You can read in detail about the history, architecture and other attractions of Vilnius in the book "Sightseeing around Vilnius: micro-districts of the city". This is a publication about almost 60 areas of Vilnius. Information is provided about 21 boroughs of Vilnius (Antakalni, Fabijoniškes, Grigiške, Justiniške, Karoliniške, etc.) and smaller areas belonging to them. The texts of this book are mainly summaries of publications prepared using the works of various authors who wrote about Vilnius. They are indicated in the bibliography accompanying each text. The publication is illustrated with today's photos and old iconography, preserved in Lithuanian museums and libraries. The book is intended for schoolchildren and anyone interested in the city.
Vilnius is always different - romantic in the streets of its old town, dreamy in Vilnius In Užupi, reaching cloud in Šnipiškės, windy Fabijoniškės, mysterious Markučiai... Vilnius hides so many secrets and undiscovered places. Let's look around Vilnius together.
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Žvērynas is one of the most beautiful microdistricts of Vilnius, located on the right bank of the Neris River. It is like a separate town in the center of Vilnius. After crossing the old Žvėrynas bridge, you enter a unique environment built with homesteads, where houses are surrounded by gardens and pine forests. The creation of such an oasis was influenced by historical circumstances.
In the current territory of Žvēryn, from the old ash pine forest, until the XNUMXth century. belonging to the Radvil nobles of the LDK in the middle. They had established a hunting reserve in the area surrounded by thick wooden logs, they kept bison, moose, roe deer, foxes and other animals. This is where the name of the area comes from. The surviving documents of that time also mention the Radvil hunting lodge standing here, but there is no concrete evidence. Today, streets named after Bisons, Lynxes, Deer, Bears, Stirnai and Falcons remind us of the legendary past of the area.
It is believed that the XNUMXth century in the middle, in the northern part of Žvērynas, there was also the estate of Ivan Saltons, the treasurer of the Žygimantas Augustus palace in Vilnius. The place name Saltoniškės came from Salton's name. Until the XNUMXth century At the beginning of the XNUMXth century, the current territory of Žvērynas was called by both names: the old one - Saltoniškės and the new one - Žvērynas.
Until the XNUMXth century The menagerie was surrounded by a high wooden fence with sharp spikes. XNUMXth century part of the area was turned into a park with paths, rare trees and flower beds. Roe deer, fallow deer and other animals grazed here. Two ponds, dug in the XNUMXth century, remain in the territory of Zvėrynas Park. The ponds are supplemented by springs, from which the water flows into the Neris. An old mill is also preserved in the park. To him in the XNUMXth century. Peasants used to transport grain from the Karoliniški hills, from the surrounding villages. From the Vilnius side, the mill could be reached from the Green Bridge by turning along the road along the river.
1825th century Duke Lev Wittgenstein inherited Žvėryna at the beginning of the 1892th century. About 1893 in the western part of the territory (in the current Birutė street), he built a wooden residence where the governors-general of Vilnius vacationed. 2th century the owners of the area changed several times. in 4 The menagerie was bought by Vasilijs Martinson, a merchant of the XNUMXst guild of St. Petersburg. in XNUMX he divided the lands into rectangular plots and started selling them to the people of Vilnius. The natural territory of the menagerie (forest or fields) determined the class of buyers, their ambitions. In the southern part, in the Forest zone, rich and noble officials built residences or rented apartment buildings among abundant greenery. Poor townspeople also settled in the Forest area, building XNUMX-XNUMX apartment houses. In the northern part, closer to the Karoliniški slopes, in the Field zone, peasants from neighboring villages settled. The size of their plot directly depended on the available money, so there were very narrow sections of land on Lokii, Stumbrai, Stirnui streets.
The streets of Žvėryno started to be formed in 1896. 150th century at the end of the year, there were about 12 residential houses, and there were XNUMX completely built-up streets. The streets in the western part of Žvērynas (the Forest zone) are regularly divided into squares, while in the eastern part they are all curved, adapted to the forms of nature. The oldest street connecting Šnipiške with Karoliniške via Žvērynas was Latvių street. Through it, people went to the mills and to the Governor General's residence. Birutė Street, later Vytauto Street, was formed after it.
Have you ever noticed that larger streets in Žvēryn were named after dukes? The central street of the area is named after Kęstutis. It is crossed perpendicularly from the southern side by the street of the youngest son of Gedimin, Liubart. Standing at the intersection of Liubartas and Kęstutis streets and looking north, we notice that his wife Birutė's street runs parallel to Kęstutis street from the left, and Vytautas street of Kęstutis and Birutė's most famous son runs from the right. Looking at Žvėrynas from an airplane window or flying in a hot air balloon, you would see that these four large streets form the sign of the Gediminaičiai pillars, only extended more than usual. One of the most famous monuments of Žvērynas - a brownish porphyry granite stone, located on the right bank of the Neris, at the end of Vytautas Street - has the same carved Gediminaičius pillars. It is believed that it marked the boundaries of the Grand Duke's lands in the vicinity of Vilnius.
1957th century at the end of the XNUMXth century in the beginning, Žvērynas was formed as a resort suburb. There were water cures, baths with mineral waters, saunas. A horse-drawn tram was running. After the First World War, the streets in Žvēryne were paved, the water supply and sewerage systems were fixed, and electricity was introduced. Not only buses traveled the streets of Žvėryno. At Vingi Park until XNUMX. a train was running on narrow railway tracks. A soldier guarded the approach to the train.
Do you know that 108 old houses of the inhabitants of Žvēryn are a valuable heritage of wooden architecture, included in the Register of Cultural Values? Professional architects and simple village carpenters decorated the structures with impressive wood carvings (almost never repeated anywhere). In recent years, the wooden houses of the old Žvėrynas are disappearing, and large buildings are being built in their place, which are changing the urban image of the district, causing discussions and dissatisfaction among architects and local residents. Maybe you have seen the documentary film "Išnykstantis Žvērynas" created by film director and cameraman Vytautas Damaševičius, which tells about the wooden architecture of the microdistrict? The artist collects albums with old photos of Žvēryn, tries not only to find the depicted old wooden houses, but also the people who took pictures near them or their relatives...
For your attention, the electronic version of the publication:
