The 14th century: grey and legendary Vilnius

Let’s start our tour of Vilnius by greeting the founder of Vilnius, Grand Duke Gediminas of Lithuania. It was he who, while taking a nap during a hunting trip, fell asleep and dreamt of a howling iron wolf and decided to build a city that would be known around the world. It was Gediminas who first mentioned the city in 1323 in his letters inviting foreign merchants and craftsmen to visit and settle here. So when you approach the bronze monument to the Grand Duke of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, stand next to it and take in the sight that Gediminas has seen every day since 1996 – the Cathedral Bell Tower, people enjoying the square, the constant movement – the ruler would have been delighted to see what the city he founded looks like today. The sculpture of Gediminas was designed by the expatriate artist Vytautas Kašuba. It depicts Gediminas standing beside his horse with his right hand raised to bless Vilnius; he is holding the edge of his sword to show that he is a democratic ruler. 

You can also have a chat with Gediminas by scanning the QR code on the pedestal of the statue – you will hear what the Grand Duke of Lithuania thinks about Vilnius and the changes in the city.

A special place has been chosen for the construction of the Cathedral, the symbol of Lithuania’s baptism. In the times of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the river Neris flowed along the site of the current Šventaragio Street, so the beautiful place in the green valley at the confluence of the Neris and the Vilnelė rivers looked completely different from today. Here was the Temple of Perkūnas, the pagan god of Thunder; it was one of the most important pagan temples in Lithuania, where the eternal flame burned and the remains of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania were burnt. However, historians are suspicious of the legends, and there is no consensus as to whether the Catholic place of worship was built in Mindaugas’ times or later. The Cathedral, one of the first brick buildings in Lithuania, has changed its appearance many times, but its crypts still contain bricks dating back to the 14th century. After the Christianisation of Lithuania, the Crypt of Kings was also used for the burials of rulers, and the dark, blackish log on which the coffins of Lithuania’s Grand Dukes stood for several centuries before being moved to the mausoleum still remains here. The Cathedral’s catacombs gave up most of their secrets in 1931 when the foundations were being rebuilt after the spring flood when the remains of Grand Duke Alexander and the wives of Sigismund Augustus of Lithuania – Elizabeth of Habsburg and Barbara Radziwiłł – were discovered.

Considering its location in the heart of Vilnius today, would you have thought that the area where the Presidential Palace now stands was once on the outskirts of the city? When Lithuania was Christianised, it was necessary to provide for the high clergy, so in his privilege of 1387, the Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland, Jagiełło (Jogaila), gave the first Bishop of Vilnius, Andrzej Jastrzębiec, a plot of land and wrote: “We are giving the garden next to the garden of the Goštautas [family]”. Thus, the Bishop’s Palace was built, albeit on slightly swampy marshland. At the end of the 18th century, Tsar Pavel I stayed here, as did Stanislav August Poniatowski, and the future King Louis XVIII of France visited the palace in the early 19th century. However, the palace’s appearance can only be inferred from the blurred image of the palace on a copper engraving from 500 years ago. In the first half of the 19th century, the palace was demolished to make way for the current Presidential Palace and the then residence of the Governor-General of Vilnius.

Nowadays, you can also step back in time: every Sunday, after the changing of the flag ceremony at 12 noon, you can see soldiers wearing the military uniforms of the 14th-century army that guarded the building.

In Vilnius, paganism is closely intertwined with other religions. This is reflected in festivals, customs, and even buildings. The Orthodox Church of St. Paraskeva in Vilnius – the first Christian church in Vilnius made of stone – was built in the middle of the 14th century on the initiative of Algirdas’s wife, the Orthodox Maria Yaroslavna of Vitebsk. It is said that the future saints, the martyrs Anthony, John, and Eustathius, were baptised here.

Some people believe that one of the oldest Orthodox churches in Vilnius was built on the site of the temple of the pagan god Ragutis – the god of mead makers, brewers, and distillers, who was worshipped by revellers. By the middle of the 14th century, Ragutis had been forgotten, and the temple was already abandoned. Today, the site is marked by the Altar of Ragutis, now standing in the square by the Orthodox Church, on a circular knoll of soil between two linden trees. It was unearthed in the foundations of the nearby Latako Street. Although not everyone agrees that it is part of a pagan temple, you can still see a candle lit next to this bowl-shaped stone – this is how volunteers interested in old pagan religious rites carry on the millennia-old tradition of such rituals.

In the courtyard of Stiklių Street, in the undergrowth of an old fir tree, you can find the bronze sculpture ‘Medeinė’ created by Marius Grušas in 1988. What makes it so special? Our ancestors had a very strong connection with nature – it is no coincidence that Lithuanians were the last pagan nation in Europe. It is known that King Mindaugas of Lithuania offered the first prey of the hunt every year as a sacrifice to the forest goddess Žvėrūna-Medeina – Medeina, the Beast. In the sculpture, the goddess sits on a bear, the mistress of all the wild animals of the forest, and reveals herself as a determined and courageous ruler of the forest. Moreover, foreigners often imagined the people living in our lands to be hairy like shaggy bears. The sculpture is located next to the headquarters of the Lithuanian Association of Hunters and Fishermen, but it should be remembered that Medeina was not the patron saint of hunters; on the contrary, she was thought by our ancestors to be a hindrance to hunters slaughtering animals. By the way, when you look at the sculpture, note the mysterious detail – the bear has a ring on one of its paws. A replica of this work can be found in the Sculpture Park in Changchun, China (Changchun World Sculpture Park).

