Extreme Underground Tours

Since 18 October 2019, new routes are open to visitors at the crypts of Vilnius Cathedral. One of the most interesting and valuable spaces in Lithuania both historically and culturally and a testament to the country’s history from the 14th century up to this day, the crypts attract tens of thousands of visitors each year. Previously, the area open to visitors was limited to a little over a third of the underground footprint of the cathedral. The newly opened routes – the northern part of the cathedral crypts – provide an opportunity for visitors to learn about and see spaces that for years had been literally inaccessible, bricked up and closed off.

Book a tour for your group today! Guided tours are available in English, Polish, Russian and Lithuanian. Advance registration required. Phone: + 370 600 12080  

Visitors taking the extreme tour will be able to see some of the oldest masonry in Lithuania, remains of a 13th-14th century tower and staircase, invaluable historic masonry of Jogaila and Vytautas’s cathedral, 16th-19th century crypts and mausoleum that harken back to numerous different burial customs, walls that evidence the cathedral’s 17th-18th century reconstruction, Gothic bricks, ceramics fragments, an 18th century drainage system, 1930s reinforced concrete bracing, samples taken during geological studies in the 1970s and 1980s and other valuable items arranged over a rather large area of 120 square meters under Vilnius Cathedral.

Under the initiative of Church Heritage Museum, not only the spaces were adapted for visitors but also individual remains found in the crypts were sorted through and studied by anthropologists, new findings were preserved after consulting with archaeologists, while historians and art theorists helped ‘decode’ newly-found artefacts and spaces. Professional Church Heritage Museum guides and historians who took part in the study are ready to tell you all about it! 

Visitors who would like to explore the extreme route are advised to take their physical abilities into consideration: in order to preserve the spaces as authentically as possible, passageways have been left in their original shape, with some areas as narrow as 40 cm in width. The tallest step featured on the extreme tour is 42 cm.

Extreme underground tours are only available with a guide and upon registering in advance, for small groups (up to 10 people). The tour takes approximately 1.5 hours. The duration and route of the tour can be adjusted to suit the preferences of the group.

The project is sponsored by Vilnius Archdiocese.

More information and advance registration available by phone at + 3706 00 12080, or by email at katedrospozemiai@bpmuziejus.lt