Pilaitė

Let’s start our journey at the ancient castle mound. There is a legend about a Lithuanian castle that once stood in Pilaitė to defend against the Crusaders. It was believed to be a strategic castle that was part of the Vilnius defence system. However, there are too many unknowns in these speculations and legends. Archaeologists’ discoveries, which confirm new data, have brought us much closer to the truth, revealing that there was indeed a castle, but a little later than the time of the battles against the Crusaders. It all started in around 1499, when Grigalius Astikas, a member of the famous Astikas family (from which the Radvilas line descended), started building a castle on this site. After his death in 1519, the construction was continued by his son, who was also called Grigalius. By the way, the Astikas estate was called Mūrinė Sudervė, and since more than one place was named Sudervė, this has confused historians. Grigalius Astikas-Viršila died without leaving any descendants, so the castle passed into the hands of the Gorskiai and Glebavičiai families. It is assumed that the castle was demolished during the war between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) and Moscow in 1655–1661 and was not rebuilt later. The ruins gradually decayed, but the remains of the walls, still visible at the beginning of the 19th century, inspired Ona Olimpija Radvilaitė–Mostowska, the pioneer of the Gothic and historical prose tradition in Lithuania and one of the first women writers in the country, who wrote her famous work Strach w Zameczku (Ghosts in the Small Castle) here. Archaeologists have indeed discovered the remains of stone and brick masonry in the mound, the remains of buildings dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries, the remnants of a small round stone and brick tower, a stone palace, and a defensive wall. The castle was a luxurious place, as evidenced by the unearthed stove tiles, some of which are identical to those used in the Palace of the Grand Dukes. The small 12 km long Sudervėlė stream, which flows into the Neris River and emerges from the Buivydiškės marshes, was used to protect the castle as a natural barrier. The site is also important because the castle that stood here is the origin of the name of the district.

Windmills are historical monuments of technology, which had long been one of the main technologies in windy areas until the invention of the steam engine and the internal combustion engine. Windmills are abundant in the plains of northern and western Lithuania, and fewer the closer you get to Vilnius. In eastern Lithuania, where there are many streams flowing down the hills, water mills dominated. So what is a windmill as opposed to a watermill doing in Pilaitė, Vilnius? Actually, it was an ‘immigrant’ of the estate, Petras Žasetis, who built it in 1923 in the village of Liepalotai, Šakiai district with the money he had earned in America. He was divorced and had no family, so he often stayed overnight at his workplace – the mill. Žasetis worked diligently even after the mill was nationalised by the Soviets after the war. After the restoration of independence, the mill in Liepalotai was no longer used, so Zenonas Baubonis, an archaeologist travelling around Lithuania, decided to save it from complete destruction. In 2003, he laboriously transported the wooden structure to Pilaitė, plank by plank. Today, the 16-metre-high beauty is used for various events, parties, exhibitions, and as a space for educational bread-baking activities. Over two decades, it has grown so much with its surroundings that it is often regarded as an authentic Pilaitė building.

Naturally, a fully-fledged manor house was formed near the castle. It is known that in the 16th century a paragon of a farm existed, complete with a mill, a sawmill, and a blacksmith’s shop. In the middle of the 17th century, after the war with Moscow and the demolition of the castle, the manor belonged to the Jesuits. Later, in 1773 after the abolition of the Order, it was handed over to a nobleman, T. Kukevičius. Under his stewardship, new residential and farm buildings were added to the manor, the recreational area was developed, a park was created, and the gardens were extended. In 1827, Vilnius University bought the manor, and a flagship agronomic farm was set up there under the direction of M. Fričinskis. It was probably the first comprehensive agricultural school in Lithuania! The estate consisted of arable land, a mill, barns, taverns, brickworks, lime kilns, stables, etc., with a total of 300 farmhands and ten gardeners. The territory expanded to 2,000 hectares (approximately a third of which was woodland), and even bordered the Neris River in two places. The Pilaitė manor house was used place for rest and rejuvenation by university professors. Although Vilnius University was closed in 1832, the same Fričinskis continued his work by renting the manor himself. After Fričinskis, the estate was owned by various families: the Polozovs, the von Hogenbachs (under their ownership, the present yellow-brick manor house was built between 1881 and 1913), and the Pimonovs, who maintained it until its nationalisation in 1940. During the Soviet period, the estate was used as an auxiliary farm for the Buivydiškės Agricultural Technical School; the ponds were adapted for fish breeding, and the estate was used to breed pike, perch, carp, and crucian carp. After 1990, some of the surviving buildings of the manor were privatised and landscaped, while others became social housing. Life in the old part of Pilaitė is like living in the countryside with almost no noise or cars; nature here is untouched by humans, which separates it from the bustling residential area.

In 2011, an original building appeared in Pilaitė, which eventually became the heart of cultural life in the district – the ‘Beepart’ workshop. This is a building made of shipping containers, which is completely independent (except for the electricity supply) from the city’s infrastructure; for example, it collects rainwater for reuse and conserves heat with straw and tarpaulin. ‘Beepart’ settled in Pilaitė because Andrius Ciplijauskas, the mastermind behind the idea, wanted first and foremost to bring the residential areas out of the cultural doldrums. The institution has its own library, organises various community gatherings, exhibitions, film screenings, yoga sessions, and other events. In the courtyard of the building, residents of Pilaitė have the opportunity to grow fresh vegetables. The address listed on its website confirms the creativity of the ‘Beepart’ community – Vydūno g. 0. Of course, there is no official zero house, so another address is used for correspondence.

