Want to travel back in time? Visit the Adomas Mickevičius Public Library of Vilnius County, housed in the former palace of Sofija and Juozapas Tiškevičiai. Innovative services and cultural heritage combine perfectly under one roof. The building stands on the old Trakai Street, one of the few that has never changed its name. One of the first to receive water from the Vingriiai springs, Trakų Street was paved with stones at a very early date. Many noblemen, merchants and wealthy townspeople lived here. Visitors have the unique opportunity to go down to the cellars, where they can touch (literally) the 15th century. The cellars beneath the library building, which have been given a new lease of life in the 21st century, date back 600 to 100 years. You can walk through them from Trakai Street all the way to the administration building at the end of the library courtyard. 
Walking through the former palace, you can see carefully preserved fragments of interiors dating back several centuries. The restorers have made sure that we can enjoy the restored and preserved details of the 18th- and 20th-century wall and ceiling paintings. And then there are the spectacular mouldings! And the furnaces and heating walls from the 19th and early 20th centuries, thirteen of which have survived. Once inside the Vaizdai Attic, the windows offer an unexpected view of Vilnius Old Town. You can admire and count the roofs of the churches you see.

Brief history

The first knowledge of the building dates back to the early 17th century, with a document from 1609 found in the Oginski archives. In the 18th century, the building was already officially called a palace. From 1863 the palace belonged to Sofija Tiškeviciene. The cellars are the oldest part of the building. Architectural research has revealed that the remains of a 15th-century Gothic brick house lie in the basement beneath the main body of the palace. The Vilnius Adomas Mickevičius Public Library began to be housed in the building at 10 Trakų Street in 1951.