The silver icon
Only face and hands left uncovered.
Kontis Šatūnas — Public domain · Diliff — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Jerzy Strzelecki — CC BY-SA 3.0 · FrDr — CC BY-SA 4.0
The last of Vilnius's city gates and Lithuania's holiest shrine: the sixteenth-century wall had nine gates and the Russians demolished them all but this one — spared because a chapel above it holds the icon of Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn, a seventeenth-century painting clad in gilded silver except for the face and hands. The icon is a pilgrimage for Catholics and Orthodox alike — rare in Europe — and the chapel walls are covered with thousands of votive silver plaques shaped as hearts and limbs, left by those who were healed. Pope John Paul II visited and prayed here in 1993. The chapel is entered by a stair from the street, and passers-by beneath the gate remove their hats and cross themselves. From here Aušros Vartų street climbs into the old town's heart between churches — the finest walking entrance into old Vilnius.
Only face and hands left uncovered.
Thousands of silver hearts on the walls.
Aušros Vartų g. 14, Vilnius
Bastion of the Vilnius Defensive WallA seventeenth-century artillery bastion, the clearest surviving part of Vilnius'4 minutes walk4.8
The Glass QuarterA network of narrow lanes in the heart of Vilnius old town, centred on Stiklių s8 minutes walk4.8
Vilna Gaon MonumentA monument to Elijah ben Solomon Zalman, known as the Vilna Gaon, among the most9 minutes walk4.4
Lithuanian National Museum of ArtA network of museums rather than one building: the Lithuanian National Museum of9 minutes walk4.6
The Republic of UžupisA district that declared itself an independent republic as a joke — and the worl10 minutes walk4.7Yes, and it is the best order: up Aušros Vartų from the gate to Town Hall Square, then Pilies street to Cathedral Square — one kilometre through the city's finest.