Vilnius

Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania and Grand Duke Gediminas Monument with the howling iron wolf

Vilnius panorama in 1600 by Tomasz Makowski

La Grande Armée in Vilnius during its retreat (near the Vilnius Town Hall). In the beginning of his invasion of Russia, Napoleon established the Lithuanian Provisional Governing Commission, with the nobility seeing him as a liberator.

In 1905, the Great Seimas of Vilnius took place in the current Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society building

Celebration of incorporation of Vilnius Region to Poland in 1922. The event sparked vast Lithuanians anger with a popular interwar chant: "Mes be Vilniaus nenurimsim!" (We will not calm down without Vilnius!)

Lithuanian Army tanks in Vilnius after regaining control of the capital

Povilas Plechavičius, commander of the LTDF

The former KGB headquarters in Vilnius, now the Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights

Annual commemoration of January Events in the Independence Square near the Seimas Palace with bonfires

Neris River at Mindaugas Bridge with Vilnius Upper Castle in the distance. A favorable geographic location made the Upper Castle on the Gediminas' Hill unconquerable for hundreds of years.

Gothic wall frescoes of the Church of St. Francis and St. Bernard (16th century)

Tombstone of Lew Sapieha, ca. 1633, at Church of St. Michael

Lithuanian Girl with Palm Sunday Fronds by Kanuty Rusiecki

Vilnius Picture Gallery in the old town (former Chodkiewicz Palace)

Zawadzki bookstore on the present-day Pilies Street. The store banners are printed in five languages: Russian, Polish, Lithuanian, French, German.

Gate of the Basilian Monastery where poet Adam Mickiewicz was imprisoned for fighting the Russian rule

The Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore (Vileišis Palace)

Billboard above the Botanical Garden (now Bernardinai Garden) main gates of the first cinema screening in Vilnius (1897)

Lithuanian Theater, Music and Cinema Museum, located in the 17th century Minor Radvilos Palace

Libretto of the first opera staged in Vilnius (1636), which overtook the first operas in Paris (1645) and London (1656)

Lithuanian Song and Dance Festival in Vingis Park

Andrius Mamontovas, leader of Foje and founder of the annual Gatvės muzikos diena (Street Music Day)

Page in Latin of theatre program dedicated to Algirdas (1687), once performed in Vilnius

Coronal mass ejection, captured in 1867 with Vilnius's photoheliograph, which was only the second such device in the entire world

Kaziuko mugė is held annually in the city in honor of Saint Casimir

Krzysztof Mikołaj "Piorun" Radziwiłł (Voivode of Vilnius from 1584 to 1603). Due to his prominent victories versus Ivan the Terrible's troops during the Livonian War, he was nicknamed "the Thunderbolt" (Perkūnas).

Vilnius Town Hall, reconstructed in neoclassical style according to the design by Laurynas Gucevičius in 1799

Vilnius City Municipality Building in Konstitucijos Avenue, housing the city's municipal council and administration

Map of Vilnius elderships. Numbers on the map correspond with numbers in the list

Medininkai Castle, built in the first half of the 14th century. It is the largest enclosure type defensive castle in Lithuania and one of the primary landmarks of the Vilnius district.

Seimas Palace in Vilnius, where the parliamentarians of Lithuania convenes

St. Anne's Church and the Church of St. Francis and St. Bernard are an outstanding examples of Gothic architecture in Lithuania

Church of St. Peter and St. Paul is a Baroque architecture masterpiece. It was funded by Michał Kazimierz Pac, commemorating a victory over the Muscovites and their expulsion from Vilnius after six years of occupation.

The 17th-century Chapel of Saint Casimir, a patron saint of Lithuania and its youth, in the Cathedral of Vilnius

Model of the Vilnius Castle Complex in the first half of the 17th century. The Upper Castle, which early wooden variants dates to the 10th century, was partly destroyed during the Battle of Vilnius (1655) and was never rebuilt.

Vilnius Old Town apartments offers views to the most notable landmarks of the city and a medieval atmosphere

Part of Valakampiai neighborhood in Antakalnis eldership by the Neris River as seen from Verkiai Palace

Helios City complex in Naujamiestis with shopping mall and apartments

Šnipiškės in the 19th century with the Chapel of Jesus of Šnipiškės

Grand Duke Sigismund II Augustus (Vilnius' founder's Gediminas' direct offspring by the male-line ) with his wife, the Grand Duchess Barbara Radziwiłł, in Vilnius. The city prospered during his reign and the Golden Age.

