Belfry in Cathedral Square, Vilnius

The Bell Tower in Cathedral Square has become one of the landmarks of Vilnius. The unusual bell tower which stands independently of the Cathedral was originally part of the Old Town defensive walls but now stands alone in the square just in front of the Cathedral.
The tower underwent extensive restaoration 200 years ago when it acquired its present day appearance. The mix of architectural styles (gothic, baroque amd classical) is due to the various restatoration works which have been carried out during the centuries. The tower was converted into a bell tower in the 16th century and a clock was installed later during the 17th century. The clock itself has a unique feature in that it does not possess a minute hand and the bell sounds every 15 minutes.

White, tall bell tower stays in Cathedral square. This tower has a history from early ages of Grand Duchy of Lithuania to nowadays. This tower was built on the remain of old defensive wall (just was tallen). His substructure is oldest remained brick built structure in Vilnius (from about XII century). Old bells was changed recently.
Watch out - the clock was not so precisional.

The Cathedral's imposing bell tower is 57 m tall and was built on top of the Lower Castle defensive tower. Its earliest underground part dates back to the 13th century and was constructed on the bottom of the old riverbed. The first round tier comes from the second half of the 14th century, while the next one was built in the 17th century and a clock made in Germany by Joseph Bergman installed on it. The belfry owes its present shape to the 1801 reconstruction.

The belfry of the cathedral - height 57 m - is a mixture of several styles. Of its three octagonal tiers two are of Baroque style and one of Classical. Regardless of the mixture the belfry looks harmonius.Its foundations are on remains of a square tower, which was one of the oldest brick buildings in Lithuania. The bricks are bound in the pre-Gothic manner. The underground part dates back to the 13th century and the round part from late 14th century. In 1522 architect Annus started the work to transform the tower into a belfry.

The Cathedral's bell tower (57 m or 187 ft) was built atop a Lower Castle defensive tower. Its oldest underground square section was even built in the 13th century on the bottom of the old riverbed. The bell tower acquired its present appearance after the 1801 reconstruction.

The belfry (57 m high) was probably a part of defence walls in the past. The proof of this theory are loopholes in its lower part. Half the way between the belfry and the main entrance to the cathedral a careful observer may find a pavement stone with the word 'Stebuklas' (miracle) on it. It is said to be a magical place which makes wishes come true. Why don't you have a try? Just stand on it, make a wish and turn around.

There were four clocks put on four sides of the top floor of the belfry tower of Vilnius Cathedral. You can see what time I was there on my picture. Each clock face was 2 m (6 ft + 6 inches) in diameter. Its Roman numbers, hands and rims were gilded.

The clocks were put on the tower probably in 17th century and its mechanism was rebuilt last time in 1803.

There were cement stairs outside on the eastern side of the belfry of the Vinius Cathedral. They led to heavy doors which were locked. So, instead of visiting historical interiors I took a picture of posing matcrazy0 there :-).

Hmm... I have no idea what was behind the doors :-(. There were no explanations on the doors. I would like to see there: a souvenir/book store, historical exposition and surely the stairs up to the bells and a top observation deck and down to an underground historical exposition. Hmm... maybe someday...