Słuszki Estate in Vilnius

After being baptized in 1251 into the Roman Catholicism in 1251, Grand Duke Mindaugas built the first cathedral in Vilnius on the site of the present-day Cathedral Basilica (Cathedral of St. Stanislaus and St. Vladislaus). Before that, in pagan times an altar, a sacred fire or even a Perkūnas sanctuary was located on the site of today's Cathedral Basilica The creation of the Lithuanian state started as late as the 13th century. Its first outstanding ruler Mindaugas was baptized in 1251 and crowned King of Lithuania on July 6th, 1253. Today, July 6th is a national holiday of Lithuanian statehood It is assumed that it was Mindaugas who built the first Cathedral in Vilnius. Traces of the original Cathedral incorporating Romanesque style features have been discovered in the vaults of the present Cathedral. After Mindaugas's death, the Christian (Roman Catholic) Cathedral was turned into a place of pagan worship. The author ...

A semi-circular corridor of the Bastion of Vilnius, where cannons were lined up at embrasures, was called a casemate. A special platform with a parapet for heavy artillery was built on the terrace of the bastionA 48-m long, 2,8-m wide and 3,5 m high impressive tunnel leads from the tower to the underground casemate. Cannons brought to the tower would be rolled down this tunnelThe main part of the Bastion of Vilnius is the casemate. It is an underground horseshoe-shaped room for cannons. The casemate forms a semicircle around a 3-4 metre-high hill heightened with sand. From the outside the façade is 8 m high, and sloping, and is built from bricksAll photos are copyrighted by Vladislav B. Sotirovic© Vladislav B. Sotirovic 2020

Town Hall Square has been a market place since very early times, and it today dominated by the Town Hall which was formerly a court, with the basement being used as prison cellsThe Town Hall back-side. The present building was constructed between 1785 and 1799 by the Classical architect Lithuanian Laurynas Stuoka-Gucevičius The square in front of the Town Hall is the venue for an annual three-day crafts market on the weekend closest to March 4th, St. Casimir's DayAll photos are copyrighted by Vladislav B. Sotirovic© Vladislav B. Sotirovic 2020

One of Baroque gates of the Sapieha ParkAmong the surviving details of the palace are Baroque façades with stucco relief works by Pietro Perti and three Baroque gates. The park is the only one in Vilnius Vilnius with features of a regular Baroque park The palace and the gates were decorated with sculptures and frescoes created by masters who had worked in the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul and St. Casimir's Chapel of the Cathedral Basilica in VilniusAll photos are copyrighted by Vladislav B. Sotirovic© Vladislav B. Sotirovic 2019

The family of the noblemen Chodkiewicz bought a house that stood on this site, and transformed it into a Renaissance residenceGrand Hall of the Vilnius Picture Gallery in former Chodkiewicz PalaceThe Classicist interior of the palace is a notable feature of the building of former Chodkiewicz Palace, today the Vilnius Picture GalleryAll photos are copyrighted by Vladislav B. Sotirovic© Vladislav B. Sotirovic 2020

The present church was built in the late 17th century, after its predecessor was burnt down in the 1655 during the war with Russia. The church was completed only in the middle of the 18th century The nave is 24 metres high, making it the tallest in Vilnius; and its length is the same, with accounts for its concentrated appearance when viewed from the sideIn the north tower is a particularly ornate chapel, dedicated to the Dominican St. Hyacinth, with frescoes depicting scenes from his life. The fresco above the entrance depicts the Virgin Mary and Angels. The church was returned to the Dominicans in 1993All photos are copyrighted by Vladislav B. Sotirovic© Vladislav B. Sotirovic 2018

The Augustines established themselves on this site in Vilnius Old Town after 1661. The monastery date from the late 18th centuryIn 1833-1842 the monastery housed the Vilnius Spiritual Academy. In 1859 it was converted into a Russian Orthodox Church of St. AndrewIn 1918 the church was returned to the Roman Catholics and renovated. After WWII the interior was destroyed during the installation of a ferroconcrete ceiling; the church was used as a warehouse in the Soviet timeAll photos are copyrighted by Vladislav B. Sotirovic© Vladislav B. Sotirovic 2019

At the Church of the Holy Spirit, a Dominican monastery was established on St. Ignatius Street in 1501. In the 19th century, the buildings of the monastery were converted into a prison The entrance from St. Ignatius Street to the former old Jesuit Novitiate: arranged around three courtyards. It is the same age as the nearby Church of St. IgnatiusThe Church of St. Ignatius was erected from 1622 to 1647 being devastated by fires in 1748-1750. It suffered during the war against Russia from 1655 to 1661. The porch was added in the 19th century.All photos are copyrighted by Vladislav B. Sotirovic© Vladislav B. Sotirovic 2020

Church of St. Anne (left) and Bernardine Church (right). The church of St. Anne is a unique monument of red firebrick Gothic architecture in LithuaniaSt. Anne Church, designed in 1495-1500 by Benedikt Rejt, built up at the turn of the 15th century, and renovated in 1902-1909. 35 different kinds of brick were used help in creating the church. The façade was reinforced in 1960-1970St. Anne Church - a church which French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte wanted to put on his palm and carry it over to Paris. The Church of St. Anne is symmetrical, marked by graceful, pointed forms that continue upwardAll photos are copyrighted by Vladislav B. Sotirovic© Vladislav B. Sotirovic 2018