Pagan Lithuanians worshipping a grass snake, oak and holy fire. From Olaus Magnus' Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus (History of the Northern People), book 3, 1555.

Manifesto of the Uprising of 1794 in Lithuanian, encouraging Lithuanians to defend Vilnius from falling under the Russian control. The number of inhabitants in the Grand Duchy's capital fell fivefold, compared to 1760s when more than 60 thousand citizens were living in Vilnius, when the uprising failed in 1794 and in 1795 the state was abolished after the Third Partition.

Vilnius within Lithuania proper (marked in green) in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in a map from 1712

Multicultural Vilnians in 1915. The city was famous for its tolerance of various ethnicities till World War I.

Europa Tower is the tallest building in the Baltic states and is one of the symbols of modern Vilnius and its economic growth

K29 business centre is the first office in the Baltic states which received excellent BREEAM rating

Vilnius University Astronomical Observatory, est. in 1753, is one of the oldest in Europe and was the first in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Scientific centres and universities faculties in the Sunrise Valley

Virginijus Šikšnys is a prominent biochemist of the Vilnius University

The Green Hall business centre complex in Žvėrynas, which houses IT companies and the Europe's first international Blockchain Centre

The Bank of Lithuania headquarters in Gediminas Avenue

The Grand Courtyard of Vilnius University and Church of St. Johns

National M. K. Čiurlionis School of Art is a prestigious art school, offering free education to talented Lithuanians

One of the 16th century Central Vilnius University Library reading rooms, decorated in 1803 with the portraits of the 12 most prominent figures in antiquity art and science

Church of St. Casimir, the first Baroque church in Vilnius, known for excellent acoustics and organ concerts with renowned international musicians

Orthodox Cathedral of the Theotokos, built in the 14th century by Grand Duke Algirdas for newcomers Ruthenians in the Ruthenian quarter of Vilnius

The interior of the Chapel of the Gate of Dawn with the holy Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn painting

The first Divine Mercy painting by Eugeniusz Kazimirowski (1934) at the Divine Mercy Sanctuary, Vilnius

Verkiai Calvary, c. undefined 1840s. It was built as a sign of gratitude for the victory in the Second Northern War.

The Republic of Užupis is a tourists frequently visited micronation in Vilnius, full of Bohemian culture and art

Vilnius International Airport main entrance

Carsharing company SPARK car and an EV charging station in Vilnius

Solaris Urbino 18 bus and Škoda 26Tr Solaris trolleybuses in Vilnius

House in which the Vilnius Medical Society was established in 1805

The title page of Kurier Litewski (1760, Vilnius)

Capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389.

- Vilnius

500 related topics

Gediminas

Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1315 or 1316 until his death.

Position of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in Eastern Europe until 1434.

A peace agreement between Gediminas and the Order

Gediminas Tower named after the founder of Vilnius, although it was built considerably later.

Gediminas monument in Cathedral Square, Vilnius

Gediminids - predecessors of the Jagiellonian dynasty 1521

Also seen as one of the most significant individuals in early Lithuanian history, he was responsible for both building Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, and establishing a dynasty that later came to rule other European countries such as Poland, Hungary and Bohemia.

Neris

The river Neris, Viliya (Ві́лія) or (Wilia) rises in northern Belarus.

Confluence of the Viliya and Narach: a conjectured reason for the dual naming of Neris

Neris near Gediminas Tower in Vilnius, Lithuania

The Neris drainage basin. Standing out are the river and its main tributary. The latter rises near to Latvia, the Šventoji

It flows westward, passing through Vilnius (Lithuania's capital) and in the south-centre of that country it flows into the Nemunas (Neman), at Kaunas, as its main tributary.

Vilnius Old Town

Area of 3.59 square kilometres (887 acres).

The oldest part of the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, it has developed over the course of many centuries, and has been shaped by the city's history and a constantly changing cultural influence.

Second Polish Republic

Country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939.

Polish defences at Miłosna, during the decisive Battle of Warsaw, August 1920

Marshal Józef Piłsudski, Chief of State (Naczelnik Państwa) between November 1918 and December 1922

Ignacy Mościcki, President of Poland (left), Warsaw, 10 November 1936, awarding the Marshal's buława to Edward Rydz-Śmigły

The PZL.37 Łoś was a Polish twin-engine medium bomber.

