Lukiskiu aikste 2 by Augustas Didzgalvis

Lukiškės Square (; other spellings include ''Łukiszki, Lukiski, Lukishki'') is the largest square (about in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

, located in the center of the city. A major street in Vilnius,

Gediminas Avenue Gediminas Avenue () is the main street of Vilnius, where most of the governmental institutions of Lithuania are concentrated, including the government, parliament, Constitutional Court and ministries. It is also the location of cultural institu ...

, passes by the southern border of the square. It is surrounded by many public buildings, including the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfoli ...

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

, Court of Appeal, Academy of Music and Theatre, Church of Saints Philip and James, and the Dominican monastery with the former St. Jacob Hospital.

History

Between the 17th and 19th centuries, it was a suburb of Vilnius and called Lukiškės. The wooden Lukiškės

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

of the Lithuanian Tatars and their graveyard were prominent features of the suburb. These landmarks were destroyed by the Soviet authorities in the 1960s. In 1852, Lukishki (, as it was known in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

) was designated to be reconstructed, and this was carried out in the 1860s, with

St. George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the ...

's Avenue (now

) crossing it from east to west. After the

January Uprising The January Uprising was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at putting an end to Russian occupation of part of Poland and regaining independence. It began on 22 January 1863 and continued until the last i ...

in 1863, Lukiškės Square was one of the areas where public executions of insurgents took place. A particularly famous insurrectionist

Konstanty Kalinowski Konstanty Kalinowski, or Wincenty Konstanty Kalinowski ( – ), was a Polish-Belarusian writer, journalist, lawyer and revolutionary. He was one of the leaders of the 1863 January Uprising on the lands of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwea ...

was executed by hanging there on March 24, 1864. Mikhail Nikolayevich Muravyov, the Governor General of the

Vilna Governorate The Vilna Governorate was a province ('' guberniya'') of the Northwestern Krai of the Russian Empire. In 1897, the governorate covered an area of and had a population of 1,591,207 inhabitants. The governorate was defined by the Minsk Governo ...

, earned the nickname "The Hangman" from the frequent executions in the square. At the beginning of the 20th century the square was known for the traditional Kaziukas Fair. The square became a symbol of terror when hundreds of opponents of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

were interrogated, tortured and executed between 1944 and 1947 and on, in the infamous NKVD Palace facing the square. Among the victims killed there was the chief commander of the Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters, Adolfas Ramanauskas "Vanagas". Today the palace houses

Vilnius County Vilnius County () is the largest of the 10 counties of Lithuania, located in the east of the country around the city Vilnius and is also known as Capital Region or Sostinės regionas by the State Data Agency, Lithuanian statistics department and ...

Court and the Court of Appeal of Lithuania, as well as the Museum of Genocide Victims in the former prison cells, occupying the basement and underground levels of the palace. The square was reconstructed according to the design of V. Mikučianis in 1949–1952. During the Soviet occupation, the square was renamed to

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

Square and a statue of Lenin was built in the middle of it in 1953. The statue, which used to be the largest of its kind in the country, was removed in 1991, after the restoration of independence of Lithuania. The gathered crowd celebrated the fall of the statue; its upper part was lifted using a crane, and broke off at the lower legs attached to the

pedestal A pedestal or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In civil engineering, it is also called ''basement''. The minimum height o ...

. The reassembled Lenin statue is now on display in Grūtas Park. The square was partially reconstructed in the 1990s.

Gallery

File:Lukiskes-1860.jpg, Lukiškės suburb in 1860 File:Lukiškės Mosque (Józef Oziębłowski).jpg, Tatar mosque and graveyard in the Lukiškės suburb (1830). Later it was replaced by another, a more traditional one in 1867. File:Lenins-Monument-in-Vilnius-Lukiki--square-sculptor-N.jpg, Lenin Square in 1948 File:Vilnius park.jpg, Square as seen from Gediminas Avenue, before reconstruction (2008) File:Lukiškių Aikstė.jpg, Sandy beach temporarily setup in Lukiškės Square in 2020

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lukiskes Square Squares in Vilnius