Take a look at the charming architectural imperfections of the Church of St. Nicholas: the unusually shaped churchyard with its ‘wavy’ fence and the building itself, which is not perfectly symmetrical. However, these walls have observed Vilnius almost since the city’s foundation – St. Nicholas’ Church is thought to be the oldest Catholic place of worship in Vilnius. The church dates back to the late 14th century and was founded during the time of Gediminas when craftsmen and merchants of the Hanseatic League were invited to the city; they came and settled in the western part of it. This is reflected in the traditional title that was popular in the Central Europe region of St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra – patron saint of travellers, merchants, craftsmen, captives, and children. The church’s simple, thick walls and modest decoration confirm its archaic origins. Although the church has been rebuilt and restored several times over the centuries, its exterior has hardly changed. In the 20th century, the Church of St. Nicholas became a focal point of Lithuanian identity. In 1959, a sculpture of St. Christopher by Antanas Kmieliauskas was erected in the courtyard.

As you walk along Pylimo Street, try to imagine that in the 14th century, it served as the city boundary and the edge of the defensive wall of Vilnius, with fortifications reinforced by mounds of soil. The construction of the wall started in 1503 on the orders of Duke Alexander, who needed to protect the castle and the city’s inhabitants from attacks by Crusaders and Tatars. The residents had to contribute to the construction of the wall, which took 20 years to complete – the fortifications had to be placed at the western approaches and key access points to the city: around Trakų, Pylimo, and Naugarduko streets. However, as the city expanded over the centuries, its boundaries also stretched further. The peace of Vilnius is still protected by the sculpture decorated with the Pillars of Gediminas known as ‘The Guardian of the City Gates’ located on the building on the corner of Trakų and Pylimo streets. Today, elements of the defensive wall have become an integral part of the city’s architecture, with its remnants being integrated into the old buildings. For example, the façade of Pylimo g. 30 features the masonry of the city’s defensive wall, with former embrasures (narrow holes for discharging missiles) still visible on the second floor.

Did ancient Lithuanians really have beards as depicted by artists of old? It seems that beards were highly unusual in 14th-century Lithuania and symbolised the practice of Orthodox Christianity. In the very heart of Vilnius, the Church of the Holy Spirit became the resting place of three Vilnius martyrs – Anthony, John, and Eustathius. Their imperishable bodies, found in the crypts of the Orthodox Church in the early 19th century, have defied time for more than 660 years and are considered the greatest treasure of Lithuanian Orthodoxy. These three Christians, who were Lithuanian in origin and courtiers of the Grand Duke, were tortured under Algirdas in 1346 or 1347 for secretly converting to Orthodoxy and following its custom of growing beards. According to legend, when Christians were tortured, their bodies were miraculously cured overnight. Anthony, John, and Eustathius were canonised as saints in 1374. The images of the three saints can be seen on the façade of the Church of the Holy Spirit, and their bodies can be seen inside the church in a decorated reliquary, which is opened for a special service of public worship on 26 June each year.

Where would you look for the tomb of Grand Duke Algirdas of Lithuania? Legends vary: some say he was burned according to pagan customs, while Orthodox Christians believe that Algirdas is buried in this Orthodox Cathedral, one of the oldest Christian churches in Vilnius; in fact, only the Orthodox Church of Saint Paraskeva is older. The Orthodox church was completed and consecrated in 1348 on the initiative of Algirdas’s wife, Yuliana. She herself was buried here, as evidenced by the memorial plaque on the wall. The church stands on the picturesque banks of the Vilnelė River, next to St. Anne’s Church and the Bernardine Ensemble, which were built at a later date. Algirdas is said to have personally chosen the site for the church, as his manor house was nearby. In the 19th century, under the Tsar, the Orthodox Church underwent a radical change in appearance, but the oldest masonry work – visible and invisible – has survived. Archaeological research has shown that the bricks used to build this Orthodox Church were the same type as those used to build Gediminas’ Castle. For a time, the building housed university lecture rooms and library, barracks, and warehouses; however, in the 19th century, the Orthodox Church was restored according to a design by the famous architect of the time, Nikolai Chagin, and returned to the congregation.

What was at the confluence of the Neris and the Vilnelė rivers before the city of Vilnius was established here? Not just centuries-old oak trees; in fact, even the Vilnelė River flowed in a different place at that time. People living in the 14th century would have looked up the Hill of Three Crosses and seen a wooden defensive castle of Vilnius, also known as the Crooked Castle. It was burnt down during a clash with the German Order of the Teutonic Knights in 1390, and part of the city’s history was lost forever. It is believed that a wooden defensive wall stood on the Crooked Hill at the beginning of the second millennium and that people lived in the castle and at the foot of the hill in a wooden town from the 12th to the 14th centuries. However, at that time, the landscape of the territory of Kalnų Park (Park of Hills) was very different from the one we recognise today – back then, the Crooked Castle would have formed a single defensive complex with the other two – the Upper and Lower – castles. Later, even though the Crooked Castle was no longer there, the hill itself continued to play an important role. One of the most famous legends recounts how the Franciscan Friars who carried out a mission in Vilnius in the 14th century were led up the hill by angry pagan Lithuanians, tied to crosses and pushed into the Vilnelė River, urging them to go back to where they came from. During the Christian era, the first wooden crosses were erected on the hill to commemorate this story. Now, when we look at that other side, we can see the white crosses designed by Antanas Vivulskis.