An urban explorer has been documenting ornate stairways of old apartment buildings in Vilnius.
Advised by his architect brother, Vytenis Malinauskas checked out a mid-nineteenth-century apartment building on Sodų Street in spring last year, at the beginning of the first coronavirus quarantine.
What he found was an impressive stairway hall.
“This building was built alongside the railway station of Vilnius, in 1861. The luxury flats by the station were intended to accommodate gentlemen arriving from Saint Petersburg,” Vytenis says.
Since then, he has become a stair hall scout, looking for hidden treasures in old residential buildings. Most can be found in the areas of Senamiestis, Naujamiestis, and around the railway station, Vytenis says.
“Seeing this beauty, I realised we have a lot of pretty heritage in Vilnius, [...] so many different stairways waiting to be discovered,” he says.
He is photographing his discoveries and posting the pictures on his instagram account, followed by nearly 3,000 people.
His followers often ask him for locations of particular stairways, but Vytenis keeps it to himself – he wouldn't want sightseers to disturb the residents.
“Sometimes people send me a message and say: I know this really beautiful stairway. And they invite me to see it.”
It is often difficult to judge the interior from a building's facade, Vytenis says – he may find the most ornate stairs behind an unremarkable door, and vice versa.
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