It was a Roman monastery, a prison and the setting for Stranger Things. Now, get music (and beer)

It is just 3 kilometers from Vilnius, Lithuania, and is a place for music, painting or cinema festivals. It has resident artists, but the residents were once different: political prisoners from the Soviet Union. Among other stories…

Lukiškės is in Vilnius, Lithuania, and describes it as “a reminder of country’s terrible past“. Refers to the period of the Soviet Union, to which Lithuania belonged.

Political prisoners existed in the country since the time of the tsars, and this brick prison was created during the time of the Russian Empire, in 1837. Before that, there was already a Roman Catholic monastery in its place.

Later, due to overcrowding and deteriorating conditions—and as political prisoners continued to trouble the communist regime—the prison was transformed into a modern high security penitentiary reopened in 1904.

At that time, the torture, rape and murder were common in this prison that housed both men and women, says National Geographic. You prisoners’ screams of suffering they were heard not only by the other prisoners (they functioned as a warning), but also by the Lithuanian citizens themselves who passed nearby.

Today, this story can still be remembered, through guided tours inside the prison, which is just 3 kilometers from the center of Vilnius. Guides (some of them former prison guards) lead visitors through dark corridors and rows of cells with barred windows — confined spaces, wide enough for a single bunk bed and a small desk.

It is also possible to explore the “suicide rooms”, which prisoners used to do just that, or the places where isolation, which was used as a form of punishment. In the air, you can feel the oppressive atmosphere that surrounds visitors.

They were even filmed there. episodes of the series Netflix’s blockbuster, ““, to recreate a dark prison.

However, since 2021 everything has changed. The historic monument was almost entirely occupied by more than 550 resident artists, and the cells became galleries and workshops of painting, dance, cinema, music and other arts.

“When I first came to my current studio space, the prison canteenI saw a possibility. Now, it has no other meaning than my studio — it has already been converted into a bright and inspiring place,” said the Lithuanian artist Jolita Vaitkutė.

“As an artist who transforms everyday objects and gives them new meaning; Lukiškės Prison 2.0 is a perfect place for me to create. I am happy to be part of the conversion, which will give this building new functions and change its history“, he added.

“Lithuanians are pleased with the transformation. Not only is it unlike anything tourists can experience, but our cultural heritage has been immortalized and reimagined in a spectacular way,” he guarantees. Milisenta Miseviciute, Vilnius tourist guide.

The space with almost 200 thousand square meters even hosts festivals, and anyone who wants can buy a night visit ticket for 20 euros and end the night at drink a beer and have a snack in the street restaurants parked outside. And it doesn’t catch any event.