The historical building in Tyzenhauzų Str. in VilniusTyzenhauzų Str. building in VilniusTyzenhauzų Str. building in VilniusAll photos are copyrighted by Vladislav B. Sotirovic© Vladislav B. Sotirovic 2021

A museum operates today in the House of Signatories, along with a memorial hall where the act of Lithuania's independence was signed on February 16th, 1918 when Lithuania was under the German occupation and administration during WWI (1915-1918)The first floor of the house with statues symbolizing agriculture and fishing is very decorative. Niches on the second floor hold two male bustsHaving acquired this house in the late 19th century, Karol Sztral reconstructed it according to architect Aleksei Polozov's project in the style of HistoricismAll photos are copyrighted by Vladislav B. Sotirovic© Vladislav B. Sotirovic 2019

Its foundations are superimposed on the remains of a square tower, one of the oldest brick buildings in Lithuania, whose bricks are bound in the pre-Cothis (Baltic) manner An oval four-story tower with loopholes was built on these remains. Originally, it was a defensive tower of the Lower CastleThe underground square part dates from the 13th century, and the round part - from the late 14th century All photos are copyrighted by Vladislav B. Sotirovic© Vladislav B. Sotirovic 2019

The church was built on the north side of the Lukiškių Square in 1624. However, the present building dates from the late 17th-18th cent.It is a single-nave Baroque church with cylindrical vaults. An image of the miraculous painting of the 18th century high altar occupies the niche above the porticoThe niches hold wooden 18th cent. statues of St. Hyacinth and St. Dominic. During the Soviet times there were designs to demolish the church but it did not ever happenAll photos are copyrighted by Vladislav B. Sotirovic© Vladislav B. Sotirovic 2018

Three crosses are believed to have first been erected on this hill above the Old Town of Vilnius in the 17th century to commemorate a group of 14 Franciscan monks from a nearby monastery who were martyred in the 14th century The monument has changed several times. The present one was built in 1989 to replace one that had been removed by the Soviet authorities in the 1950sOne of the best panoramic views of the Old Town of Vilnius is offered from the Hill of Three CrossesAll photos are copyrighted by Vladislav B. Sotirovic© Vladislav B. Sotirovic 2020

In this house, belonging at the time to a university professor, Adam Mickiewicz stayed for a short period in 1822 and completed the poem "Gražina"It is small museum of three rooms but it is currently being expended. Among the exhibits are several portraits of Adam Mickiewicz and some period furniture, including a table and chair from Kaunas and a chair from Paris that the poet himself usedThe exhibition includes among the many volumes of his work in foreign languages, for instance, a Persian translation of his "Sonnets from the Crimea" All photos are copyrighted by Vladislav B. Sotirovic© Vladislav B. Sotirovic 2020

The main façade of the Presidential Palace (Prezidentura) in Vilnius at Simonas Daukantas SquareThe presidential coat-of-arms is adorning the entrance to the President's Chancellery on University StreetThe Inner Courtyard of the Presidential Palace - the palace of the President of the Republic of Lithuania since 1997All photos are copyrighted by Vladislav B. Sotirovic© Vladislav B. Sotirovic 2018

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Monument to the Gaon of Vilnius Elijah ben Solomon Zalman (1720-1797) called "Jewish Saga". The monument is located on the place where he lived. The house was destroyed during WWII and it was not restored. Nearby the monument there is a memorial plaque in Lithuanian and Hebrew on a building at Žydų (Jewish) Street Antokolski Street in Vilnius Old Town's Jewish Quarter. In this street the famous 19th century sculptor Mark Antokolski lived in 1843-1862. It was here he created his first sculptors depicting the inhabitants of his native quarter, which later gained recognitionMėsinių Street in Vilnius Old Town. That was one of the longest and most important street in the Jewish QuarterAll photos are copyrighted by Vladislav B. Sotirovic© Vladislav B. Sotirovic 2019

St. Lazarus' almshouse operated in this church, plague and famine victims were buried there. In 1715, the church and the monastery were given to the brethren of St. Rochus who tended to sick people, and in 1752 - to the sisters of MaryIn a cemetery at the church many outstanding people were buried, among others architect Laurynas Stuoka-Gucevičius. A memorial plaque to him is set up on the south façade of the church. However, later the cemetery was turned into a storage site of construction materialsThe church was severely damaged during a fire in 1794. The church was reconstructed and slightly transformed in 1801-1806. In 1864, the convent was closed down, and the buildings converted into a prisonAll photos are copyrighted by Vladislav B. Sotirovic© Vladislav B. Sotirovic 2020

According to legend, the monastery and wooden church were built circa 1332 in the burial spot of the Franciscan monks that had been martyred by Lithuanian pagansThe building complex is formed in the mid-18th century. Today, the church possess six Late Baroque-style altars, with the main altar having a picture of the Holy Virgin Mary that is considered to be miraculous. A copy of the picture is painted on the façade in 1742 The monument to famous Lithuanian neo-Classicist architect Laurinas Gucevičius, the founder of Vilnius neo-Classicism, is erected in 1994 in the square in front of the church.   All photos are copyrighted by Vladislav B. Sotirovic© Vladislav B. Sotirovic 2020