In the early 19th century Russia was seeking to consolidate its power in every way in the territories of the former Polish–Lithuanian state, which it had seized relatively recently. Among other measures, transport and communication between the capital, St Petersburg, and the western provinces of the country were strengthened. A transport artery, then called the St Petersburg–Warsaw road, was built. The small town of Utena had an important role on this route, as it found itself right in the middle of it. Roughly every 20–24 kilometres along the road, low but impressive horse-post station complexes were built in graceful, restrained Classicist forms. They were built in larger settlements or towns. One of them was built in Utena in 1833–1835. It had a waiting room and rest rooms for passengers waiting for carriages or passing through. On either side of the main building are wings, which held the coachmen's rooms and granaries. Up to 48 horses were kept in the stable. The coach house held the vehicles – carriages, stagecoaches, vans and tarantasses. A clock made in the workshop of Jelgava clockmaker J. Velcke was installed in the station's administrative building. Not only Russian tsars travelled through this Utena post station and changed horses here more than once, but also such celebrities as the famous French writer Honoré de Balzac, on his way to visit the Polish aristocrat Ewelina Rzewuska-Hańska, who lived in St Petersburg and whom he married in 1850. In the autumn of 1858 the poet and priest Antanas Baranauskas left the Utena post station by stagecoach for the St Petersburg Theological Academy. He spent four days in Utena with the parish priest Otonas Praniauskas. Here he also visited and saw for the last time the poet Karolina Praniauskaitė, with whom, according to Antanas Vienuolis, he was bound by "a tragic feeling of sympathy of souls". Praniauskaitė, the first woman poet and translator in Lithuania, died soon afterwards in Utena (in 1859) and is buried here. It is known that in 1893 the famous Russian painter Ilya Repin passed through Utena on his way to Italy. In the early 20th century Dr Jonas Basanavičius – the awakener of the Lithuanian national revival, scientist and physician – visited here. Alongside the St Petersburg–Warsaw road, an optical telegraph line was also built – at about 1,250 km, the longest in the world at the time. In 1854 work began on a two-wire telegraph line, and later an electric wired telegraph was installed here. The old post office complex served postal needs until 1992, when it was handed over to the Utena Art School, which is still based here today. The school has set up a gallery of professional art of the Utena region, halls for children's and youth events and exhibitions of their work, and modern drawing and ceramics classrooms. A sculpture park is being created in the school courtyard, and the cellar houses the "Rūsys" art gallery and a museum of the old post office and the school. The library collects books on art, art albums from various countries and art magazines. Having seen many people, events and twists of history, the Utena post office has now become not only a place of learning, art and culture, but also a tourist attraction. After admiring the oldest brick buildings in Utena – elegant, renovated, yet retaining their authentic appearance – you will see in their courtyard a passenger stagecoach of the kind that travelled the Warsaw–St Petersburg road in the 19th century. You will also get to know the optical telegraph signalling device that stands here and see how it worked. The Utena Post Station complex is a great place to feel the pulse of the life that once bustled here and to learn about the history of transport and communication.