The place for the new observatory was chosen Moletai, seventy kilometers north of Vilnius, on Kaldiniu hill (200 meters above sea level) near the small village of Kulionys (about ten kilometers from Moletai). In the autumn of 1969, a Cassegrain telescope with an aperture of 25 cm was installed, obtained from the Vilnius University Observatory. In the spring of 1970, the telescope was put into operation, and photometric studies of stars began. In 1974, a sixty-three centimeter reflector was installed. In 1975, the 25 cm Cassegrain was replaced by the newly acquired 35/51 cm Maksutov photographic telescope. In 1975 - 1977, an office building of the observatory with laboratory facilities, a scientific library, a conference hall and a hotel were built. In 1991, a new reflecting telescope with an aperture of 165 centimeters began operation – the largest telescope not only in Lithuania, but also in the whole of northern Europe.

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