Vilnius

Angel of Uzupis

In the main square is a statue unveiled on 1 April 2002 of Gabriel blowing a trumpet. He's probably blowing a raspberry.

Bastion of Vilnius Defensive Wall

The city walls were built 1503-22 with nine gates (of which only Gate of Dawn survives) and this artillery position. It's now a museum of the city's military history.

Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00·Adult €6, child €3

Bernadine Cemetery

Established in 1810 by the Bernardine monks of the Church of St Francis in Užupis. It became the main city cemetery, with some 14,000 burial plots, but fell into disrepair from 1945. It was restored from 2010.

Cathedral of the Theotokos

Dievo Motinos Ėmimo į Dangų katedra

Like St Anne's, this stands by an entrance bridge to Užupis. It was first built in the 1340s by Grand Duke Algirdas before the country became Christian. It's been destroyed, rebuilt and changed use several times - in the 1820s it was the university anatomy department. The present building is from the 1860s in sort-of neoclassical meets the Byzantine style of Georgia. It's Eastern Orthodox (which calls the Virgin Mary Theotokos, god-bearer) and so is the senior church for Russians and Belarusians in Vilnius.

Church of Our Lady of the Sign

Ženklas iš dangaus cerkvė

Built in Neo-Byzantine style in 1903, this is the Eastern Orthodox church you see when looking west along Gedimino prospekt. It was financed by fundraising around the Russian Empire.

Saily 09:00-16:30

Church of Saints Peter and Paul

The first church from around 1500 was wooden and burned down, and its successor was wrecked in the 1650s in the war with Russia. The present building was commissioned by Michał Kazimierz Pac (1624-82), begun in 1668 but only completed in 1704 after his death. The exterior is fairly plain, but inside is baroque run riot.

Daily 07:00-18:30

Church of St Casimir

Baroque RC church completed in 1618. It's been held by various faiths (including a spell as Museum of Atheism) but was re-consecrated in 1991. It often hosts organ recitals.

Mon-Fri 11:00-19:00, Sun 08:00-19:00

Church of St Catherine

Šv. Kotrynos bažnyčia

Built in the 18th century in Baroque style and dedicated to Saint Catherine of Alexandria, as part of a Benedictine Nunnery. The church is known for its elegant façade, intricate stucco decorations, but many of its artworks were either lost in WW2 or moved to the Lithuanian National Museum of Art.

Church of St Constantine and St Michael

This orthodox church was built in 1913 to mark the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty, much good it did them. It's a dinky onion-domed building.

Daily 07:00-20:00

Church of St Francis and St Bernard

Also known as the Bernadine Church, it is next to St Anne's on the riverbank. It's a sturdy Gothic building from the 16th century, incorporated into the city walls, with loopholes toshoot at the Cossacks.

Church of St Philip and St Jacob

Šv Apaštalų Pilypo ir Jokūbo bažnyčia

Red and white Baroque church of the Dominican order, completed in 1722. It houses a large icon of the Virgin Mary "Hodegetria" - in iconography this means "shows the way" as she points to the infant as the salvation of mankind.

Church of St Theresa

Just north of the Gate of Dawn (indeed serving as the entrance to get up to the gate's Virgin Mary icon) is a Roman Catholic church popular with worshippers also outside mass, completed in 1650.

Church of Vytautas the Great

It's Roman Catholic, redbrick Gothic, dating to 1400 but 19th century in its present form. Also known as the Church of the Assumption.

Contemporary Art Centre

Šiuolaikinio meno centras

This has a permanent display of Fluxus artwork plus other rotating exhibitions.

Closed for rebuilding

Energy and Technology Museum

This was the city's first power plant, opened in 1903. It exhibits electricity generation, industrial technologies, child-friendly interactions and transformation, the Tesla-inspired wizardry that enables long-distance transmission of electricity. They also have an Escape Room, €50 for 2-4 players.

Tue-Sun 10.00-18.30·Adult €7, child or conc €3.5

Franciscan Monastery

Founded in 1334 and it's their monks who are commemorated by the Three Crosses. It's in shabby condition, but you can access the church daily 07:00-22:30.

