NNaujamiestis Industrial Area

In Soviet times, numerous factories were built in Vilnius – industrial areas were created in Naujamiestis, Kirtimai and Žemieji Paneriai. The factories in Naujamiestis produced radio receivers, stockings, clothing, cigarettes, cardboard packages and drills. Factories were like individual small towns. For instance, the Elfa electro-technical factory had 8,300 employees. Now, there are no machines buzzing here. You will see visitors of the Loftas club dancing to modern music instead. The Zefyras (marshmallow) factory did not smell of sugar – it produced up to 480,000 cigarettes a day. The biggest drill factory in Europe was also established in Naujamiestis.

But the most interesting story was hidden in the buildings on T. Ševčenkos g. 16, where lofts and commercial premises have now been installed. Before, it was a secret factory bearing the classified name “mailbox 555.” Therefore, there are many different legends about what was produced there: black boxes for aircraft, location finders for underwater ships or maybe even devices or equipment for space aircraft. About 10,000 people worked in the factory’s institute of research and design alone. However, manufacturing was classified to the extent that workers themselves did not know where the parts they produced would be used.