A start-up center, a tourist facility or a hotel could appear in the center of Vilnius instead of the Lukiški prison, which was closed at the beginning of July.
Such ideas dominated the discussion held by politicians, businessmen and public figures in the prison church on Tuesday.
Minister of Justice Elvinas Jankevičius urged to use the opened space as soon as possible.
According to him, it should be a space open to all people.
"After closing this prison, this complex should not be empty for a long time, covered with cobwebs," the minister said in the discussion.
The complex of six buildings on an area of two hectares is located near state institutions such as the Supreme Court of Lithuania, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Seimas.
Minister of Economy and Innovation Virginijus Sinkevičius said that the Lukiški prison would become a popular tourist area, a place for start-up workshops and a five-star hotel could be created here.
"A five-star hotel would not even be unique. Turkey, Finland and other countries have five-star hotels in their prisons," said V. Sinkevičius.
According to him, the surviving buildings should be changed as little as possible, which "would help to discover a different Vilnius".
"I think there would be space here even for the world's largest escape room," joked the minister.
After the Lukiški prison is closed, excursions are organized here.
Mayor of Vilnius Remigius Šimašius claimed that the first step should be to demolish the fence surrounding the prison, even though it is protected as a cultural heritage object.
He also discussed the ideas of creating a hotel, cultural or economic activity space here and claimed that the municipality could take over the complex of buildings.
"All this has been put on the table, but the question is how specifically, where specifically, what are the possibilities, (...) we will have to spend more time on this than just today," said the mayor.
The head of the Lithuanian Real Estate Development Association, Mindaugas Statulevičius, also assured that many different objects should appear on the territory of the prison, such as a small museum, business buildings, and a hotel.
"We would speak up and see here mix and multi-functionality and this can bring life to this territory", said the representative of entrepreneurs.
Some of the participants in the discussion claimed that a cultural space should also appear in the territory of the start-up park.
"I really think that creativity and technology can do a lot," said Živilė Diavara, National Director of the Association of Creative and Cultural Industries.
"This place must show that we have come out of our spiritual prison, that we are free and that we are creative and enlightened people," said former Minister of Culture Liana Ruokytė-Jonsson.
The complex of prison buildings is included in the register of cultural values.
Vidmantas Bezar, head of the Department of Cultural Heritage, said that it is still necessary to assess how the area can be managed.
"We can investigate and then the public should decide which part should be preserved as a standard, not moved, which can be changed and which can be swept away," V. Bezar said.
The last arrested and convicted prisoners were taken out of Lukiškės prison at the end of June. In total, almost 600 people have been evacuated from here since the beginning of January.
Author Saulius Jakučionis