Polish pavilion at the 1939 World's Fair in New York City

Poland's MS Batory, and MS Piłsudski, at the sea port of Gdynia, 18 December 1937

Gdynia, a modern Polish seaport established in 1926

Industry and communications in Poland before the start of the Second World War

The CWS T-1 Torpedo was the first serially-built car manufactured in Poland.

Ciągówka Ursus was the first Polish farm tractor, produced from 1922 to 1927 in the Ursus Factory.

Prime Minister Kazimierz Bartel, also a scholar and mathematician

The National Museum in Warsaw (Polish: Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie), popularly known as the MNW, opened in 1938.

Marian Rejewski, Jerzy Różycki and Henryk Zygalski, Polish mathematicians and cryptologists who worked at breaking the German Enigma ciphers before and during the Second World War

Contemporary map showing language frequency in 1931 across Poland; red: more than 50% native Polish speakers; green: more than 50% native language other than Polish, including Yiddish, Hebrew, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Russian and less frequent others

Officers from the Second Mountain Brigade of the Polish Legions in the First World War establishing the Polish-Czechoslovak border; they are pictured near the summit of Popadia in Gorgany during the formation of the Second Republic, 1915.

Physical map of the Second Polish Republic

Polish soldiers with anti-aircraft artillery near Warsaw Central Station during the first days of September, 1939

ORP Orzeł was the lead ship of her class of submarines serving in the Polish Navy during the Second World War.

The cultural hubs of interwar Poland – Warsaw, Kraków, Poznań, Wilno and Lwów – became major European cities and the sites of internationally acclaimed universities and other institutions of higher education.

Vilnius District Municipality

One of 60 municipalities in Lithuania.

New Klevinė settlement in Vilnius district municipality. Because of recent urban sprawl, such new fast-growing quarters surround Vilnius city

Riešė village in Vilnius district municipality. One of the fastest growing localities in the vicinity of the capital.

Neoclassical Maišiagala manor, Vilnius district municipality.

Baroque Liubavas manor buildings in Riešė elderate, Vilnius district municipality.

Interior of early XIX c. Sudervė church, which belongs to a rare in Lithuania rotonda type building

Neris river outcrop near Airėnai village

Sacred Daubos Oak in Neris Regional Park

Ilgutis lake near Keturiasdešimt Totorių

Wooden Old Believers church in Žemaitėliai

Stone sculptures in Vilnoja lake near Sudervė

Museum of Władysław Syrokomla in Bareikiškės

It surrounds the capital city of Vilnius on 3 sides, while the rest borders the Trakai District Municipality.

Vytautas

Vytautas (c.

Privilege to Vilnius Cathedral issued by Vytautas in Vilnius on 16 February 1410 (Latin language)

Principality of Smolensk coin with lions or leopards and the Columns of Gediminas, showing it as a vassal of Vytautas the Great, circa 1399–1401.

Church of Vytautas the Great. Built around 1400 in Kaunas

Vytautas the Great watch tower in Kherson, Ukraine

Vytautas and Kęstutis imprisoned by Jogaila. Painting by Wojciech Gerson

When Kęstutis discovered this in 1381, he seized Vilnius, imprisoned Jogaila, and made himself Grand Duke.

Grand Duchy of Lithuania

European state that existed from the 13th century to 1795, when the territory was partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Empire of Austria.

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania at the height of its power in the 15th century (on a modern day map)

Lithuania in the Mappa mundi of Pietro Vesconte, 1321. The inscription reads: Letvini pagani - pagan Lithuanians.

Lubart's Castle in Ukraine, built by the son of Gediminas' Liubartas in the mid-14th century, is famous for the Congress of Lutsk which took place in 1429

Grand Duchy of Lithuania under the rule of Vytautas the Great

Trakai Island Castle, residence of the Grand Duke Vytautas

The Battle of Grunwald, 1410, with Ulrich von Jungingen and Vytautas at center

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth c. 1635

Lithuania and its administrative divisions in the 17th century

Church of St. Johns in Vilnius. Example of Vilnius Baroque style

St. Anne's Church and the church of the Bernardine Monastery in Vilnius

Constitution of 3 May, one of the first official state documents issued in both Polish and Lithuanian, Lithuanian edition

