The Stories Beneath Your Feet

Can’t decide where to go on a date? Why not meet in S. Moniuškos Square, near the ‘Apple Tree’ paving stone ‘tile’ created by Gitenis Umbrasas in 2007. The sculptor created the symbols of two hearts on the side of the apple in the hope that it would become an even more popular place for dates. The apple is also an allusion to Adam and Eve’s encounter in the Garden of Eden, the legend of their love, and the beginning of human life on Earth.

The theme of love is close to Gitenis Umbrasas’ heart and his favourite subject – back in 2004, he created ‘The Shores of Love.’ That year, for the first time, the red-flowering houseleeks planted on the right bank of the Neris River revealed a heartfelt confession: ‘I love you’, and on the left bank, the answer was ‘And I love you, too’.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, building and architecture became a lucrative business in Vilnius. The first private construction firm was founded in 1884 by Januszewski, and others soon followed: in 1901, W. Stypułkowski and A. Kłein founded the Vilnius Construction Office; in 1908, together with the technician K. Zimmerman, T. Rostworowski founded an architectural workshop, and in 1912 A. Parczewski and W. Michnewicz founded the ‘Architekt’ bureau. These offices not only competed with each other but also with freelance architects, technicians, and engineers. 

In 1920, at the architectural workshop of T. Rostworowski and K. Zimmerman, the 60-year-old T. Rostworowski was replaced by a much younger engineer, Teofil Szopa. This created what was probably the most capable interwar construction company in Vilnius, which went on to build both the Three Crosses Monument and the fortifications of the Vilnius Defence Ring, known as the Polish bunkers. 

This duo can be found in the courtyard of Vilniaus and Labdarių Streets, honoured by pavement slabs bearing the inscription, which can just be read as ‘T. Szopa, K. Zimmerman, Wilno’. The paving stones can be found in front of the residential buildings that back onto Labdarių Street.

In 2013, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the cooperation between Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius concerning their fight for independence, the Mayors of Tallinn and Riga installed a commemorative tile in Cathedral Square by the artist Gitenis Umbrasas. It is embossed with the footprints of a symbolic participant of the Baltic Way. The same tiles were presented to Riga and Tallinn and can also be found in the central locations of these capitals.  

The plaque will remind future generations of the unity of the three Baltic States and the desire for freedom. Back in 1939, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (also known as the Nazi-Soviet or Hitler–Stalin Pact) carved up the map of Europe, leading to the Baltic States enduring years of Soviet aggression. On the 50th anniversary of this fateful Pact, approximately two million unarmed citizens joined hands in a massive event of non-violent resistance, forming a human chain stretching the 600 kilometres linking Vilnius, Riga, and Tallinn; this was unparalleled in the world. 

This tile is not only one of the most popular tourist attractions but also a favourite of Vilnius residents. It is believed that if you stand on the tile created by the artist Gitenis Umbrasas and turn around its axis three times, your wish will definitely come true.

In 2010, the tile was displayed as one of the symbols of Vilnius at the World Expo in Shanghai, China. In the same year, a replica of the tile was unveiled in a square in Tbilisi, Georgia, named after Vilnius.

Standing in front of the gates of the Church of St Francis of Assisi, let’s look at the pavement. Did you notice the letter T? This symbol is also known as the ‘Tau Cross’. It was favoured by St Francis of Assisi and used as his signature. Stretching his arms out to the side, Francis would tell the brothers that their monastic habit was like the ‘Tau Cross’. Eventually, this sign became the universally accepted Franciscan symbol. 

So when you see a cross like this at the church gate, you will know that you are standing in front of a Franciscan House of Prayer. 

On 13 February 2018, Dalia Grybauskaitė, President of the Republic of Lithuania, unveiled a paving stone in Simonas Daukantas Square that had been specially designed for the anniversary of the Restoration of the State.

Lithuania is represented on the tile by a symbiosis of the symbols of the sun and the moon. The artwork was made using the Florentine mosaic technique with different coloured granite and brass. 

The ‘Centenary’ paving stone tile was created by the well-known artist Gitenis Umbrasas.

On the corner of Dominikonų and Gaonas Streets, next to the building known as Gureckių Palace (now an art gallery), there is a beautiful rotunda-shaped tower. Next to it, on the other side of Gaonas Street, is a circle paved with cobblestones. It marks the location of another similar tower that once stood here. This circular marker in the corner of a car park is all that remains of the house of the famous Vilnius architect Laurynas Gucevičius. The building burnt down in July 1944 and was demolished a few years later.

