Vilkpėdė

Four underground ammunition storage complexes have survived in Vilnius from the interwar times and are referred to simply as the Polish bunkers located in Vilkpėdė, Šnipiškės, Antakalnis and Rasos. The underground premises with massively thick walls were equipped with two entrances; above each of them was a circular ventilation opening adorned with the Polish coat of arms – an eagle holding a wreath in its claws.

You can reach the Vilkpėdė ammunition warehouses by walking to the left of the ‘Moki-veži’ store (Vilkpėdės g. 12).

It is said that somewhere near Vilkpėdės g, on the hillside, there was a stone with embossed footprints. The stone, measuring approximately 1.8 x 2.3 x 3.7 m, had imprints reminiscent of a wolf or goat’s footprints. The stone was mentioned in several written sources, and was also featured in the plans of Vilnius in the middle of the 17th century. It is presumed that the name of the area derives from this stone. It is also said that in 1937, it was probably broken up in order to construct cobblestones to lay the road. Up the hill near the garages, you can still see fragments of a large boulder. Who knows – maybe it’s the very same rock that gave the area its name?

In 1912 a hospital was opened in Vilkpėde that could treat up to 150 railwaymen and military crew. Raised high on the hill, the hospital buildings were constructed in the style of historicism. As is befitting for a real railway hospital, railway tracks were laid right up to the building. This branch line section of the railway was only dismantled between 2007 and 2008. A commemorative plaque (by V. Zaranka and J. Naruševičius) dedicated to Boris Efros hangs on the wall of one of the hospital buildings. He was the surgeon and doctor of medical sciences who in 1958 was the first person in Lithuania to perform heart surgery. B. Efros’ Surgery Department performed approximately 60 heart surgeries in Vilkpėdė Hospital, all of which were successful.

In 2015, a sculpture with motifs of the legend of Vilkpėdė (sculptor: J. Musteikis, architect: H. Žukauskas) was erected on the hill just next to Vilkpėdė Hospital. On top of the pink granite stone, which weighs 8 tonnes, there is a sculpture of a doeling, a female goat kid. On one side of the monument, you can find the wolf’s feet, while the legend of Vilkpėdė is written on the other side. Haven’t you heard of it? Make sure to come to read it!

Along this old cobblestone street (known colloquially as a ‘bruk‘ – cobbled path), a railway water supply line was built, transporting well water from the bank of the Neris to the water supply tower built in the goods station. Next to the street (which translates as ‘Water Supply Street’), you can still find some wooden houses that have survived.

The church is a Neo-Gothic style building built in 1913 according to the design of the famous architect August Klein. In the early twentieth century, it was built as a chapel to serve an orphanage located at Gerosios Vilties g. (Good Hope Street). After the Soviet occupation of Lithuania, the church was closed in 1948, a year later it was handed over to the State Drama Theatre and used as a warehouse for decorations and props. In 1960, it was returned to the community of believers and church services resumed once again from 1961. This is probably the only church in Vilnius that was reopened during the Soviet era. It was opened in exchange for the Church of the Heart of Jesus that once stood on A. Vivulskio g., which was destroyed and rebuilt into the Builders’ Palace of Culture. Nowadays, the Holy Mass is celebrated in this church in Lithuanian and Polish.

Very close to the church, on the left side of the churchyard, there stands an interesting sculpture depicting a firefighter at Christ’s feet. In 1961, it was brought from the then closed Church of the Heart of Jesus. Neither the author nor the exact year it was created is known (estimated period from the 1960s – 1950s). There are various stories about this sculpture, one of which tells us that before the Second World War the tower of the Church of the Heart of Jesus caught fire. One firefighter climbed to the top of the house of worship to protect the building from flames. However, the faithful Christian lost his balance, fell, and died. To pay tribute to the brave soul who had died so tragically, the parishioners of the Church of the Heart of Jesus in Vilnius erected the sculptural group ‘Christ and the Fireman’.

In 1908, an orphanage and a craft school ‘House of the Heart of Jesus’ were opened on the street known as ‘Dobra Rada’ in Polish, ‘Gerosios Vilties‘ in Lithuanian, or ‘Good Hope‘ in English. The founder of the orphanage was a priest called Karol Lubianiec. The school taught various crafts, including knitting and those of the carpenter, locksmith, shoemaker, and tailor. It was possible to order handicrafts made by the pupils in several workshops throughout the city, as well as in their own shop.

Later, the building was rebuilt and expanded, and in 1913 a new brick chapel of God’s Providence (now the Church of God’s Providence) was consecrated near the orphanage; all the wooden interior details were made by the schoolchildren.

As of 1918, there were about 500 children living in the orphanage. In addition to the craft workshop, there were two buildings providing separate accommodation for boys and girls. Today the Vilnius Juozas Tallat-Kelpša Conservatory is located in this building.

On the corner of Savanorių pr. ir Gerosios Vilties g. stands a lonely house – once a grocery store. This can be gleaned by the disused steps from the street side with the Polish inscription ‘Sklep spożywczy‘ (Grocery store).

There is a building hidden from the eyes of passers-by in the courtyard between Gerosios Vilties g. and Savanorių g. The triangular shape of building number sign demonstrates that in the interwar period, this building housed the 5th Commissariat at the address Pelių St. 4 (ul. Mysia 4 as it was known at the time in Polish or 4 Mice Street in English). This surviving relic is only noticed by the most observant. Look for it on the eastern corner of the building (from the Savanorių pr. side).

In 1985, an impressive 14-storey building was constructed overlooking a huge roundabout. The 43-metre semi-circular reinforced concrete giant had to perform the function of a screen to protect the block behind it from noise and dust. To this aim, S. Garuckas and K. R. Plyčiuraitis-Plyčius designed the dormitory hostel for the workers of the Electric Welding Equipment factory in Vilnius. It was designed to accommodate 450 people. Each shared apartment consisted of two twin rooms and a kitchen equipped with a gas stove and fridge. A communal lounge complete with a colour television was to be found on each floor. The plans included a training base, café, and sports hall in the adjoining 5-storey annex. The hostel was opened in 1986, and 5 years later, it became a regular block of flats.

The construction of the Vilnius second heat plant (VE-2) began in 1948. For Vilnius, which was recovering from the war, it was an important object. The chimneys of the power plant became the first sights that welcomed people to the city. The location of the power plant was not chosen by chance; it was a strategically convenient place to bring fuel by road and to move it along the River Neris, and was also surrounded by a lot of space for potential development.

Between 1951–1958, this power plant was the most important electricity supplier in Vilnius. Initially, it only supplied Vilnius with electricity, but since 1955 – also heat.

The VE-2 was first fuelled by peat, whereas since 1961, natural gas has been used. Together with gas, biofuel is the main raw material used in the VE-2

At 192 metres in length, this is the longest suspension bridge not only in Vilnius, but also in Lithuania. The bridge was designed with the purpose of laying pipes to the then greatly expanded territory of greenhouses belonging to a group of enterprises on the other bank of the Neris. In addition, the employees of these large companies needed a pedestrian bridge to get to work quickly and more conveniently. This bridge was designed between 1955 and 1956 by V. Ražaitis, a protégé of the famous Lithuanian architect V. Žemkalnis. The project was developed within half a year (the designers of what was then Leningrad agreed to do the work ‘only’ within 2 years). Although the bridge was never accepted for operation due to the poor quality of the construction work and deviations from the project, people walked over it until 2008, when it was closed.