Stotis

Between 1852 and 1862, a railway was built from St Petersburg to Warsaw, covering a distance of more than 1,000 km, to connect the capital of the Russian Empire with Central Europe. The strategic line also passed through Vilnius, with a large ensemble of station buildings, the suburb of ‘Nowy Świat’ (meaning ‘new world’ and later to become Naujininkai) to the south of the line with the station square to the north, which still retains some of its shape today. The station immediately became the new gateway to the city, as more and more visitors began to travel to Vilnius by steam locomotive, either purposefully or just in transit to the West. Until the Second World War, visitors were greeted by the magnificent Passenger Hall, an impressive building with its historicist-style architecture. In 1945, the station was the scene of an accident when trains packed with explosives collided, and according to those who remember the incident, the ensuing explosion was so powerful that even the people of Šnipiškės felt the consequences of the incident. The Passenger Hall, reconstructed after the Second World War, took on the Stalinist characteristics of that period. For a more detailed insight into the history of railways in our country, please visit the Railway Museum, which is housed in the same building. In addition to the indoor exhibition, there are also some exhibits displayed outdoors.

The ‘Tony Soprano’ standing in ‘Peronas’ (platform) bar is a sculpture by Donatas Jankauskas (also known as ‘Duonis’). It was created in 2009, when Vilnius was enjoying the title of ‘European Capital of Culture’. At the same time, 2009 was the peak of the country’s economic crisis. It appeared in the courtyard of the Lithuanian Theatre, Music, and Cinema Museum as part of the Capital of Culture project ‘Sculpture in Public Spaces’. Due to a sudden cut in the budget of the project, the figure from ‘The Sopranos’ series was then presented one and a half metres shorter (barely 4m high) than the current iteration; Tony Soprano was legless – knee-deep in the lawn of the museum courtyard. The sculpture has visited Druskininkai, Klaipėda, and Palanga Pier, where it greeted holidaymakers with its penetrating gaze and saw off the sun over the Baltic Sea. ‘Tony Soprano’ has also travelled to Vienna Art Fair.

Amidst the fences, buildings and construction machines stands one of the least known, but very interesting churches – St. Stephen’s. It was built in 1600 and is characterised by its rare Mannerist (Late Renaissance) style and sgraffito decoration. The canonisation of St. Casimir in 1604 and many other important celebrations often began at St. Stephen’s Church. In the vicinity of the shrine, there were also monasteries of the Brotherhood of Saint Roch (from 1715) and later Maria Vitae (from 1752). The latter monastery looked after orphan girls of other faiths (from Jewish, Karaite, and Tatar backgrounds) with the goal of converting them to Catholicism. In 1864, the Maria Vitae Monastery was closed by order of the Tsar and its buildings were converted into a prison. The prison remained open, with brief interruptions, until the end of the Second World War, and some of the buildings (the Chief Warden’s flat, the administrational office, the laundry, and the bathhouse) have survived to this day. After the war, the whole area became industrial and the church was used as a warehouse. A plaque on the wall of the sanctuary reminds us that between 1660 and 1865 there used to be a cemetery next to the church where the architect Laurynas Gucevičius was laid to rest. The destruction of the cemetery began as early as 1926, when a stonecutters’ workshop was set up next to the place of worship. Since 2005, the church has been undergoing restoration and is patiently awaiting its rebirth.

The two yetis in Algirdas Street Square are the work of artist Tomas Daukša. The sculptural group called ‘Nauja Karta’ is part of the Vilnius City Municipality’s ‘I Create Vilnius’ programme. The two impressively sized yetis are part of an artistic project that the artist has been working on for several years. The figures created during the project are already well-known not only to gallery visitors in Lithuania but also on the international art scene. The sculptures create various situations from the everyday life of yetis, revealing more and more details about their daily activities, rituals, family relations, community hierarchy, intercommunication, and other details of life. The audience is also encouraged to create their own stories about the lives of the mysterious yetis from clues and fragments.

These New Town sculptures are the artist’s first work in a public space.

In 2015, at the initiative of photographer Sauliaus Paukštys and his associates, a monument to the famous ‘Beatle’ John Lennon was unveiled. The British music legend had never visited Lithuania, but the authors were more interested in presenting Vilnius as a cosmopolitan city that embraces global symbols, and in creating new points of attraction outside the Old Town. The influence of ‘The Beatles’ on the freedom-seeking local youth during the Soviet era is also important. Lennon was chosen to be depicted in the same way as he was once photographed by a close friend of ‘The Beatles’, the photographer R. Whitaker, with a flower covering his eye. It is said that touching it makes wishes come true. Try it! By the way, the monument to the American musician Frank Zappa in K. Kalinauskas Street, erected in 1996, was also S. Paukštys’ initiative.

