Lukiškės Square is the largest square (about 4 ha) in Vilnius

Vilnius

Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...

, Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

, located in the center of the city. A major street in Vilnius, Gediminas Avenue

Gediminas Avenue

Gediminas Avenue is the main street of Vilnius, where most of the governmental institutions of Lithuania are concentrated, including the government, parliament, Constitutional Court and ministries...

, passes by the southern border of the square. It is surrounded by many public buildings, including Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Foreign affairs, Appeals Court, Academy of Music and Theater, Church of St. James and St. Phillip, Dominican Monastery with former St. Jacob Hospital. Currently the city of Vilnius holds a contest to redesign the square.

History

Between the 17th and 19th centuries, it was a suburb of Vilnius and called Lukiškės. The wooden Lukiškės mosque

Mosque

A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...

 of the Lithuanian Tatars, and their graveyard were prominent features of the suburb. These landmarks were destroyed by the Soviet authorities in the 1960s.

In 1852, Lukishki (Лукишки, as it was known in the Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

) was designated to be reconstructed, and this was carried out in 1860s, with St. George's Avenue, (now Gediminas Avenue

Gediminas Avenue

Gediminas Avenue is the main street of Vilnius, where most of the governmental institutions of Lithuania are concentrated, including the government, parliament, Constitutional Court and ministries...

) crossing it from east to west. After the January Uprising

January Uprising

The January Uprising was an uprising in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against the Russian Empire...

 in 1863, the Lukiškės Square was one of the areas where public executions of insurgents took place. A particularly famous insurrectionist Konstanty Kalinowski

Konstanty Kalinowski

Wincenty Konstanty Kalinowski , also known under his Polish and Lithuanian names of Konstanty Kalinowski or and Kostas Kalinauskas; 1838 – March 24, 1864) was a writer, journalist, lawyer and revolutionary...

 was executed by hanging there on March 24, 1864. Mikhail Nikolayevich Muravyov

Mikhail Nikolayevich Muravyov

Count Mikhail Nikolayevich Muravyov was a Russian statesman who advocated transferring the attention of Russian foreign policy from Europe to the Far East...

, the Governor General of the Vilna Governorate

Vilna Governorate

The Vilna Governorate or Government of Vilna was a governorate of the Russian Empire created after the Third Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795...

, earned the nickmane "The Hanger" from the frequent executions in the square. At the beginning of the 20th century the square was known for the traditional Kaziukas Fair.

The square became a symbol of terror when the hundreds of opponents to the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 were interrogated, tortured and executed during 1944–1947 and on, in the infamous NKVD Palace, facing the square. Among the victims killed there was the chief commander of the Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters

Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters

The Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters or Movement for the Struggle for Lithuanian Freedom was a resistance organization of the Lithuanian partisans, waging a guerrilla war against the Soviet Union in the aftermath of World War II. The organization was established on February 10, 1949, during a...

, Adolfas Ramanauskas "Vanagas"

Adolfas Ramanauskas

Adolfas Ramanauskas codename Vanagas was one of the prominent leaders of the Lithuanian partisans. Ramanauskas worked as a teacher when Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1944–45...

. Today the palace houses Vilnius County

Vilnius County

Vilnius County is the largest of the 10 counties of Lithuania, located in the east of the country around the city Vilnius. On 1 July 2010, the county administration was abolished, and since that date, Vilnius County remains as the territorial and statistical unit.-History:Until the Partitions of...

 Court and the Court of Appeal of Lithuania, as well as the Museum of Genocide Victims

Museum of Genocide Victims

The Museum of Genocide Victims in Vilnius, Lithuania was established in 1992 by order of the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture and the President of the Lithuanian Union of Political Prisoners and Deportees. In 1997 it was transferred to the Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania...

 in the former prison cells, occupying the basement and underground levels of the palace.

Lenin Square

The square was reconstructed according to the design of V. Mikučianis in 1949–1952. During the Soviet era

Lithuanian SSR

The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Lithuanian SSR, was one of the republics that made up the former Soviet Union...

, the square was renamed Lenin

Vladimir Lenin

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...

 Square and a statue of Lenin, was built in the middle of it in 1953. The statue, which used to be the largest of its kind in the Lithuanian SSR

Lithuanian SSR

The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Lithuanian SSR, was one of the republics that made up the former Soviet Union...

, was removed in 1991, after the restoration of independence of Lithuania. Gathered crowd celebrated the fall of the statue; its upper part was lifted using a crane

Crane (machine)

A crane is a type of machine, generally equipped with a hoist, wire ropes or chains, and sheaves, that can be used both to lift and lower materials and to move them horizontally. It uses one or more simple machines to create mechanical advantage and thus move loads beyond the normal capability of...

, and broke off at the lower legs attached to the pedestal

Pedestal

Pedestal is a term generally applied to the support of a statue or a vase....

. The reassembled Lenin statue is now on display in Grūtas Park

Grutas Park

Grūtas Park is a sculpture garden of Soviet-era statues and an exposition of other Soviet ideological relics from the times of the Lithuanian SSR...

. The square has been partially reconstructed in the 1990s.