Lithuanian primer for kids, published in Vilnius, Grand Duchy of Lithuania, 1783 edition

Area where Lithuanian was spoken in the 16th century

Lithuania proper (in green) and Samogitia (in red) within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in a map from 1712

Panegyric to Sigismund III Vasa, visiting Vilnius, first hexameter in Lithuanian, 1589

The Statute of Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1588) in Ruthenian printed in Vilnius

The first printed book in Lithuanian Catechism of Martynas Mažvydas by Martynas Mažvydas

Lithuanian ancient hill fort in Rudamina

Lithuanian ancient hill fort mounds in Kernavė, now listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Ruins of Navahrudak Castle. Current state (2004)

Mir Castle - a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Belarus.

Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania in Vilnius

Vilnius University and the Church of St. John

Pažaislis Monastery church, decorated with expensive marble

Royal insignias of the rulers of Lithuania in the Vilnius Cathedral, 1931

thumb|right|Showcase of the Crimean Karaites traditional lifestyle in Trakai, Lithuania

Žemaitukas, a historic horse breed from Lithuania, known from the 6–7th centuries, used as a warhorse by the Lithuanians

"Christianization of Lithuania in 1387", oil on canvas by Jan Matejko, 1889, Royal Castle in Warsaw

Priest, lexicographer Konstantinas Sirvydas, the cherisher of the Lithuanian language in the 17th century

Lithuanian national coats of arms: Columns of Gediminas, Double Cross of the Jagiellonians (Jogaila) and Samogitian bear

Coat of arms of the Grand Chancellors of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

Coat of arms of the Grand Marshals of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

Reciprocal Guarantee of Two Nations which distinguishes Poles, Lithuanians, Ruthenians, and others, adopted on 20 October 1791

A truncated state (whose principal cities were Kraków, Warsaw and Vilnius) remained that was nominally independent.

Władysław II Jagiełło

Grand Duke of Lithuania (1377–1434) and then King of Poland (1386–1434), first alongside his wife Jadwiga until 1399, and then sole ruler of Poland.

Early coin of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Jogaila with a lion, minted at the Vilnius Mint between 1386 and 1387

Seal of Jogaila with his title (in Latin) as King in Lithuania, used in 1377–1386, before becoming the King of Poland in 1386

Lithuanian Denar of Jogaila (minted in 1388–1392) with Vytis (Pahonia)

Battle of Grunwald, 1410. Painting by Jan Matejko

The Teutonic Order's castle at Marienburg

Polish and Lithuanian conflict with Teutonic Prussia, 1377–1434.

Władysław Jagiełło as depicted in Ksawery Pillati's Portraits of Polish Princes and Kings, 1888

A 17th-century depiction of Władysław II Jagiełło and Jadwiga of Poland by the cross by Tommaso Dolabella

King Jagiello Monument, Central Park, New York

His name had a meaning of more courageous and superior than others, he spent most of his early time in Vilnius, at his father's manor.

Henry IV of England

Henry IV (c.

Henry of Bolingbroke, flanked by the lords spiritual and temporal, claims the throne in 1399. From a contemporary manuscript, British Library, Harleian Collection

The coronation of Henry IV of England, from a 15th-century manuscript of Jean Froissart's Chronicles

Silver half-groat of Henry IV, York Museums Trust

Manuel II Palaiologos (left) with Henry IV (right) in London, December 1400

Henry IV and Joan of Navarre, detail of their effigies in Canterbury Cathedral

16th-century imaginary painting of Henry IV, National Portrait Gallery, London

Henry spent the full year of 1390 supporting the unsuccessful siege of Vilnius (capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania) by Teutonic Knights with 70 to 80 household knights.

Lithuania

Country in the Baltic region of Europe.

Baltic amber was once a valuable trade resource. It was transported from the region of modern-day Lithuania to the Roman Empire and Egypt through the Amber Road.

Changes in the territory of Lithuania from the 13th to 15th century. At its peak, Lithuania was the largest state in Europe. Lithuania's strength was its toleration of various cultures and religions.

Trakai Island Castle, the former residence of the Grand Dukes and capital city of the medieval state

Battle of Grunwald and Vytautas the Great in the centre

The victory of the Polish-Lithuanian forces over the Muscovites at the Battle of Orsha in 1514

Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania in Vilnius, marked 6, in 1600

Emilia Plater, often nicknamed as a Lithuanian Joan of Arc, leading peasant scythemen during the 1831 uprising

Bishop Motiejus Valančius resisted Russification. He urged protest against the closing of Catholic churches and organised book printing in Lithuanian in Lithuania Minor

The original 20 members of the Council of Lithuania after signing the Act of Independence of Lithuania, 16 February 1918.

