Sat splendidly at the far eastern end of Laisvės, the imposing St. Michael the Archangel, known in the local vernacular as Soboras (the Lithuanianised rendition of the Russian word for cathedral, sobor), started life in 1893 as a Russian Orthodox Cathedral, which explains its classic neo-Byzantine design, albeit with the unusual inclusion of Corinthian columns. Originally built for the Russian soldiers based in the city, the church was handed over to the (Catholic) Lithuanian army at the end of WWI and with the exception of an incarnation as an art gallery during the Soviet occupation has been a military church all its life. The church’s catacombs have been turned into a Blind Museum and can be found just to the right of the main entrance. At the time of writing the exterior is in bad need of a fresh coat of paint.