As we enter the gates into the yard of the ‘Šlapeliai’ house, we are greeted by a pavement installation. SALVE is Latin for ‘welcome’. In ancient times, the doorsteps of houses were decorated with this greeting. 

In 2020, the Museum planned to celebrate the 140th anniversary of the birth of Marija Šlapelienė with the ‘SALVE!’ festival. A pavement installation was unveiled in the museum courtyard to mark the occasion.

The festival is an annual platform for creative initiatives, bringing together professional independent artists (theatre, music, dance, visual arts). The name SALVE is an acronym encoding the Lithuanian motto of the festival: Su[si]kurk Artistiškai Laisvą Vilniaus Erdvę! This can loosely translate as ‘create [for yourself] a space in Vilnius that is artistically free’.

Since 2020, the ‘SALVE!’ festival of artistic initiatives has been organised annually.

Before the Second World War, seven houses stood between the Cardinal’s Palace (now 23 Pilies Street) and Švarco Street. One of the most famous haberdashery shops in Vilnius, run by the Italian Fiorentini family, was open for more than a century from 1787 in a building, which has not survived, on the corner of Didžioji and Švarco Streets. From 1853 until the Soviet occupation, one of the buildings on the site housed the bookshop of the famous publisher Józef Zawadzki. It sold books, had a reading room, a musical instrument shop, and was later a publishing house. The buildings in this district were particularly badly damaged during World War II. After the war, the area stood in disrepair for more than ten years before finally being demolished in the 1960s. At the end of the 1960s, the site was cleared. It has since been transformed into a square with a fountain, now named after the renowned theologian, philosopher, writer, linguist, preacher, and lexicographer – Konstantinas Sirvydas. 

As you walk along Didžioji Street, look out for the pink tiles marking the locations of the buildings that once used to stand here. 

In 2017, the ‘Vilnius Compass’ monument was added to the fountain in Town Hall Square. This historical marker on the pavement commemorates one of Lithuania’s most famous travellers and philanthropists, Mikołaj Krzysztof Radziwiłł, often referred to as ‘the Orphan’ (or ‘Sierotka’ in Polish). The compass stretches to three metres in diameter and depicts the four compass points and countries of the world, centring on a map outlining a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. From 1582 to 1584, Mikołaj Krzysztof ‘the Orphan’ Radziwiłł travelled as a pilgrim to Mediterranean cities; he was the first Lithuanian to visit the tomb of Christ in Jerusalem, and he climbed the pyramids of Egypt. His exploits are described in his book ‘The Journey to Jerusalem’.

The Vilnius Compass was initiated in the centre of Vilnius by the NGO ‘Gold of Lithuania’, which, in 2009–2011, replicated the historical journey of M.K. ‘the Orphan’ Radziwiłł around the Mediterranean Sea by retracing his steps.

Author: architect Eglė Truskauskienė, designer: Rasa Miliūnaitė-Janėnienė.

Isaac Rudashevsky was a young chronicler of the Vilnius Ghetto who left a diary of life in the ghetto as seen through the eyes of a maturing teenager. He not only revealed his feelings but also captured the events and, at the same time, the history. ‘I believe that everything should be written down, even the worst events. Later on, everything will be important’, Isaac wrote in his diary. In the autumn of 1943, during the liquidation of the Vilnius Ghetto, the Rudashevsky family and their relatives were shot in Paneriai (Ponary). 

Memorial stones are memorial plaques placed on pavements or street pavements to commemorate the victims of Nazi National Socialist aggression. The first such plaque was installed in 1992 in Cologne, Germany. In 2016, Lithuania became the 21st country to implement this initiative. The first Memorial Stones in Lithuania were installed by the artist Gunter Demnig, who came up with the idea and initiated the project. The memorial stone for Isaac Rudashevsky was placed in front of the building where he attended secondary school (gymnasium).

At the end of Ukraine Square, almost at Bazilijonų Street, some cobblestones mark the site of the former Vilnius defensive wall. 

By order of Grand Duke Alexander of Lithuania, construction of the Vilnius defensive wall began in 1503 and had been completed by 1522. It encircled the current territory of the Old Town and was about 3 km long. The wall was demolished in the early 19th century, and only fragments of it remain. A round tower, part of the defensive complex, stood on the site of the adjacent tall building (56 Pylimo g.). From it, the city wall extended to the only surviving gate of the town – Aušros (Medininkai) Vartai, known as the Gates of Dawn.