Vilnius

Vilnius is the largest city and the capital of Lithuania, with a population of 553,904 (850,700 together with Vilnius County) as of December 2005.[1] It is the capital of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the seat of Vilnius County.

History

Some historians identify the city with Voruta, a legendary capital of Mindaugas who was crowned in 1253 as King of Lithuania. The city was first mentioned in written sources in 1323, in letters of Grand Duke Gediminas that were sent to German cities and invited Germans and members of the Jewish community to settle in the capital city. In 1387, the city was granted city rights by Jogaila, one of Gediminas' successors.

Between 1503 and 1522 the city was surrounded with walls that had nine city gates and three towers. Vilnius reached the peak of its development under the reign of Sigismund August, who moved his court there in 1544. In the following centuries, Vilnius became a constantly growing and developing city. This growth was due in part to the establishment of Almae Academia et Universitas Vilnensis Societatis Jesu by the King Stephen Bathory in 1579. The university soon developed into one of the most important scientific and cultural centres of the region and the most notable scientific centre of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Political, economic, and social activities were in full swing in the town. In 1769, the Rasos Cemetery, one of the oldest surviving cemeteries in the city, was founded. During its rapid development, the city was open to migrants from both abroad and far reaches of territories of Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Each group made its unique contribution to the life of the city, and crafts, trade and science prospered. During the Russo-Polish War (1654-1667), Vilnius was occupied by Russia for several years. The city was pillaged and burned, and its population was massacred. The city's growth lost its momentum for many years, but the population rebounded, and by the beginning of the 19th century city's population reached 200,000 making the city one of the largest in Northern Europe.

After the Third Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795, Vilnius was annexed by Russia and became the capital of a Vilna Governorate. During the Russian occupation the city walls were destroyed, and by 1805, only the Dawn Gate remained. In 1812, the city was seized by Napoleon on his push towards Moscow. Following the November Uprising in 1831, Vilnius University was closed and Russian repressions halted the further development of the city. During the January Uprising in 1863 heavy fighting occurred within the city, but was brutally pacified by Mikhail Muravyov, nicknamed The Hangman by the population because of the number of executions he organized. After the uprising all civil liberties were withdrawn, and use of the Polish and Lithuanian languages was banned.

During World War I, Vilnius — as with the rest of Lithuania — was occupied by the German Empire from 1915 until 1918. The Act of the Restoration of Independence of Lithuania was proclaimed in the city on February 16, 1918. After the withdrawal of German forces, Lithuanian forces were made to retreat by the advancing Russian occupation forces. Vilnius changed hands many times: for a while it was controlled by Polish self-defence units, who didn't want the city to be occupied by Russian-Bolshevik forces. Then the Polish Army regained control, then Soviet forces again. Shortly after its defeat in the Battle of Warsaw (1920), the retreating Red Army ceded the city back to Lithuania by signing a peace treaty on July 12, 1920. Poland also recognized Vilnius and the Vilnius region as a part of Lithuania with the Treaty of Suwalki signed on October 7, 1920. However, on October 9 of the same year, the Polish Army under General Lucjan Żeligowski broke the treaty and seized Vilnius after a staged coup. The city and its surroundings were proclaimed a separate state of Central Lithuania (Vidurio Lietuvos Respublika). On February 20, 1922, the whole area was made a part of Poland, with Vilnius as the capital of the Wilno Voivodship (Wilno being the name of Vilnius in Polish). Ethnic Lithunians were being forced to leave the city and the use Lithuanian language was banned in public, therefore gradually Poles and Jews made up a majority of the population of the city, with a small Lithuanian minority of only 0.8%.

In the meantime, for yet another time in its history, the city enjoyed a period of fast development. Vilnius University was reopened under the name Stefan Batory University and the city's infrastructure was improved significantly. By 1931, the city had 195,000 inhabitants, making it the fifth largest city in Poland. Some Lithuanians, however, dispute this picture of economic growth and point out that the standard of living in Vilnius at this time was considerably lower compared to that in other parts of contemporary Lithuania.

Following the secret protocol of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, on September 19, 1939, Vilnius was seized and annexed by the Soviet Union. On October 10, 1939, after a Soviet ultimatum, the Lithuanian government accepted the presence of Soviet military bases in various parts of the country in exchange for restoring the city to Lithuania. Though the process of transferring the capital from Kaunas to Vilnius started soon after, the whole of Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union in June of 1940, before the transfer was completed. A new Communist government was installed, with Vilnius as the capital of the newly created Lithuanian SSR. Up to 40,000 of the city's inhabitants were arrested by the NKVD and sent to gulags in the far eastern areas of the Soviet Union.

In June 1941, the city was seized by Germany. Two ghettos were set up in the old town center for the large Jewish population - the smaller one of which was "liquidated" by October. The larger ghetto lasted until 1943, though its population was regularly decimated in what were known as "Aktionen". A failed ghetto uprising on September 1, 1943 organized by the Fareinigte Partizaner Organizacje (the United Partisan Organization, the first Jewish partisan unit in Nazi-occupied Europe), was followed by the final destruction of the ghetto. About 95% of the 265,000-strong Jewish population of Lithuania was murdered by the German units and their local collaborators, many of them in Paneriai, about 10 km west of the old town centre.

In July 1944 Vilnius was retaken by the Soviet Army and the Home Army (see Wilno Uprising). The NKVD arrested the Polish soldiers. Vilnius was incorporated into the Soviet Union as the capital of the Lithuanian SSR shortly thereafter. Immediately after World War II, large numbers of Poles were expelled from Soviet-occupied Lithuania to Poland. Coupled with the migration of the Lithuanians into Vilnius, this development resulted in a change in the city's demographic fabric.

On March 11, 1990, the Supreme Council of the Lithuanian SSR announced its independence from the Soviet Union and restored the independent Republic of Lithuania. The Soviets responded on January 9, 1991, by sending in troops. On January 13 during the Soviet Army attack on the State Radio and Television Building and the Vilnius TV Tower, fourteen civilians were killed and more than 700 were seriously injured. The Soviet Union finally recognized Lithuanian independence in August 1991.

Since then, Vilnius has rapidly transformed in an attempt to erase its Soviet past and the town has emerged as a modern European city. Many of its older buildings have been renovated, and a business and commercial area is being developed into the New City Center, expected to become the city's main administrative and business district on the north side of Neris river. This area includes modern residential and retail space, with the municipality building and a 129-metre (423') Europa Tower as its most prominent building. While a number of modern business and retail centers have been built during recent years, many other projects are waiting to be implemented.

In 2009 Vilnius, capital of Lithuania, will be the capital of the European Culture. Among the initiatives promoted by Lithuania for this event, the historical centre of the city has been restored and its main monuments have been renewed.