Lithuanian armoured train Gediminas 3, used in Lithuanian Wars of Independence and Lithuanian soldiers

Antanas Smetona was the first and last president of interbellum Lithuania (1919–1920, 1926–1940)

Lituanica above New York in 1933. The transatlantic flight was one of the most precise in aviation history. It equaled, and in some aspects surpassed, Charles Lindbergh's classic flight.

Soldiers of the Red Army enter the territory of Lithuania during the first Soviet occupation in 1940.

Lithuanian resistance fighters. The armed resistance was 50,000 strong at its peak.

Site of the Paneriai massacre, where the German Nazis and their collaborators executed up to 100,000 people of various nationalities. About 70,000 of them were Jews.

Monument in Naujoji Vilnia in memory of the Soviet deportations from Lithuania

The Baltic Way was a mass anti-Soviet demonstration where approx. 25% of the population of the Baltic states participated

An Anti-Soviet rally in Vingis Park of about 250,000 people. Sąjūdis was a movement which led to the restoration of an Independent State of Lithuania.

On 13 January 1991, Soviet forces fired live rounds at unarmed independence supporters and crushed two of them with tanks, killing 13 in total. To this day, Russia refuses to extradite the perpetrators, who were convicted of war crimes.

Physical map and geomorphological subdivision of Lithuania.

White stork is the national bird of Lithuania which has the highest-density stork population in Europe.

Commemoration of the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania in the historical Seimas hall where it was originally signed in 1990. The ceremony is attended by the Lithuanian President, Prime Minister, Chairman of the Seimas and other high-ranking officials.

Statutes of Lithuania were the central piece of Lithuanian law in 1529–1795

Lithuanian police cruiser in Gediminas Avenue, Vilnius

Stamp dedicated to Lithuania's presidency of the European Union. Post of Lithuania, 2013.

Lithuania was recently a member of the United Nations Security Council. Its representatives are on the right side.

Lithuanian Army soldiers with their NATO allies during Iron Sword 2014

Lithuanian Army soldiers marching with their dress uniforms in Vilnius. An officer stands out with a sword.

Real GPD per capita development of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania

Lithuania's GDP per capita compared to rest of the world (2020)

Lithuania, GNI per capita, PPP (current international $), 2016

A proportional representation of Lithuania exports, 2019

Nasdaq Vilnius Stock Exchange, located in K29 business centre in Konstitucijos Avenue, Vilnius

LituanicaSAT-2 in the thermal-vacuum chamber.

Marijampolė railway station, completed in 1924

Kaunas Clinics is the largest and the most advanced medical institution in Lithuania.

Vilnius University, one of the oldest universities in the region. It was established by Stephen Báthory, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, in 1579.

Vilnius University Life Sciences Center in the Sunrise Valley

The earliest known Lithuanian glosses (between 1520 and 1530) written in the margins of Johannes Herolt book Liber Discipuli de eruditione Christifidelium. Words: teprÿdav[ſ]ʒÿ (let it strike), vbagÿſte (indigence)

The first Lithuanian printed book Catechism of Martynas Mažvydas (1547, Königsberg)

The title page of Radivilias (1592, Vilnius). The poem celebrating commander Mikalojus Radvila Rudasis (1512–1584) and recounts the famous victory of Lithuanian Armed Forces over Moscow troops (1564).

Vilnius Cathedral by Laurynas Gucevičius

Gryčia (traditional dwelling house, built in the 19th century)

Kings' Fairy Tale (1908–1909) by Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis

Romuva Cinema, the oldest still operational cinema in Lithuania

Rock band Antis, which under firm censorship actively mocked the Soviet Union regime by using metaphors in their lyrics, during an Anti-Sovietism, Anti-communism concert in 1987

Cepelinai, a potato-based dumpling dish characteristic of Lithuanian cuisine with meat, curd or mushrooms

Lithuania has longlasting beer brewing traditions

Lithuania men's national basketball team is ranked eighth worldwide in FIBA Rankings.

Its capital and largest city is Vilnius; other major cities are Kaunas and Klaipėda.