4 Places to Visit in Vilnius, Lithuania

Gediminas' Tower and St. Anne's Church in Vilnius do not run the risk of ever being ignored: tourists walk along beaten paths. However, if you turn into an unexpected street or let yourself ride through a few stops on public transport or on city walking tours, you will be rewarded with an impressive story that only these old walls can tell.

Church of St. Bartholomew

The temple is located in the beloved creative area of Užupis, not far from the statue known as the Angel of Užupis. In 1997, the church of St. Bartholomew was transferred to the Vilnius community of Belarusian Catholics. The appearance that we can observe today, is the church acquired at the end of the 19th century. The building, which suffered from historical upheavals, was rebuilt in the classical style according to the project of Karol Podchaszynski, the architect who, by the way, came up with the spectacular ceiling of the professorial reading room in the library of Vilnius University.

Sapieha Palace and Park

Hetman the great Lithuanian Casimir Jan Sapieha built this palace at the end of the 17th century. Then one heir succeeded another, each settled in the family nest in his own way. Under Alexander Mikhail Sapega, the French architect Jacob Delo worked on the park surrounding the residence. If you want to get an idea of ??what a real baroque palace and park ensemble looks like, this is the place for you—in this sense, the place is exceptional for Vilnius. Being in Soviet times "reformatted" for the needs of a military hospital, the palace building and the surrounding area were closed to the curious public for a long time. Since 2012, restoration work has been underway here, around which public discussions break out sometimes. Anyone can see how everything is progressing today.

Church of the Lord Jesus

Not far from Sapieha Park is an ensemble of a Catholic Church and a former Trinitarian monastery. It was laid at the end of the 17th century by the owner of the aforementioned palace and park, Kazimir Jan Sapieha, at whose invitation the first representatives of this monastic order arrived in Vilnius. Sapieha entrusted the implementation of the project to Italian craftsmen. Compositionally, the church was modeled after the churches of the Trinitarians in Rome—hence the rather unusual dome with a lantern in our area. The temple became part of Sapieha's residence, and with it, the family crypt was equipped.

Tuskulėnai Manor

The Vilnius residence of the governor-general Alexander Rimsky-Korsakov (yes, he is from the same family as the famous composer) began as an idyll because it was a copy of the Roman villa Tuskulanum, a standard of artistic taste. However, in the Soviet years, the place, which was conceived as a cozy neoclassical noble nest, acquired completely different meanings: the KGB was located here, and executive orders were secretly carried out in the surrounding area. During excavations from 1994-1996, the remains of 706 people were found in Tuskulenai Park.

From 2005 to 2008, the palace was restored:

its original plan was recreated;
wall and ceiling paintings were discovered and restored;
stucco molding with plant motifs and statues of ancient goddesses returned.

Now, the exposition Project—homo sovieticus is located here, which tells about the mechanisms of Soviet totalitarianism. The surrounding area is rethought as a park of peace and sorrow.