Vilnius

Vilnius ( VIL-nee-əs; Lithuanian: [ˈvʲɪlʲnʲʊs] ) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania and the most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated July 2026 population was 619,405, and the Vilnius urban area (which extends beyond the city limits) has an estimated population of 767,907. Vilnius is notable for the architecture of its Old Town, considered one of Europe's largest and best-preserved old towns. The city was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994. The architectural style known as Vilnian Baroque is named after the city, which is the easternmost Baroque city and the largest such city north of the Alps. The Renaissance and Baroque architecture of Vilnius was largely influenced by the Italian architecture as Italian descent architects, artists participated in designing and decorating it. The culture of Italy in Vilnius was significantly strengthened by the Italian princess Bona Sforza, who in 1517 married the Lithuanian Grand Duke Sigismund I the Old, and by their son Sigismund II Augustus. The city has been the capital of Lithuania since at least 1323, when it was first mentioned as such in a letter of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas. Since the 13th century until the mid-17th century the Vilnius Castle Complex had served as the residence of the Lithuanian monarchs. Furthermore, the city was noted for its multicultural population during the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, with contemporary sources comparing it to Babylon. Before World War II and the Holocaust, Vilnius was one of Europe's most important Jewish centres, leading Napoleon to dub it "the Jerusalem of the North" when he passed through in 1812. The city's current demographics are additionally marked by the population exchange between Poland and Soviet Lithuania after World War II, before which Poles made up the majority of inhabitants. As of 2021, around two thirds of...