Literatai Street, or ”Literature Street”, is located in Vilnius, Lithuania. It is decorated with plaques dedicated to Lithuanian writers and writers from different nations who had some sort of connection with Vilnius and Lithuania. The first works were unveiled in 2009 by artists who wanted to make the street worthy of its name so they started putting decorated plaques, each of them dedicated to an individual writer. The project grew and became very popular. Today there are 225 plaques, and small objects with different shapes, colors, sizes, and materials on the wall on Literatai Street. Some of these plaques are the portraits of the artists, while others are decorated with quotes from their works. There are also abstract works.
There were many bookstores and printing houses on the street, so it is thought that the name originated from here. But according to another popular belief, the name of the street comes from the famous Lithuanian author Adam Mickiewicz who is said to reside here in the early 19th century. Mickiewicz is known as the national poet of Poland, but he is also claimed by Lithuania and Belarus. He was born in Belarus. He wrote in Polish but spent a little time in Poland and his most famous poem Pan Tadeusz begins with the lines ”Lithuania, my fatherland!” But whatever his national identity, he is a celebrated poet and was a famous resident of Literatai Street. He is also guaranteed his own plaque on the wall.
The street is called ”Literatų gatvė” in Lithuanian. It also has different buildings with different architectural styles ranging from Gothic to Baroque. The vibrant facades of the buildings add to the charm of the street.
