Lithuanian National Philharmonic

This building was built by an engineer of the Russian Empire. Yet it was precisely here, in 1905, that the Great Seimas of Vilnius was convened, which for the first time raised demands for Lithuanian political autonomy. And it was here, in 1906, that the first Lithuanian national opera – Mikas Petrauskas's "Birutė" – had its premiere. So Lithuanian identity blossomed exactly where the cream of the Russian Empire was supposed to relax.