Heaven Hell & the Snake Walking Tour by PhD Historian in Vilnius
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They kept a snake in the house and fed it milk by hand; killing it brought disaster. That is where the walk opens, at the Bastion, with the Basilisk the city invented to explain its dead. From there: the Gate of Dawn and its wall of 8,000 silver hearts, legs and eyes left to buy a cure from heaven; three martyrs killed in 1347 whose bodies still refuse to decay; the Basilian Gate, built by the church that went over to Rome in 1596 to keep Moscow from claiming it; St Casimir's, built by a son to undo the nation his father turned Protestant; where Stendhal watched Napoleon's army freeze in 1812; the lane where a mob burned the rival church; and Cathedral Square, where a pagan fire burns under the cathedral of the last country in Europe to give up its gods. Led by Dr Simonas Strelcovas, PhD historian and former museum director, from his own research, not a script. Not what year a building went up, but how ordinary people believed. For curious travellers and readers of history.
Your experience
Stop 1
This is the meeting point and the tour's opening scene — the site of the pagan household snake, once fed milk by hand as a sacred guardian, and the reputed lair of the Basilisk of Vilnius, a monster whose gaze alone could kill.
Stop 2
The miracle icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the wall of roughly 8,000 silver votive offerings — hearts, legs, eyes — left by pilgrims seeking a cure, viewed from the street and the chapel entrance.
Stop 3
The resting place of the three martyrs of 1347 — the holy dead whose bodies, tradition holds, never decayed.
Stop 4
The gate and former Uniate church, created after Vilnius's Orthodox congregations entered union with Rome in 1596 while keeping their Eastern rite.
Stop 5
The first Baroque church built in Vilnius, and the story of the family that turned the nation Protestant and back again within two generations.
Stop 6
The building where a young French officer, Henri Beyle — later famous as the novelist Stendhal — took shelter during Napoleon's frozen 1812 retreat. Thousands in army's mass grave, found in 2001.
Stop 7
Two rival churches facing off across one narrow lane, and the mob confrontation that settled the dispute between them.
Stop 8
The saint whose body reportedly never decayed, the mysterious three-handed painting, the pagan temple believed to lie beneath the cathedral, and the eternal flame marking the last pagan state in Europe. The walk ends here.
What’s included
- A ~2-hour guided walking lecture in English, led by a PhD historian
Not included
- Meals
- Any optional church donation
Meeting and pickup
Meet in front of the main entrance to Bastėja (the Bastion), on Bokšto g. 20.
Before you go
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Cancellation policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Check the policy for your selected date and option before booking.
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