Vilnius station district experiencing a revival

In recent years we have been hearing louder voices heralding great changes for the Vilnius station district designed to turn this undeservedly forgotten urban area around making it one of the most attractive locations in the city. Those changes can be seen through notable developments in the area: new public spaces are opened up and renovated old buildings are turned into shops, coffee shops, hotels, and apartments.

One of such developments is the Somnia apartments complex located in an old renovated building at Pylimo Str. 47/Gėlių Str. 2, as written in the hotel’s press release.

The largest suite complex

There are over 900 hotels in Vilnius and just 19 of them have suites. Featuring 25 apartments, Somnia is probably the largest apartment hotel in Vilnius. The word ‘somnia’ translates from Latin as dreams or a dream. The name was deliberately chosen to reflect the key concept of the complex: Somnia – a welcoming home for relaxation and sleep.

A welcoming home for relaxation

The suites have been designed predominantly in a reserved Scandinavian style with highly cosy rooms which are, at the same time, modern and fully equipped for comfortable living. Every lodging features a kitchen where guests can prepare their favourite meals. All apartments are also fitted with rather spacious bathrooms. Somnia guests can also choose the preferred size of accommodation: Somnia offers one-room, two-room and three-room apartments. Those guests who do not fancy cooking themselves, always have an option of grabbing a bite at the café on the ground floor or a snack bar, and enjoy a delicious and opulent dinner at the restaurant.  

“We try to meet varying needs of our guests. The suites have been designed in a way that every guest staying at Somnia would feel at home, would want to ‘forget’ their suitcases, and settle here for longer periods. Maybe even for a couple of months. The apartment hotel boasts not just excellent conditions for a pleasant stay of Somnia guests, but also ample opportunities for education: there are two conference rooms on the ground floor perfect for holding one-day or longer conferences, and other events. The location is a perfect choice for everyone wishing to experience the authentic life of the capital.

The hotel is located in the Old Town of Vilnius, a UNESCO World Heritage site, regarded as one of the most beautiful cities of the Old Continent featuring the largest Baroque old town in the whole of Eastern and Western Europe. Just a couple of hundred meters away is the heart of the city – the Town Hall. The Halės Marketplace and railway and coach stations are also minutes away on foot,” – says Ramunė Paulauskienė, manager of the Somnia apartment complex.

History spanning four centuries

The building which houses Somnia apartments has a long history dating back to the 17^th century. A lot of the details of that history came to light before the start of reconstruction and had been collected during an archaeological survey in 2016. Prior to the latest archaeological survey, historical facts about the site and details of the previous archaeological surveys were collected. These showed that the building was built in the Old Town Quarter that started beyond the defensive wall of the city and Rūdininkai Gate.

The boundaries of the Quarter were defined by the current Sodų, Pylimo and Gėlių Streets. At one point, the Quarter featured an important road to Krakow via Rūdninkai. In this location, in the second half of the 17^th century, a juror of the city of Vilnius J.Strocinskis built a big wooden house/estate. In 1718, the estate was handed over to the Carmelite Convent which also owned the Church of All Saints located nearby.

By 1746 the estate was in disrepair; historical records mention its masonry vaults and basements. In the second half of the 18^th century, the estate was renovated, had both masonry and wooden sections. In 1776, the house fell into the hands of M. Junevičius who reworked it into a single-storey brick house between 1776 and 1790. With the passage of time and changing hands, second and third storeys have been added.