Vilnius history runs deeper than its Baroque skyline: a pagan capital converted in 1387, the 'Jerusalem of the North' erased in 1941, a Soviet republic that broke free in 1991. Three days trace the Grand Duchy, the ghetto and the barricades.
Rebuilt 2002–2018 on excavated 13th–17th-century foundations, with original Gothic cellars, brick vaults and hypocaust heating shown in situ. Routes I–IV cover the Grand Duchy's rise to the Union of Lublin. Tue–Sat 10:00–18:00, Sun until 16:00.
The 16th-century arsenal of Sigismund Augustus, rebuilt after WWII, holds the Gothic and Renaissance treasury: reliquaries, tapestries, and finds from the Lower Castle including the ceremonial crowns and burial regalia of Vilnius Cathedral's royal crypt.
Founded 1579 as a Jesuit academy — the oldest university in the Baltics. Thirteen linked courtyards, the 1753 Baroque bell tower (68 m, the Old Town's tallest), and the frescoed Smuglevičius Hall reading room of 1803 sit behind Universiteto street.
The only survivor of nine gates in the 1503–1522 defensive wall raised against Crimean Tatar raids. The chapel above holds the 17th-century Madonna of Vilnius, crowned by papal decree in 1927. Adjoining Bastion of the Wall shows the 1640s artillery tunnels.
Aukų 2A housed the Gestapo then the NKVD/KGB from 1944 to 1991. Preserved cells, padded interrogation rooms, a water-torture cell and the basement execution chamber where 1,000+ partisans died between 1944 and 1947 are shown unaltered.
Slabs of the concrete anti-tank barricades that shielded parliament during the Soviet crackdown of 13 January 1991 still stand outside, scarred and graffitied. Fourteen civilians died at the TV Tower that night; independence held here.
Soviet tanks and Alpha Group troops stormed the 326 m tower before dawn on 13 January 1991, killing 14 unarmed defenders. Wooden crosses mark where each fell; the ground-floor exhibition displays the bloodstained clothing and footage from that night.
Until 1991 a 1952 bronze Lenin faced the KGB headquarters from this square; its removal on 23 August 1991 was televised nationwide. The empty plinth zone now anchors a debate over a Vytis freedom monument — plaques mark where Lenin stood.
Naugarduko 10/2 tells the story of the 'Jerusalem of the North': 100+ synagogues, the Vilna Gaon's 18th-century Torah scholarship, and the destruction of 95% of Lithuania's 200,000 Jews. Ghetto boundary plaques run along Rūdninkų and Mėsinių.
Built 1903 in Moorish Revival style, the sole survivor of the city's 105 pre-war synagogues — spared because the Nazis used it as a medical store. Still an active congregation of roughly 250; the 1903 bimah and Ark remain original.
Consecrated 1801 on a wooded hillside; the Lithuanian and Polish pantheon. Jonas Basanavičius, Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis and the mausoleum holding Józef Piłsudski's heart lie here, alongside graves of 1863 uprising fighters. Open daily 07:00–21:00 in summer.
A run-down artisans' district beyond the Vilnia, historically Jewish and Belarusian, that declared itself a republic on 1 April 1997 with its own constitution bolted to a wall on Paupio street. The 1810 Bernardine Cemetery lies uphill on Žvirgždyno.