> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://blog.zolak.lt/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Belarusian Vilnius: Skaryna, Nasha Niva, Kalinoŭski and where to go - URL: https://blog.zolak.lt/belarusian-vilnius-skaryna-nasha-niva-kalinouski-and-where-to-go/ - Published: 2026-11-09T07:03:59.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-09T07:03:59.000Z - Description: Skaryna's press, Kalinoŭski's grave, Naša Niva and the Basilian Gate: the Belarusian history of Vilnius and where to see it. - Author: ZOLAK - Tags: Belarus, Guides, #auto Belarusian Vilnius is not a neighbourhood. It is a layer of the city. Francysk Skaryna printed the first books in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania here in the 1520s, Kastuś Kalinoŭski was hanged here in 1864, and *Naša Niva*, the weekly that shaped modern Belarusian literature, was launched here in 1906\. For Belarusians, Vilnius (Vilnia, in their language) is where modern Belarusian culture was printed, taught and argued over. This guide covers what happened, where it happened, and what you can still see. ## Why Vilnius matters to Belarusians For centuries Vilnius was the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a state that also took in most of the lands of today's Belarus. Its chancery wrote in Ruthenian, the language Belarusians call Old Belarusian. The Third Statute of the Grand Duchy, its law code, was printed in that language in Vilnius in 1588. So when Belarusian writers and activists of the early 20th century wanted a city to work from, Vilnius was the natural choice. It had printers, schools, a university tradition and a mixed population where Belarusian was one language among many. That's the story the stops below tell. ## Francysk Skaryna: the first printed books Skaryna, a doctor and scholar from Polatsk, printed his Psalter in Prague in 1517, among the first books printed in an East Slavic language. Around 1522 he moved his press to Vilnius and set up the first printing house in the Grand Duchy. Here he published the *Small Traveller's Book* and, in 1525, the *Apostle*. Its preface says it was printed in the house of Jakub Babič, a burgomaster of Vilnius. **Where to look:** the building traditionally linked to the press is on Didžioji gatvė, next to the Town Hall, where a plaque marks it. Historians still argue over the exact house, so read the plaque as a marker rather than proof. Vilnius University Library keeps a copy of the *Apostle*. The city's only Belarusian-language state school, the Francysk Skaryna gymnasium, carries his name. ## Kastuś Kalinoŭski and the 1863 uprising Kalinoŭski led the 1863–1864 uprising against the Russian Empire in Lithuania and Belarus. He also put out *Mužyckaja praŭda* (Peasants' Truth), a clandestine paper written in Belarusian for villagers. He was captured and publicly hanged on Lukiškės Square in Vilnius in March 1864\. He was 26. For 150 years nobody knew where he was buried. In 2017, after a landslide on Gediminas Hill, archaeologists found the remains of executed rebels there, and Kalinoŭski was identified among them. On 22 November 2019 Lithuania gave the rebels a state funeral. Twenty coffins went from Vilnius Cathedral to the chapel of the old Rasos cemetery, with the presidents of Lithuania and Poland present. Hundreds of Belarusians came from Belarus on their own. **Where to look:** the chapel at the entrance to the old Rasos cemetery, where the rebels now lie. Lukiškės Square, where he was executed, is a plain open space today. ## Naša Niva: a newspaper that made a literature The first issue of *Naša Niva* (also spelled Nasha Niva; Our Cornfield) appeared in Vilnius on 23 November 1906\. For nearly a decade the weekly was where Belarusian literature found its readers. Janka Kupala, later the national poet, edited it in 1914–1915\. It stopped when the First World War front reached Vilnius in 1915. The title was revived in 1991 and is still one of the main independent Belarusian newsrooms, now working from exile after the 2020–2021 crackdown in Belarus. On 23 November 2026 the paper turns 120, a good week to walk this route. ## The Basilian monastery: school, museum, society Go through the baroque Basilian Gate at Aušros Vartų g. 7, a few steps from the Gate of Dawn, into the Holy Trinity monastery complex. From 1919 it housed the Vilnius Belarusian Gymnasium, the first Belarusian secondary school. Between the wars the complex was also home to a Belarusian orphanage, the Belarusian Scientific Society and the Belarusian Museum named after Ivan Luckievič, one of the founders of *Naša Niva*. Generations of the Belarusian intelligentsia studied or worked within these walls. The museum was closed after the Second World War. The courtyard is still worth the detour: it is one of the quietest corners of the old town, and it is the single address most packed with Belarusian history in the city. ## A short walking route through Belarusian Vilnius 1. **Basilian Gate and Holy Trinity complex**, Aušros Vartų g. 7: the gymnasium and the museum. 2. **Didžioji gatvė by the Town Hall**: the Skaryna plaque, five minutes' walk down the same street. 3. **Vilnius University**: the old campus where the *Apostle* is kept (library visits need checking in advance). 4. **Lukiškės Square**: where Kalinoŭski was executed, a short bus or 25-minute walk west. 5. **Old Rasos cemetery**: the 1863 rebels' chapel. Take public transport back across the old town or walk about 30 minutes. The whole loop takes half a day at an easy pace. In November and December it gets dark around 16:00, so start early (our guide to [Dziady and remembrance in Vilnius](https://blog.zolak.lt/dziady-in-belarus-the-remembrance-day-and-how-to-keep-it-in-vilnius/) covers Rasos in more detail). ## Belarusian Vilnius today The layer keeps growing. The European Humanities University has worked in Vilnius since 2005, after it was shut down in Minsk. Since 2020 the city has been home to Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya's office and to many thousands of Belarusians who left after the protests: journalists, IT workers, artists, families. You hear Belarusian on the street, at book launches, concerts and film nights. ZOLAK is part of that. It is a micro art residence and event space at Vytenio g. 50D, in the former ELFA factory. It works in English, Lithuanian and Belarusian, and its programme includes films dubbed into Belarusian, concerts and community evenings. If you want to help people still behind bars, start with [how to help Belarusian political prisoners from abroad](https://blog.zolak.lt/political-prisoners-in-belarus-how-to-help-them-from-abroad/). For what's on next, see [the ZOLAK events programme](https://zolak.lt/?ref=blog.zolak.lt). ## FAQ ### Is Vilnius Belarusian? No. Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania. For Belarusians it is a historic centre of their culture: the city where their first books, newspapers and schools appeared, which is why it matters so much to them. ### How many Belarusians live in Vilnius? There is a long-settled Belarusian minority in Lithuania, and many thousands more Belarusians have moved here since 2020\. Most of them live in Vilnius. ### Is there a Belarusian museum in Vilnius? Not today. The Ivan Luckievič Belarusian Museum worked in the Basilian monastery between the wars and was closed after the Second World War. The best places to see the history now are the monastery courtyard, the Skaryna plaque and the Rasos chapel. ### Where is Kalinoŭski buried? In the chapel at the entrance to the old Rasos cemetery in Vilnius, where he was reburied with other leaders and fighters of the 1863 uprising on 22 November 2019.