A new pedestrian alley will connect the Old Town with the New Town

As you go down the stairs from Mindaugas Street towards the Old Town, near the Museum of Fine Arts, you will also pass the old Vilnius Waterworks, which supplied water to the city from 1501 to 1914 from the natural springs of the Vingriiai. These springs are now hidden underground and the area around the old water point is overgrown with bushes, cars and rubbish containers, but the appearance of the area is expected to change radically in the coming years. The Vilnius City Municipality Administration has signed a contract with Conresta, which will start renovation works in the spring, after the completion of the archaeological survey and the preparation of a working project. The works to be carried out under the contract are one of the measures aimed at improving the attractiveness of Vilnius City in terms of the living and investment environment, and in particular in the New Town adjacent to the Old Town and its connections. The project includes the installation of pavements, stairs, observation paths, greenery, a children’s playground, a memorial, the improvement of the deteriorated existing infrastructure, and the installation of the necessary engineering and storm water drainage networks. Lighting, benches and other small architectural elements will also be installed. All these works will be carried out within the framework of the pedestrian walkway from Vingrių Street to the MO Museum. Currently, the area is noisy due to passing cars and the existing parking lot is chaotic and obstructs pedestrians and cyclists. The public space will remove the car park and redirect the now invisible Vingriu Springs to flow through the newly formed cascades, bringing back the forgotten historic character of the area and making it more attractive to pedestrians. A viewing platform will be created in the prominent terrain at the bottom of the stairs leading from Mindaugas to Vingrių Street. Before descending into the Old Town, it will be worth pausing to look out over the old rooftops of Vilnius. In the area near the entrance to the Museum of Modern Art, the architects managed to preserve the existing mature acacias, integrating them into the overall composition of the space. A terrace with water cascades will be formed near the existing sculpture “Water Lilies” (by Severija Inčirauskaitė-Kriaunevičienė). It is hoped that the space near the Museum of Modern Art will be enriched with artistic installations and accents on the theme of water, thus further strengthening the identity of the place and emphasising its historical value. The project gives priority to pedestrians, so, according to the architects of SĮ Vilniaus Plan, appropriate measures are planned for the traffic organisation in the area: a raised crossing is planned in Vingrių Street, and fence posts have been designed to ensure traffic safety. Pedestrians will be able to conveniently get from Vingrių to Pylimo Street without being disturbed by cars. People with special needs will be able to access the different heights of the space via other paths outside the project. For the safety of pedestrians, it is also planned to install fence lines along the pavements to limit parking in the pedestrian area. The removal of the car parks is planned to increase the space for outdoor cafés, while the existing planting will be preserved from the hot sun and supplemented with new planting. Parking spaces that will have to be given up as part of the pedestrian mall will be relocated to nearby streets, in particular to Vingrių Street.