54 NORTH EASTERN EUROPE

For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp68–9

Town Hall

Square^8

Rotušės Aikštė

Didžioji 31. Map D4. Town Hall
Tel (5) 261 8007. n (5) 262 6470.

8am–6pm Mon–Fri. _ Kaziuko

Crafts Fair (Mar). http://www.vilnius.lt

Fully repaved in 2006, Town
Hall Square was for centuries
a marketplace and the centre
of public life. It still bustles
with activity, especially during
the annual Kaziuko Crafts
Fair, a festival of traditional
arts and crafts marking
St Casimir’s Day, when stalls
line the square. The main
building of the square, the
Town Hall, was earlier the site
of a court; prisoners were
marched from its cells to the
square to be beheaded. The
building was con structed at
the end of the 18th century.
Today, the Town Hall hosts
numer ous cultural and social
events around the year.

Church of

St Casimir^9
šv Kazimiero Bažnyčia

Didžioji 34. Map D4. Tel (5) 212

1715. 5 10:30am & 5:30pm
      Mon–Fri, noon Sun.

The first Baroque church of
the city, St Casimir was
destroyed by fire three times
after being built by the Jesuits
between 1604 and 1635,
prompting extensive recon-
struc tion led by the architect,
mathematician and astronomer

Nave and altar in the Church of St Casimir

The Madonna of Mercy, seen through the window of the Gates of Dawn

Tomas Žebrauskas (1714–58)

in the 1750s. Much of the

interior was destroyed in

1812, when Napoleon’s Army

used the church as a granary.

It became a Russian Orthodox

church during the 19th cen-

tury, when onion domes were

added to it.

It served as a Lutheran

church for the German Army

during World War I, and was

then returned to the Jesuits

and restored in the 1920s. The

central dome was rebuilt in

1942 and a crown was added.

The Soviets used the church

as a museum of atheism from

1963. It was reconsecrated in
      1991 after heavy renovation.

Gates of Dawn^0

Aušros Vartai

Aušros vartų 12. Map D5. Tel (5)

212 3513. 5 7:30am, 9am, 10am,

5:30pm, 6:30pm Mon–Sat, 9am,

9:30am, 11am, 6:30pm Sun.

The Classical chapel of Gates

of Dawn follows the centuries-

old custom of having a chapel

or a religious image in every

gateway to safeguard a city

from out side enemies and

protect departing travel lers.

This is the only gateway from

Vilnius’ original defen sive

walls to have survived a

series of attacks.

The focus of this chapel is

The Madonna of Mercy, an

image reputed to have miracle-

working powers. It was

painted on oak in the 1620s

and encased in silver 150 years

later. The miracles attributed

to it were faithfully recorded

by nuns at the neighbouring

Carmelite convent. Hundreds

of hearts of different sizes

stand out on plates of silver

around the painting.

The image was originally

placed on the gate, in a recess,

with shutters to protect it

from the elements, but was

shifted to a wooden chapel in

the 17th century. The chapel

that houses the image today

dates from 1829, when it was