IN THE SPOTLIGHT

• Dawn Gate

  
  Vilnius » Sightseeing » Places of interest

  Completed in 1522, the Dawn Gate (or Sharp Gate (Ostra Brama) as it’s known to the Poles) is the only remaining gate from the city’s original defensive walls. Read on
  

• St. Anne's Church

  
  Vilnius » Sightseeing » Churches

  Unquestionably one of the city’s most famous landmarks and quite rightly so, the history of St. Anne’s starts with the alleged construction in the 14th century of a wooden house of worship on this spot in honour of Ona, the wife of Vytautas the Great. Read on
  

• Choral Synagogue

  
  Vilnius » Sightseeing » Jewish life

  Built in a Moorish style in 1903, this is the only one out of over 100 prewar Jewish prayer houses that still functions. The term Choral Synagogue relates to the inclusion of a choir section, a feature considered by some a revolutionary form of modernisation and assimilation at the time it was built. Read on
  

• Cathedral-Basilica of St. Stanislaus & St. Ladislaus

  
  Vilnius » Sightseeing » Churches

  The most important Catholic building in Lithuania, Vilnius Cathedral as it’s more usually known was first built in 1251 by a newly converted Grand Duke Mindaugas on the site of a supposed pagan temple. Read on
  

• Genocide Victims' Museum

  
  Vilnius » Sightseeing » Museums & Galleries

  The sign outside reads that between 1940 and 1991 this building housed the representative institutions of the NKVD and KGB, and, accordingly, the exhibits inside relate almost exclusively to the period of oppression and the so-called genocide of the Lithuanian people by the Communist regime. Read on
  

• Gediminas Castle & Museum

  
  Vilnius » Sightseeing » Museums & Galleries

  Dating from the 13th century the castle was rebuilt in 1419 by Grand Duke Vytautas following the great fire of Vilnius. In 1610 it was used as a prison for the ruling classes, and during the 1655-1661 Russian occupation the towers and defensive walls were almost completely destroyed, with serious albeit only partial restoration work beginning (presumably by the Poles) as late as 1930. Read on
  

• Romain Gary

  
  Vilnius » Sightseeing » Statues & Memorials

  Born and raised a few doors from here at what’s now J. Basanavičiaus 18 as Romain Kacew (Katsev), Romain Gary became a prize-winning French author after moving to the country with his mother when he was 14. Read on
  

• Frank Zappa

  
  Vilnius » Sightseeing » Monuments

  Hot Rats! Deceased rock and roll pervert, part-time classical composer, father of Moon Unit and all round creative genius Frank Vincent Zappa (1940-1993) has had his head immortalised in brass and stuck on a stainless steel pole in a lacklustre courtyard just west of Old Town. Read on
  

• Pavlovo Respublika

  
  Vilnius » Sightseeing » Out of town

  Lasting a little under 30 years, the tale of the Pavlovo Respublika is about as strange as it gets. The brainchild of the Polish priest and politician Paweł Ksawery Brzostowski (Lith. Read on