.

If a list of the most important factories in Soviet Vilnius had to be drawn up, Elfa would certainly be on it. By the way, the name is a simple code name for an electrical engineering factory. Elfa was often called the “firstborn of the post-war era” – one of the earliest major industrial facilities of the Soviet era. The old buildings of the factory were constructed by a large brigade of German prisoners-of-war (who were stationed in the town at the time), using repurposed bricks that had been salvaged from the Old Town buildings destroyed during the war. The factory eventually expanded rapidly and covered the entire perimeter of Paneriai, Vytenio, Kauno and Švitrigailos streets. Elfa’s main source of income was from various low-power electric motors for household appliances. However, it was mainly known in the public arena for its tape recorders with the sonorous names ‘Aidas’, ‘Gintaras’, ‘Daina’ and others. Unable to withstand the conditions of the market economy, the factory was transformed into a multifunctional, multi-owner complex, where industrial enterprises, cultural institutions, and the population coexisted. Inside, a series of street art works adorn the walls of the site, brought together in a single Open Gallery project.