About Vilnius
Very pleasant and very beautiful – that’s what comes to one‘s mind when talking about Vilnius.
The city displays a variety of both architectural expression and willpower. This is perhaps due to the interesting history that rests in this attractive town which has not always been the capital of Lithuania.
However, for over five centuries, until the 18th century, Vilnius was a political and cultural center of Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Old Town in Vilnius was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1994 just because the town “has preserved an impressive complex of Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and classical buildings as well as its medieval layout and natural setting”.
When visiting Vilnius it is very easy to understand why Vilnius was the European Capital of Culture in 2009.
Places to visit in Vilnius TOP 20
For more related information please visit Vilnius Tourist Information Centre at www.vilnius-tourism.lt/en.
About Lithuania
Lithuania is the biggest of the three Baltic countries on the shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania shares borders with Latvia, Belarus, Poland and Russia (Kaliningrad). The country is full of preserved natural landscapes, woods, lakes and rivers and has a unique seaside with Curonian split – a sandy peninsula isolating the Curonian sea from the Baltic sea.
Even though Lithuania has been mentioned already in 1009, it is a young republic, trying to recover from a grinding occupation of Soviet Union. The independence was retrieved only in 1990, but the history of Lithuanian statehood started already in XIII century, when Mindaugas, the first and only kind of our country, gained the crown. The history of Lithuania is erratic, full of mighty victories and severe events. Today’s Lithuania is a small country, but in historical maps you can find it the biggest country in the Europe, or not existing at all. Today the country, still under impact of 50 years soviet occupation, tries to blend into the economic and cultural space of European Union.
As one of the countries in Europe, baptized at the latest, Lithuania preserved much of pagan traditions; folk traditions are still alive in villages. The cultural life prospers in all the bigger cities.
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