Bernardine Garden in Vilnius, where it is pleasant to walk in the evenings

Vilnius is the third most populous capital in the Baltics. And this imposes a certain imprint: transportation, crowds of tourists…. At such a moment you always want, after a long day of sightseeing, to dive into a park…. Or take shelter there from the sultry summer sun in the heat of the day. The Bernardine Garden is a wonderful place for this.

When quite by chance we wandered here in 2018, I genuinely wondered how I missed it, having explored this part of town so much in 2013, especially around the Užupis neighborhood.

After a couple of minutes of studying the history of the park, the question fell away by itself. And what it is and how to get here – I will tell you in this article.

Bernardine Park and Bernardine Garden should not be confused. They are two different locations nearby.

My impressions

As I mentioned before, we got to the garden completely by accident. We were walking around the center and went to Užupis, I think. On the way noticed the gate, the navigation showed it was a garden. Okay, let’s have a rest! We went inside…

Inside, a fairy tale awaited us. Which was under reconstruction and undeservedly missed on my last visit.

The park is divided into different zones. Right after entering the main gate, there are marvelous landscapes with different styles spread on both sides, which all the girls were drawn to en masse for selfies on Instagram. And today, this is the main indicator of the success of any design.

There are a lot of benches throughout the park. Everywhere you can sit, have a rest. But, if in the botanical garden near the entrance there are fewer people and there you can hide from prying eyes even on weekend evenings, then on the central alley and further on there are crowds of children and mothers with strollers.

I was not particularly impressed with the musical fountain, which is also illuminated at night, as always. But the very presence of all these ponds, pools, fountains – just beautiful. Especially on a hot day.

There is a playground with children’s merry-go-rounds and some other rides nearby.

After crossing the bridge, you can go further to Užupis, or climb up to the Three Crosses. It is worth considering that the slopes there are quite steep. While walking, we saw two girls crossing the river on foot to get to the park. One of them had a badly injured arm. I suspect they may have stumbled while walking down the opposite bank. Just the day before, we ourselves had almost fallen down a steep slope. Miracle and trekking sneakers with good grip saved us.

History

Territorial history

In the 14th century there was a sacred forest near Gediminas Castle, where local pagans worshipped their deities. Therefore, in 1387, after the introduction of Christianity, the trees were quickly cut down, so that the population would not want to return to their spiritual roots¹.

In 1469, King Casimir Jagiellon invited Bernardine monks to Vilnius. They built a church and a monastery in the southeast of Castle Hill, and in the area behind the cathedral they laid out gardens, drainage channels and ponds.

This is how the garden developed until 1864, when the Russian authorities closed the monastery and the park was handed over to the Governor General, who, not knowing what to do with it, handed it over to the city authorities¹.

Botanical Garden 1797 – 1842

The other part of the future park was the botanical garden of Vilnius University. In the 1800s, the garden began to develop actively. Three greenhouses were built there, trees were planted for protection, and greenhouses for tropical plants were created. By 1808, the territory of the botanical garden amounted to 4.4 hectares.

However, the garden was opened only in 1829, and in 1832, after the Polish Uprising and the closure of the university, it was transferred to the Academy of Medical Surgery. Part of the garden was given for the construction of a castle and a period of decline began. In 1841 the academy was closed and the collection of plants was dismantled (some of them were transferred to the universities of Tartu and Kiev (presumably to the Fomin Botanical Garden). And already in 1842 the botanical garden ceased to exist as an institution((http://www.vilniausparkai.lt/parkai/sereikiskiu-parko-bernardinu-sodas/botanikos-sodas-1797-1842-m./)).

Before World War 2.

In 1880, the city authorities decided to create a recreation park out of these gardens. The artist A. Strauss (I have not found any information about him) and the famous engineer Felix Yasinsky took up the task. The latter was marked not only by many projects in the present Vilnius, but also in Russia, in particular in the Leningrad region.

In 1886 – 1888 the project was successfully realized. This is how the first public park² appeared in Vilnius. It was named Sereikiškės Park, after the name of the neighborhood where it is located.

After World War 2.

And if during the war the territory was abandoned, after the arrival of Soviet power, work on the restoration of public space began again. The territory was landscaped, a linden alley was planted, and the Leto movie theater was built. To top it off, a sculpture of Stalin was installed and renamed Molodezhny³.

After independence.

During the “decommunization” in Lithuania, all the rides, dance floors and other buildings were removed and the park was returned to its historical name.

In 2012-2013, large-scale works took place, which returned the garden to its 19th century appearance according to the designs of Strauss and Jasinski. In particular, the central square and the rose garden were restored. An alpinarium, a musical fountain and decorative pools were added. In total, the reconstruction cost almost 6 million dollars⁴.

As of 2013, the park was renamed Bernardine Garden.

Tourist information

How to get there

The garden can be accessed by several roads.

• The main entrance is at Maironio g. 2, Vilnius 01124, Lithuania (54.684862, 25.293527). You can get there by bus 10, 11, 33, 89 or 102N (stop Dailės akademija or Bernardinų sodas).
• Past Bernardine Church and St. Anne’s Church (54.682266, 25.295779).
• Across the bridge, on the Three Crosses side, past the cultural center (54.685401, 25.295763).

Working hours

The park is open to the public daily, from 6:00 am to 11:00 pm.

Map

Below is the official schematic map of the Bernardine site after the reconstruction. Unfortunately, the color scheme is not chosen in the best way, so for better study I recommend to open it with a mouse click and save it to your computer, and then examine it at a larger scale.

1. http://www.vilniausparkai.lt/parkai/sereikiskiu-parko-bernardinu-sodas/vienuolyno-teritorija-xiiia.-1864m./ [↩] [↩]
2. http://www.vilniausparkai.lt/parkai/sereikiskiu-parko-bernardinu-sodas/vilniaus-miesto-viesasis-sodas-1886-1939-m./ [↩]
3. http://www.vilniausparkai.lt/parkai/sereikiskiu-parko-bernardinu-sodas/jaunimo-parkas-1950-1955-m./ [↩]
4. https://www.15min.lt/naujiena/aktualu/lietuva/vilniuje-vartus-atvers-restauruotas-bernardinu-sodas-56-367278 [↩]