Since 1981, sculptor Mindaugas Navakas has been creating graphic art albums – ‘Vilnius Notebooks’ – in which he depicted the most monumental buildings of Soviet Vilnius with models of giant sculptures mounted on them. In 1994, one idea was realised – a huge iron hook was mounted on the front of the former Railway Workers’ Culture Palace. This palace was built in 1957 according to a typical ‘culture house’ design, which was used in many cities of the Soviet Union. In the past, the building was used for various events and dance nights, but when Lithuania regained its independence, it was transformed into a mecca for alternative art and subcultures, with the opening of one of the first non-establishment art galleries, and underground ska and punk concerts. ‘Kablys’ (The Hook) has retained a similar spirit today, with a music club, skate park, bar and hostel.

From 1997 until her death in 2007, the writer Jurga Ivanauskaitė lived in the nearby house at Aguonų g. 15. In 2008, it was decided to name the empty lot next to her house ‘Jurga Square’, and a year later, the sculptor Ksenija Jaroševaitė erected the sculpture ‘Katinas’. The reason for the depiction of this feline animal was that a cat appeared in almost every work by the writer who herself had a pet named Lūšis (Lynx). Jaroševaitė specifically depicted the cat as cute, soft, and even a little comical, in order to add a cosy touch to the square. The stone used for the work is Lithuanian and was extracted from the former Arvydiškės quarry near Kurtuvėnai.

Constructed in 1911-1912, this building is said to have one of the oldest lifts in Vilnius. This six-storey Art Nouveau building was created for renting out rooms and apartments. Its owner, Chaja Kremer, was the city resident who commissioned the project from the architect Anton Filipovich-Dubovik (1865-1930). The house of Chaja Kremer had two lifts and the façade was distinguished by a corner bay window and turrets. Until 1940 when it was nationalised, the building was rented by wealthy city dwellers, and a year later in 1941, most of its inhabitants were sent to the Vilnius Ghetto. New lifts now run in the old lift shafts.

The future Russian Minister of Interior Affairs and Chairman of the Council of Ministers spent his childhood in this building. Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin (1862-1911) became famous for the agricultural reform that bears his name, which allowed peasants to move to homesteads.

In 1911, P. A. Stolypin founded an agricultural school in Dotnuva, which became the Academy of Agriculture in 1923 and was moved to Kaunas in 1945.

P. A. Stolypin was one of the greatest reformers of Russia in modern times. However, his reforms also made him many enemies, who constantly tried to do away with him. The eleventh attempt on his life was fatal.

A memorial plaque to Pyotr Stolypin, designed by Kęstutis Musteikis, was unveiled on the wall of the building in 2009.

Vilnius used to have well over 100 Jewish houses of worship, but today there is only one Choral Synagogue on Pylimo Street. The building on Gėlių Street, also a former Jewish place of worship (also known as the Zamelis Synagogue) and one of only eight remaining in Vilnius, is being brought back to life. Between 1817 and 1818, Zavel Germaize and David Levinson built a brick house of worship to replace the wooden one that had burnt down. The Zamelis Synagogue soon became one of the most important synagogues in Vilnius, with a congregation of around 200 praying there regularly between the wars. The community also owned a property at Sodų g. 5, which generated income for the maintenance of the synagogue. The building was abandoned until 1990, but research and restoration began in 2014, and the building has been continuously beautified.

This place has been a market since the 15th century, where livestock, food, and household goods were traded, and the name of the ‘Grain Market’ was adopted. However, at the beginning of the 20th century, the necessity for a modern marketplace with stricter sanitary requirements appeared, and a new building in the historicist style was constructed in 1904-1906 with the help of the architect V. Michniewicz. Interestingly, the market was originally called simply ‘market rows’, and the name ‘Halle’ was adopted by the Germans, who occupied the town during the First World War (the term ‘Halle’ was commonly used in Europe to refer to large, covered commercial buildings). Not so long ago, the market next to the station was known as one of the city’s most dangerous ‘talkuchkas’ (a flea market where sharp elbows are necessary!), but now it is a fully-fledged commercial centre, offering everything from Chinese knick-knacks to organic produce, and if you’re tired of the variety, you can enjoy a gourmet meal at the market. Recently, ‘Halės Market‘ has even come alive at night, with a nightclub opening at the weekend.