While visiting Convene and making appointments with key organizations in Vilnius in investment, research and city marketing last month (this will be the next series of stories, sharing you some amazing initiatives and expertise in Vilnius) – my colleague Ulrike and I stayed in a pretty new hotel right in the city centre of historic Vilnius.
The name is ambitious – derived from one of the meanings of the word “protagonist”: Artagonist sees itself as an advocate for Lithuanian Art and young lifestyle, promoted in an innovative way to the guests of the hotel. A young team manages the property and young Lithuanian artists have created works for both common areas as well as individual rooms.
The complex is assembled from several smaller houses (very much like you can find in London or in Netherlands) and the lobby area is actually a courtyard between the houses, with a huge symbol for the motto at the backwall and covered by a glass roof.
Every one of the rooms has a different décor and floors have different colour schemes in carpets and decoration. My room was high, with old stonework and a persiflage of SpongeBob being hammered on by the “blacksmiths of Volcano” – famous painting of L.Giordano in wall-height.
The rooms are really individual in size and shape and different pieces of art shape the atmosphere. One of the rooms facing the little street and the old city has a big roof terrace and must be great in weather that is a bit warmer than the minus 15 degrees that we experienced during our stay. Another one on that same side has a small oriel to sit in and have a full view of what is going on in the street below you. Perfect viewpoint for someone who likes to peep!
Besides the creative décor, all rooms are equipped with special technology, like floor-heating in the bathrooms (which took me 2 days to find out – until then I thought it could just be a bit cozier in the bathroom….) and switchboards with which you can regulate about everything, from air to light, music, temperature etc. Also, a brand new type of coffee maker that makes excellent coffee is provided in all rooms.
Water is presented in jugs with a piece of special slate, purifying the tap water, which is a nice idea! Benas Ardavičius, the Front Officer Manager showed us around and explained the concept; the owners have a second hotel, the Urbihop, a minimalistic urban place, adjacent to a sport center, and plan to build more differently conceptualized hotels in Vilnius.
The Artagonist hotel has a small bar /café which is directly accessible from the sidewalk and the breakfast room in the lower basement with a choice of nice and fresh breakfast selections and a very kind young waiter who shared his scarf with me (did I mention it was minus 15 and I felt cold somehow….)
A good place to stay in Vilnius, in a young atmosphere and centrally located!
Your contact in Vilnius:
Jolanta Beniuliene
Head of Vilnius Tourism and Convention Bureau
Go Vilnius | The official international economic
development agency of the City of Vilnius
jolanta.beniuliene@vilnius.lt
tel. +370 5 212 1833
www.vilnius-convention.lt
Your contact at tmf:
Ulrike Kiesel
Project Manger Content & PR
u.kiesel@tmf-dialogue.com
+49 931 9002 114
