From a small Catholic monastery with an adjacent Tatar cemetery, the Lukiškės prison complex grew into a behemoth built along British blueprint with the most modern amenities available in 19th century Russian Empire.
Lukiškės prison in central Vilnius closed last year, but its history lasted for over a century. Even before the construction of the building complex, the place served as a prison founded in a former Catholic monastery in 1837.
Up until the abolition of serfdom in the Russian Empire in 1861, the nobility often detained peasants in special cells. Therefore, there was no need for large state prisons.
Also, the major form of punishment was katorga (forced labour), which mean sending prisoners to remote penal colonies and labour camps.
The need for a bigger facility arose after adoption of the new penal code that introduced short and long-term prison sentences. As the number of prisoners increased, the authorities decided to demolish the old facility and build a bigger one in its place.
The project also required a larger territory, so it expanded into the nearby area of former Tatar cemetery.
Churches and amenities
The construction works started in 1901. Architect Aleksey Trambicki designed the prison based on the panopticon idea conceived by an English philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832).
The essence of the concept was to design public buildings in a circular shape with an observation tower in the middle so that one supervisor could observe the inmates without them knowing.
The construction works finished three years later. The new building cost 1.5 million rubles and was not only the most expensive prison but also the priciest project in the early 20th century Russian Empire.
Compared to its predecessor, the new prison was massive – more than 420 people could stay in the solitary confinement and 278 in the general detention cells. The Lukiškės complex also included an office with living spaces for employees, kitchen, bakery, sauna, laundry, and other facilities.
The building also incorporated the most modern infrastructure of the time, including plumbing, heating, and ventilation systems.
Inside the complex, the Orthodox church of St Nicholas the Wonderworker included works by famous Russian and Lithuanian artists Ivan Trutnev, Ivan Rybakov, and Juozapas Balzukevičius.
There was also a Catholic chapel and a synagogue inside the prison.
Wars and occupations of the 20th century meant that the Lukiškės complex served not only as a prison for criminals but also as a place of repression and torture of dissidents and political detainees.
There, the authorities imprisoned many Lithuanian resistance figures, including politician Mykolas Biržiška (1882–1962), diplomat Jonas Vileišis (1872–1942), and Lithuanian Minister for Jewish Affairs Jakub Wygodzki (1856–1941), who was tortured to death in the prison.
Many other Jewish community members served time in Lukiškės. Menachem Begin (1913–1992), the sixth Israel Prime Minister and Nobel Peace Prize laureate for the Israeli-Egyptian peace deal, managed to escape from it.
Today, the Lukiškės complex no longer performs its primary function. After closure, it should become a multifunctional space for art, culture, and business.
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Lithuania marks 2020 as the year of the Vilna Gaon and the History of the Jews of Lithuania, LRT English together with Vilnius University and Jewish Heritage Lithuania bring you a series of stories exploring Litvak history.
The series is prepared by Vilnius University's Faculty of History and the association Jewish Heritage Lithuania. You can find more stories on the mobile app Discover Jewish Lithuania.
Jewish Heritage Lithuania, funded by the EU, aims to promote Jewish heritage in Lithuania, create thematic and regional tourist maps, encourage local and international tourism to Lithuania.
Lithuania plans to enact 70 different projects throughout the year, including performances, exhibitions, building and renovating monuments, and borrow the so-called ‘Pinkas’, or register, of the Vilna Gaon's synagogue from the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York.
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