The House of Histories is the newest and most modern branch of the National Museum of Lithuania. The first and second floors of the building house exhibition spaces, while the basement serves as a storage.
The history of this building goes back to the second half of the 18th century. The list of Vilnius inhabitants from that time indicates that the land now located at 3 Kosčiuškos Street belonged to the general of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania’s army, Brast chatelain Jonas Antanas Horainis, and later his son, Vilnius courthouse officer Jonas Nepomukas Horainis. These owners of the site also had a pub, as well as various brick and wooden living and auxiliary buildings.
By the early 19th century, while Lithuania was still occupied by the Russian Empire, the territory was nationalized; following the 1831 Uprising it was reallocated for military defence purposes. Because the area fell beyond the fortress ramparts, where the building at 1 Kosčiuškos Street now stands, the buildings within, with the exception of the old stone pub, were torn down.
In 1878, when a czarist decree announced that the military fortress would be demolished and a hard labour prison was to be established in Slushko palace, there came to be a need for a new barracks. This building was erected in around 1880 and was named the Barracks of the Holy Trinity (Troickije kazarmy). The architecture and roofing of the building are typical of Imperial Russian military style and are very similar to the buildings of the Daugavpils fortress in today’s Latvia. It is highly likely that the Vilnius structures were indeed designed by military engineers in charge of the Daugavpils region, which at the time included Vilnius. Until approximately 1950 these buildings continued to serve military purposes.
It is not known exactly when this group of buildings came under the purview of the Vilnius governing committee, but it was eventually decided that a residential school be established here; neo-Baroque gates were built and the entire territory was surrounded by a stone wall.
At some point before 1990 the residential school was moved and work on reallocating the buildings began. This took five years, and in 2021 the neglected former barracks and the entire compound were handed over to the National Museum of Lithuania, which opened a new branch – the House of Histories – at this location.
