Jakšto Street
Over time the street hosted some locally important institutions: the Russian high school Гимназiя Прозоробой (early 20th century), the radical left-wing Vilnius Soviet of Workers Deputies (1918–1919), the Lithuanian high school Vytauto Didžiojo Gimnazija (1931–1944), and the key Russian-language Lithuanian SSR daily Sovetskaya Litva (1949–1987).
In the mid-19th century the landmark of the neighbourhood was a large religious compound, which consisted of the church of St. Jacob and St. Philip, the Dominican monastery and the hospital for the poor, managed by the order.
A map from the 1840s shows what is now the Jakšto Street as one of these nameless roads,[4] leading among fields and orchards towards few buildings, located on the bank of the Neris river.
A country road leading from the city westwards already in the 1830s was marked as a future major communications route, though for decades it spelled no practical change.
However, photos from 1866 to 1886 show the neighbourhood of St. Jacob and Philip church, including the later Jakšto Street area, as cultivated fields crossed by some country roads; here and there they were dotted with trees or what looks like single manors, stables, and warehouses.
The western side of the street was marked in green (rural), the eastern one in red (urban), even though it hosted merely few shabby wooden constructions.
[9] In the late 1890s the place attracted attention of Mikhail Prozorov [ru], official architect of the Vilnius Orthodox eparchy and already the author of a few monumental buildings in the city.
[14] At the time the quarter was half-urban; a photo from 1903 shows elegant long-facade multi-storey residential buildings facing what appears to be fields or meadows.
Large, 2-floor or 3-floor tenements flanked long sections of the street, while cobble stone surface, pavements and gas lights completed the picture.
The south-western corner was owned by the curia[30] and got rented to various tenants; periodically it hosted a cycling parkour,[31] a café "Leonarda" and even vegetable plots.
[38] Since 1931 they hosted Vytauto Didžiojo Gimnazija, the only Lithuanian high school in the city, which became an important spot for this tiny Vilnius minority.
[40] In 1938 shabby houses at the corner with Mickiewicza were demolished to make room for headquarters of Social Insurance; a large functionalist building[41] accommodated medical premises, offices, conference hall and emergency ward.
[45] In September 1939 the Prozorov building served as centre of a paramilitary organisation Przysposobienie Wojskowe [pl];[46] there was some fighting in the neighbourhood when Red Army tanks approached the Green Bridge.
[48] Dąbrowskiego became Dambrausko-Jakšto gatvė (Dambrauskas-Jakštas Street);[49] the name honoured a 1938-deceased Catholic philosopher and scientist[50] and took advantage of the coincidence of surnames.
[51] On the Polish national day of November 11 riots broke out in the city; the rebellious youth stormed the Social Insurance building before they were evicted by the Lithuanian police.
[55] On February 12, 1944, unusual Polish-German talks were held in the villa in the backyard of the Insurance building; the commander of Abwehrstelle Wilna col. Julius Christiansen [de] tried to convince the commander of the Home Army Wileński District [pl], col. Aleksander Krzyżanowski, that Polish Home Army units should co-operate with Wehrmacht to fight the Soviet guerilla.
In the mid-1990s a large new building was constructed on site of derelict tenement;[68] in the early 21st century the square which hosted the Angeretis monument was taken over by a luxurious apartment residence, with an abstract sculpture named "Ryšys" ("Link", "Connection") by Marijonas Šlektavičius situated at the front.
[69] Commemorative plaques honouring Lithuanian personalities (Juozas Rudzinskas [lt], Konstantinas Stašys, Antanas Vienuolis-Žukauskas)[70] were mounted on various facades.
The Prozorov building is home to Vaidila Theater [lt], which serves mostly as luxurious space for corporate events, weddings etc., though at times it accommodates also theatrical performances.
