23 Pilies Street

When searching for a location for a grand residence, one of the most influential and wealthiest political figures in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Michał Radziwiłł the Black, entered into an agreement under favourable conditions with the Vilnius Cathedral Chapter in 1540 regarding the house of the former Vilnius canon, which stood in a strategically ideal position (present-day 23 Pilies Street). Michał Radziwiłł the Black managed to join the nearby palace of the Voivode of Trakai Stanislovas Goštautas, the first husband of Barbara Radziwiłł. In 1562–1564, this was known as a place where Protestants gathered – they had their house of prayer, a library and a school. Following the death of Michał Radziwiłł the Black in 1565, his son Michał Krzysztof Radziwiłł the Orphan, who had converted to Christianity, inherited the palace on Pilies Street. Upon settling in Vilnius, the famous traveller and cartographer renovated the residence. The building’s renovation and decoration was continued by his brother, the Bishop of Vilnius, Jerzy Radziwiłł, who became the first cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church in Lithuania’s history in 1583. The renovated and elaborately decorated residence became known as the Cardinal’s Palace, in reference to its owner’s title. Rooms in the palace that had up to 1832 belonged to the Radziwiłł family were rented out by university professors and students, merchants and craftsmen, and there were expensive stores and cafes. The tsarist Postal Board acquired the building in 1849 where it established the Vilnius Central Post Office. The palace burned down in 1944, with the remaining standing walls being demolished in 1957 to make way for an apartment building that was finally built in 1979. Today, only the Gothic cellars are a reminder of the building’s colourful past.

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