Pilaitė was the last of the Soviet-era panel-block housing districts. It was designed in the 1990s. However, the actual start of construction was delayed until 1989, and the construction of the first block commenced during the difficult days of the Soviet economic blockade following the restoration of independence. In 1991, the first settlers moved in, but progress on the building work stalled. Old residents of the area remember the jagged concrete blocks in places and the surroundings reminiscent of the moon. Somehow, much of the Soviet vision of Pilaitė was realised. How is it different from Lazdynai or Fabijoniškės? Compared to most of the previous Soviet residential projects, the idea of Pilaitė is characterised by simple geometric forms, with parallel and perpendicular streets. The neighbourhoods were built according to a Western model, with the idea that the courtyards would serve as fortresses, with the community as the primary owner. The courtyards in Pilaitė are indeed spacious, and they have been designed to be inaccessible to cars, with pedestrian well-being in mind. Each house has two staircases, so you don’t have to go around all the blocks to get to the inner courtyard. At the time of the construction of Pilaitė, the new 120V series of large-panel houses introduced in 1979 had already taken root, allowing architects to design buildings in a wider range of sizes and to use of reinforced concrete in the loggias. Such a design was also used in Šeškinė, Justiniškės, Fabijoniškės and Pašilaičiai. The concrete roundness of Pilaitė looks playful: semicircular corner balconies, stairwell porches, and arches like in the gardens of paradise in the courtyards. The plan was to build a kindergarten in the centre of most of these perimeter blocks, but due to changes in the situation, this was not realised; the only reminder of a bygone era and the original urban plan is the kindergarten ‘Gilužis’ in the middle of one block.

completely began and was finished after the restoration of independence. Things did not go as smoothly as hoped during a difficult time for the country – the first building works were carried out in 1992, but came to a standstill for the next five years. Eventually, it was decided to return to the project, and in 1998 the school opened, although it was still in an unfinished state. The school opening was an extraordinary event attended by the highest officials of the country at the time, including President Valdas Adamkus, the Mayor of the city Rolandas Paksas, and the Minister of Education and Science Kornelijus Platelis. Interestingly, although the school was built in independent Lithuania, all the construction technologies and design were inherited from the Soviet era – so don’t be surprised to see identical schools in Pašilaičičiai and Fabijoniškės. The neighbouring Pilaitė Gymnasium also looks similar.

In the Soviet era, when new housing estates were designed, no space for churches was foreseen. After Lithuania regained independence, the inhabitants of many of the new districts faced with the problem that the places of worship from older times were largely confined to Old Town. In order to address this problem, the parish of St. Joseph was established in Pilaitė in 1999, and two years later, a chapel with a parish building (a greenish-yellow oblong building) was completed. However, even at that time, the plot had already been allotted with space for a larger church to be built in the future. After a long break, in March 2016, the construction of a house of worship in a contemporary architectural style began. The church is expected to accommodate around 600 people at a time, will be powered by solar panels, geothermal heating, and will be equipped with a lift for the disabled, and a separate chapel with soundproof glass for families with small children. In the courtyard of St. Joseph’s Square, decorative planting, seating areas, and fountains will soon be available. The young parish in Pilaitė is headed by one of the most well-known priests, Ričardas Doveika.

The Pilaitė Plan, created during the Soviet era, became difficult to implement due to changes in political and economic conditions, and in the 21st century, the district has been developed according to a new district development plan drawn up in 2000. The new character of the district is most evident in two places: the streets north of the avenue (Nidos, M. Mažvydo, Priegliaus, etc.) and the blocks in the western part of the district behind Karaliaučiaus g. In these areas you can get a feel for the trend of contemporary apartment building. Interestingly, the original idea of naming the streets after historical figures and places in Lithuania Minor has been continued in the plans of the completely new street network.

It is a strange feeling to find a small cemetery in a growing and hurrying city, right next to Pilaitė Avenue. Today, residents of Pilaitė are not buried here – it is the eternal resting place of the former inhabitants of the area, a testimony to the slow, rustic way of life that prevailed here not so long ago. The cemetery is officially known as Varnės, so called because of the name of the village closest to the cemetery; few houses still remain here between the cemetery and the present-day Elbingo g. Before the construction of the district, the villages of Padekaniškių, Plytinės, Dvarykščių, Vilkeliškių, Salotės, and Kriaučiūnų were also nearby. The cemetery’s monuments bear the same names over and over again, testifying to the close ties of the old inhabitants: Kacelovičiai, Maksimovičiai, Matulevičiai, Kunickiai… The cemetery of Varnės, which covers 0.42 hectares of land, is officially still a functioning cemetery.

We end our journey in a place that lets us catch our breath. When you climb the hill, try to feel the spirit of antiquity – you are standing on a mound called Vilkeliškių, which dates back to the early 1st millennium. The place seems to have been ideal for defence – a high plateau surrounded by lakes, a stream, and marshes. Unfortunately, the area is now highly urbanised, and the hill itself was destroyed in the past by a quarry to the north. However, the small site has been preserved and offers a good panorama of the surrounding area. The old inhabitants of the area called this mountain ‘Krugla gura’ (Round Mountain).

At the foot of the mound, there is a lake called Gilužio or Gėlūžės. Other districts of the city can justifiably envy Pilaitė for its nearby bathing areas. The beach of Gilužis Lake was renovated in 2020 and made even more welcoming for water sports enthusiasts.