- Place
- Vilnius City Municipality
- Region
- Vilnius
- Type
- 24-hour outdoor street-art gallery in the former ELFA factory complex
- Address
- 29 Švitrigailos Street, Vilnius
- Coordinates
- 54.67090, 25.26710
- Visit duration
- 30-45 minutes for a short circuit or about 1.5-2 hours with the long audio guide and outlying works
- Best time
- in daylight for the murals or after dusk for the light installations, while avoiding the busiest times of events elsewhere in the complex
Atvira galerija, Open Gallery Vilnius, ELFA courtyard gallery
One address conceals two useful starting points
Open Gallery's official address and route starting point are at 29 Švitrigailos Street, beside the Loftas arts factory and the former ELFA buildings. The marker at 54.6709, 25.2671001 is a representative point for the gallery, not its only entrance, a ticket office, or a verified parking place. The works occupy a broader industrial block, so the facade at the street address does not reveal the gallery's full scale.
Most works are inside the old factory courtyard. The gallery's official directions advise approaching it from the Panerių Street side, behind the shop at the corner of Švitrigailos and Panerių streets. On a first visit, begin on Švitrigailos Street, cross the principal yard, and only then seek the pieces that have spread beyond the original core.
This is not an enclosed museum with a prescribed one-way display. The route threads between active creative, event, and commercial premises, and some walls must be viewed from different corners of the yard. The app map is the most useful guide because the project continues to grow and not every work stands beside the principal path.
Murals, sculpture, and light form a changing collection
The gallery currently advertises works by more than fifty Lithuanian and international artists. They are not all wall paintings: sculpture and large-scale light installations share the industrial setting. The relationship between old brick, concrete, steelwork, and new art is central to the experience. Look not only at an image but at the way it uses workshop windows, wall texture, or the depth of the courtyard.
The official artist list includes Peter Phobia's The Cactus Is My Favourite Plant, Mykolas Sauka's A Woman, Linas Kutavičius's light installation Wormhole, Linas Kaziulionis's Artist, and Timotiejus Norvila-Morfai's The Epic of the Crossing. Together they show the gallery's range from monumental painting to light and to works that have moved beyond the ELFA courtyard.
Treat the number of works as context rather than a checklist. New pieces enter this continuing project, while weather, construction, and events may alter an outdoor work's condition or visibility. The municipality recorded almost fifty works and expansion towards Šopeno Street in 2021; the current gallery description now refers to works by more than fifty artists.
The 2016 gallery grew from ELFA's industrial legacy
Open Gallery traces its beginning to 2016. After the founders of Loftas met Justina and Urtė Špeirokaitė, curators of Vienna's Improper Walls, Austrian artist Peter Phobia was invited to Vilnius. His work on the Loftas facade became the first piece, and the formerly closed factory yard began its transformation into an international outdoor gallery that expands each year.
The site had already undergone a profound change of use. The ELFA electrical-engineering factory developed in this part of Naujamiestis after the Second World War, producing motors, reel-to-reel tape recorders, and record players. At its height it functioned almost like a town of its own, with a canteen, bathhouse, park, sports, and cultural activities. Much of the huge complex became underused after the factory went bankrupt in 1993.
Živilė and Victor Diawara held a New Year's event in one of the former buildings at the end of 2009, then opened Loftas in the old stamping shop in 2010. Open Gallery did not erase the industrial layer before introducing art. Workshop facades, canopies, pipes, and steel frames still act as both setting and material for the collection.
Five audio tours differ in length and language
The free Open Gallery app presents five self-guided audio routes. The approximately 100-minute long tour explores the works, artists, techniques, and site history in depth. A 30-minute short route gives a quicker overview, while the 35-minute ELFA tour focuses on the former electrical-engineering factory.
The detailed app page lists all three in Lithuanian and English. Two further routes are Lithuanian-only: the humorous, roughly 20-minute Bankuchen Way and the 30-minute musical Hip Hop in Step. The contact-page FAQ still says that only two tours are available in English, so check the actual language menu in the app after any update.
It is easier to download the app and prepare headphones before arriving. The short route suits a quick orientation in the core, while the long version is for visitors who want to understand ideas rather than only photograph walls. Private in-person guides are paid and arranged separately; they are distinct from the free audio tours.
Daylight reveals painted detail; dusk activates the light works
Daylight is best for colour, wall texture, high murals, and industrial detail. After dark, the light installations emerge, especially Linas Kutavičius's Wormhole, although uneven surfaces and remote corners become harder to read. Arriving before sunset is an effective first visit because it allows both versions of the gallery to unfold.
The official site describes the gallery as accessible to disabled visitors because it is outdoors. That general statement does not establish that every passage, surface, or outlying work is obstacle-free. This remains an old industrial yard with mixed ground surfaces and active premises, so visitors who need a particular path width or a step-free route should contact the gallery in advance.
Families should remember that this is not an enclosed playground. Event setup, service vehicles, or surrounding businesses may be active in the yard. Children can turn the visit into a search for colours, characters, and factory details, but they need supervision beside driveways and technical areas.
The gallery is free around the clock, but the whole quarter is not one 24/7 venue
On 19 July 2026, Open Gallery advertised its outdoor collection as free and open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, throughout the year. There is no common outdoor ticket desk. Only privately booked guided tours carry a charge, while support for the gallery's development is voluntary.
Those hours apply to the outdoor art, not every ELFA-quarter business. Loftas concerts, the bar, indoor exhibitions, and other premises have their own opening times, tickets, and event rules. A large concert or festival can also change ordinary access, noise, and crowd levels, so plan a quiet independent visit away from the event peak.
The works stand in a public and partly working environment. Do not touch them, climb structures, or block routes while taking photographs. Because the gallery continues to expand, check its official site and app before a longer journey. They are the best places to see whether a route, access point, or event has changed.
