About the neighborhood
Vilnius' 19th-century new town and creative district
Naujamiestis — literally 'New Town' — is the part of Vilnius that grew up beyond the medieval walls in the 19th and early 20th centuries, when the city was ruled successively by the Russian Empire, briefly independent Lithuania, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. The architecture reflects every layer: tsarist-era Eclecticism, interwar Modernism, Stalinist neoclassicism, and Soviet prefab. The district is anchored by the Vilnius Central Bus Station, the Halės Turgus market hall (one of the best food markets in the Baltics), and the famous Naujamiestis arts and design district — a cluster of converted industrial buildings around the railway station that now houses Loftas concert hall, design studios and the city's best craft breweries. It is grittier than the UNESCO Old Town a short walk away, but in many ways more interesting — the part of Vilnius where 21st-century Lithuanian creative life is happening.
Encyclopedic content adapted from the Wikipedia article on Naujamiestis, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.
