Vilnius sights

The sights in Vilnius can be divided into two categories. The first one is the monuments which are situated in the Old City and related predominantly to the period of Lithuanian Grand Duchy. The second category includes all the other monuments which appeared in the period from the end of the 18-th century till our days.

Vilnius is often called the city of baroque because of the abundance of the churches, towers and mansions which are built in medieval style. The old city in Vilnius is also famous for the fact that it’s recognized by Unesco as one of the biggest historical and architectural complex in Eastern Europe.

The main center of the city is The Upper and the Lower castle with the reminiscences of serf walls, the Tower Wall and the Tower to Gedymin, all of them are situated on the shore of Nyaris. The building of a Lower Palace of Great Lithuanian dukes is going to be added to this list in the nearest future. The reconstruction works are realized in the capital of Lithuania from the year 2002.

The biggest part of architectural buildings of the Old City is situated on three main streets: Peles leading from the gates of the Lower castle to Ratusha, Aushros Vartu (there’s Vasilyev monastery by the project of an architect Glaubitca, the Russian church of the Holy Spirit and one of the symbols of the Old City is Myadininkskiye Gates), Didjheyi (there’s Frank’s house, where the French cultural center is situated today and where Stendal lived some years ago, Lithuanian National Arts museum), and also on two main squares – Ratushnaya and Cathedral. The street Peles with an abundance of cafes and souvenir shops should be marked out particularly and the Cathedral Square with a marvelous Cathedral to St. Stanislav is also really worthy of notice. Among the most picturesque establishments in Vilnius there’s the church of Pyotr and Pavel which luckily avoided any destructions during the Soviet times. This church is situated in the very beginning of the street Antakalnyo.

Vilnius University, which is the oldest educational establishment of Eastern Europe, with lots of cozy yards, medieval fountains and air arches deserves a separate attention. While walking along the University block you sometimes feel that you are surrounded by the decorations towards “The Venetian merchant” by Shakespeare.

The newest sight in Vilnius is first of all a well-known television tower with a restaurant on the last floor where you can have a perfect panorama of the city. The tower is considered to be one of the symbols of the city.

Over the recent years several attractive monuments were opened in Vilnius at once: the statue to Uzhupskiy Angel which is situated on the place where there was not a very big church situated (the region Uzhupis in the Old City), the statue of the king Mindovg and the bridge to Mindovg over Nyaris (at the foot of the tower to Gedymin). The monument to Frank Zappe is by right considered to be one of the most unexpected sights in Vilnius which was installed due to the donation of the city music lovers. The monument is situated in the street Kalinausko.

Among the sights of the epoch of the USSR only the Opera and Ballet theatre in Vilnius street should be singled out. It was built in the 70-s of the 20-th century.