Town Hall square, Vilnius

The main city hall's building was constructed by similar architect which designed Cathedral, Presidential Palace. A lot performances can be found in town hall too.

Town Hall Square, as in most medieval towns, was the centre of town life. Markets, fairs, judicial punishments, ranging from stocks and pillory to executions, as well as official receptions took place here.

At the moment in the building of town hall exhibitions is taking place. In town hall square you can see pointers to famous places of Vilnius - it is really useful.

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The oldest known Town Hall is mentioned as early as 1432 and stood in the same place as the current one. The town hall has been rebuilt more than once. during the renovations in 1680 the exterior was decorated with sculptures of angels. In 1725 a clock and a bells were raised into the tower. Following a fire the tower had begun to be rebuilt, but one night in 1781 it toppled over onto the town hall and was never rebuilt.

Vilnius Town Hall stands in the centre of the Old Town but outwardly it is quite modest. The simplest and least expensive project was chosen for its construction. At that time Vilnius was a province of united Poland-Lithuania and it could have been the reason why more decorative projects were rejected. The town Hall was designed by L Stuoka-Gucevicius. It took 10 years to complete the exterior but the work on the interior design continued into the beginning of the 19th century.

The Town Hall Square in Vilnius was not laid out "according to a rope", as in many European cities or, for example, the second-largest Lithuanian city, Kaunas. Instead, it developed naturally at the intersection of several of the most important roads. In its irregular form it is very similar to the market squares of small towns in Lithuania, only incomparably larger. Buildings surrounding the square experienced an endless series of misfortunes and reconstruction, but even the Second World War and the post-war period did not destroy this unique urban space. In its center stands the one-of-a-kind classical Town Hall of Vilnius, which lacks the usual features one might expect in a Town Hall.
The building was designed at the end of the 18th century by the famous architect, Laurynas Stuoka-Gucevicius (1753-1798). The square, two-story structure, with its six Doric columns supporting its portico, faces a triangular square, looking out on the beginning of Pilies (Castle) Street.

Vilnius old town has many narrow streets, but really few squares, this is one of them!
Here you can find the neoclassical Town Hall (with the Information centre), but you won't see it on my picture since the sun was in front of me! ;-)
All buildings have been restored, and there are many open-air cafés and bars, as well as restaurants. It's a pity it's not a pedestrian zone, so beware of cars while walking around the square!

The house of guildhall is in the centre of the Old Vilnius. There is the tourist information centre where anyone can get free map of the centre of Vilnius. In the information centre can buy postcards with Vilnius views and informative books. Very good place, really. More about all this things is tere: TIC@vilnius.lt and www.vilnius.lt

When I walked Didzioju gatve (Large Street) southwards I entered a triangle square where the street splited into two streets. It was Town Hall Square (Rotuses aikste). The square was closed by large, white, clasic style building on the south. It was Vilnius Town Hall rebuilt at the end of 18th century.

Well, being originally the town hall (seat of city authorities) it served as a theater where world premiere of Polish national opera, "Halka" by Moniuszko took place on 1st January 1848. The theatre was close by Russian authorities (like most Polish institutions) after anti-tzar uprising in 1863-1864. It was re-opened in 1906 and closed again in 1942. In Soviet times it was a representative seat of Lithuanian artists where many events took place. Nowadays it's partly open to the public. If you go earlier than me you can visit its gothic cellars and historical expostion.

On December 2002, the president of the USA, George Bush stood on Town Hall stairs and congratulated Lithuania welcoming to NATO. Lithuania finally joined NATO on 29th March 2004. It was very touching to see (on TV news) tears of Lithuanian Prime Minister (or President) at the celebration of NATO enlargement. After many years of bondage and repressions under Soviet regime it's no wonder that he was moved to tears.

In the past the Town Hall was the central point in the life of the whole city and the nearby square was the place of executions, marketplaces and public life.
In front of the Town Hall stood a pillory where the criminals were flogged by the executioner. Here also stood a tower with the clock and bells.