Frank Zappa bust

Frank Zappa (1940-1993) is commemorated by a bust on Kalinausko gatve. He was never here, but local fans erected it in 1995, donating a replica to Baltimore, Maryland, his childhood home.

Gate of Dawn

Aušros vartai

The last survivor of the walled city's nine gates, various called Medininkai Gate as the street led south to that village, Sharp Gate, and now Gate of Dawn. It's straddled by a chapel with a large icon of the Virgin Mary, painted in the 1620s, which has become a pilgrimage destination. Mass is held daily in Lithuanian and Polish. Enter the chapel via the Church of St Theresa, just follow the head-scarves. When the chapel windows are opened, you see the icon from the street below, and she can see you and your sins. The alley through the gate is pedestrianised and open 24 hours: south you emerge blinking into a modern world of traffic.

Chapel daily 07:00-19:00

Gediminas Castle

This is the Upper Castle of a complex of three built from the 13th century, much bashed about, and abandoned from the 16th. (The Lower Castle became the site of the Arsenal, Palace and Cathedral, and the "Crooked Castle" was destroyed in 1394.) You can ascend the cobbled lane and enter the courtyard free for views of the city, and the Three Crosses on the hill east. The ducal palace east side of the courtyard is just a shell, converted into a performance space. West side is the three storey red brick tower, now a museum.

Daily 10:00-20:00·Tower adult €8, conc or child €4

Holy Trinity Church

Part of a Ukrainian Greek Catholic monastery, and mostly built in the early 17th century.

House of the Signatories

Neo-renaissance mansion where Lithuania's Act of Independence was signed on 16 February 1918. It's now a branch of the National Museum depicting the story of Lithuania as a separate nation, in which independent spirit it makes few concessions to non-speakers of the language.

Tue-Fri 10:00-18:00, Sat Sun 12:00-17:00·Adult €4, child or conc €2

Kazys Varnelis House-Museum

Varnelis (1917-2020) was an abstract artist who mostly lived in the USA, returning to Vilnius in 1998. His house is now part of National Museum, displaying his studio and works.

Wed-Sun 10:00-18:00·Adult €5, child or conc €2

Lithuanian Theatre, Music and Cinema Museum

Has little for non-speakers of Lithuanian, though some exhibits transcend language.

It's open Wed-Sat 10:00-18:00, Sun 10:00-16:00

MO Museum

Museum with modern contemporary art and changing exhibitions.

Wed-Mon 10:00-20:00·Adult €11, conc or child €5.50

Markučiai Park

This green area stretches east of the Pushkin Museum, linking with others such as Pavilnys Regional Park to form a greenbelt between the city and its industrial and commuter suburbs. The parks have bosky walks and are dotted with ancient burial tumuli.

Money Museum

History of money, and collection of coins and bills from around the world.

Apr-Oct Tue–Fri 10:00–19:00, Sat 11:00-18:00, Nov-Mar Tue–Fri 9:00–18:00, Sat 10:00-17:00·Free

Museum of Applied Arts & Design

Taikomosios dailės ir dizaino muziejus

This arsenal in the Lower Castle was built in the 15th century and stored heavy artillery. It's now part of the National Museum, displaying the country's pre-history and early history until the arrival of Christianity in the 11th century.

Tue We & Fri 10:00-18:00, Thu 10:00-20:00, Sun 11:00-16:00

Museum of Illusions

Ames Room, Pepper's Ghost, holograms, all the staples are here. Children will love it.

Mon-Sat 10:00-19:00, Sun 10:00-18:00·Adult €12, child or conc €9

Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights

This is in the former KGB headquarters, where over 1000 were put to death. In spite of the plurals, it is specifically the Lithuanian experience under Soviet rule that is described; the experience under Nazism would reveal a very dark corner of national history. And until 2018, it was called the Museum of Genocide Victims, yet almost entirely omitted the genocide against what had been a large Jewish population. Just one small KGB interrogation cell in the basement describes this, as if 190,000 deaths were a dissident version of history to be beaten into confessing that it didn't exist, never happened.

Wed-Sat 10:00-18:00, Sun 10:00-17:00·Adult €6, child or conc €3

Museum of the Centre of Europe

Open-air sculpture park. It's within Europas Park, the rest of which is free and open to dusk.

Daily 10:00-18:00·Adult €12, student €11, child €8