Vilnius

The name of Vilnius first appeared in Latin-edited letters by Gediminas from the year 1323, in the form Vilna (in civitate nostra regia, dicta Vilna). In another letter from 1325, the form Wilno also appears (Datum Wilno). Both forms ultimately originate from the old Lithuanian name of the tributary river Vilnia (meaning ripple), which flows into the Neris River in the center of old Vilnius, near the Castle Hill. The name of the river was transferred to the city. The form Wilno is still used in the Polish language today. The Lithuanian form Vilnius, which is used today, was recorded at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries in the Postil of Mikalojus Daukša, but it only became widespread during the Lithuanian national revival at the end of the 19th century. …

Vilnius's history dates to the Stone Age. The city, at least, from 1323 until 1795 was the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Later Vilnius was ruled by imperial and Soviet Russia, Napoleonic France, Imperial and Nazi Germany, interwar Poland, and again became a capital of Lithuania in the 20th century. A Baltic settlement since its foundation, Vilnius became significant in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The city was first mentioned in letters by Grand Duke Gediminas, who invited Jews and Germans to settle and built a wooden castle on a hill. Vilnius became a city when it was given city rights in 1387, after the Christianization of Lithuania, and was settled by craftsmen and merchants of a variety of nationalities. It was the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (until 1795) within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. …

Vilnius is at the confluence of the Vilnia and Neris rivers in southeastern Lithuania. Several countries say that the geographical midpoint of Europe is within their territory. The midpoint depends on the definition of European extent, and the Guinness Book of World Records recognises a point near Vilnius as the continental centre. After a 1989 re-estimation of European boundaries, Jean-George Affholder of the Institut Géographique National (French National Geographic Institute) determined that its geographic centre was at 54°54′N 25°19′E. The method used to calculate the point was the centre of gravity of the European geometrical figure, and is near the village of Girija (26 kilometres from Vilnius). A monument by sculptor Gediminas Jokūbonis, a column of white granite surmounted by a crown of stars, was built there in 2004. …

Vilnius was an artistic centre of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, attracting artists across Europe. The oldest surviving early Gothic artworks (14th century) are paintings dedicated to churches and liturgy, such as frescoes in the crypts of Vilnius Cathedral and decorated hymnbooks. Sixteenth-century wall paintings are in the city's Church of St. Francis and St. Bernard and the Church of Saint Nicholas. Gothic wooden polychrome sculptures decorate church altars. Some Gothic seals from the 14th and 15th centuries still exist, including those of Kęstutis, Vytautas the Great and Sigismund II Augustus. Renaissance sculpture appeared during the early 16th century, primarily by the Italian sculptors Bernardinus Zanobi da Gianotti, Giovani Cini, and Giovanni Maria Padovano. …

Vilnius is Lithuania's economic centre, with a per-capita GDP in the metropolitan area of over €40,000. The city's budget reached €1.0 billion in 2022. The average monthly salary in Vilnius is €2,891 (US$3,419.19) (gross) and €1,749 (US$2,068.54) (net). Lithuania's economic growth has been uneven, with GDP per capita at nearly 110 percent of the EU average in Vilnius but from 42 to 77 percent in other regions. The country's convergence is fuelled by two regions (Vilnius and Kaunas County) which produce 42 and 20 percent of the national GDP, respectively. From 2014 to 2016, the Vilnius region grew by 4.6 percent. The supply of new housing in Vilnius and its suburbs has reached post-recession highs, and the stock of unsold apartments in Lithuania's three largest cities has begun to increase since the beginning of 2017. …

According to Lithuanian Department of Statistics, 1,200,858 visitors rented rooms in Vilnius in 2018 and spent a total of 2,212,109 nights there; this was a respective increase of 12 percent and 11 percent over the previous year. Eighty-one percent of the visitors were foreigners (970,577), 11 percent more than in 2017. Most foreign visitors (47 percent) came from Belarus (102,915), Germany (101,999), Poland (99,386), Russia (90,388) and Latvia (61,829). Nineteen percent of the guests were Lithuanian, 18 percent more than in 2017. A 2018 Vilnius visitor survey reported that 48 percent were visiting the city for the first time, 85 percent of tourists planned the trip by themselves, and 15 percent used a travel agency. Forty percent said that they visited Vilnius to learn about the city's history and heritage, with 23 percent also planning trips to other parts of Lithuania. …