<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Lithuania" class="extiw" title="w:en:Lithuania">Lithuania</a>, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Baltic_region" class="extiw" title="w:en:Baltic region">Baltic region</a> of Europe and is considered to be one of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Baltic_states" class="extiw" title="w:en:Baltic states"> Baltic states</a>. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Baltic_Sea" class="extiw" title="w:en:Baltic Sea">Baltic Sea</a>, to the east of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Sweden" class="extiw" title="w:en:Sweden">Sweden</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Denmark" class="extiw" title="w:en:Denmark">Denmark</a>. It is bordered by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Latvia" class="extiw" title="w:en:Latvia">Latvia</a> to the north, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Belarus" class="extiw" title="w:en:Belarus">Belarus</a> to the east and south, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Poland" class="extiw" title="w:en:Poland">Poland</a> to the south, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Kaliningrad_Oblast" class="extiw" title="w:en:Kaliningrad Oblast">Kaliningrad Region</a> (a Russian enclave) to the southwest. Lithuania has an estimated population of 2.8 million people (as of 2019), and its capital and largest city is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Vilnius" class="extiw" title="w:en:Vilnius">Vilnius</a>. Other major cities are <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Kaunas" class="extiw" title="w:en:Kaunas">Kaunas</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Klaip%C4%97da" class="extiw" title="w:en:Klaipėda">Klaipėda</a>. Lithuanians are <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Balts" class="extiw" title="w:en:Balts">Baltic people</a>. 
<p>For centuries, the southeastern shores of the Baltic Sea were inhabited by various Baltic tribes. In the 1230s, the Lithuanian lands were united by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en_Mindaugas" class="extiw" title="w:en Mindaugas">Mindaugas</a>, the King of Lithuania, and the first unified Lithuanian state, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Kingdom_of_Lithuania" class="extiw" title="w:en:Kingdom of Lithuania">Kingdom of Lithuania</a>, was created on 6 July 1253. During the 14th century, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Grand_Duchy_of_Lithuania" class="extiw" title="w:en:Grand Duchy of Lithuania">Grand Duchy of Lithuania</a> was the largest country in Europe; present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, and parts of Poland and Russia were the territories of the Grand Duchy. With the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Lublin_Union" class="extiw" title="w:en:Lublin Union">Lublin Union</a> of 1569, Lithuania and Poland formed a voluntary two-state <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:personal_union" class="extiw" title="w:en:personal union">’personal union’</a>, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Polish%E2%80%93Lithuanian_Commonwealth" class="extiw" title="w:en:Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth">Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth</a>. The Commonwealth lasted more than two centuries, until neighbouring countries systematically dismantled it from 1772 to 1795, with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Russian_Empire" class="extiw" title="w:en:Russian Empire">Russian Empire</a> annexing most of Lithuania's territory.
As <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:WW1" class="extiw" title="w:en:WW1">World War I (WWI)</a> neared its end, Lithuania's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Act_of_Independence_of_Lithuania" class="extiw" title="w:en:Act of Independence of Lithuania">Act of Independence</a> was signed on 16 February 1918, declaring the founding of the modern Republic of Lithuania. In the midst of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:WW2" class="extiw" title="w:en:WW2">Second World War (WWII)</a>, Lithuania was first <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Soviet_occupation_of_the_Baltic_states_(1940)" class="extiw" title="w:en:Soviet occupation of the Baltic states (1940)">occupied by the Soviet Union</a> and then by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:German_occupation_of_Lithuania_during_World_War_II" class="extiw" title="w:en:German occupation of Lithuania during World War II">Nazi Germany</a>. As World War II neared its end and the Germans retreated, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Soviet_occupation_of_the_Baltic_states_(1944)" class="extiw" title="w:en:Soviet occupation of the Baltic states (1944)">Soviet Union reoccupied Lithuania</a>. On 11 March 1990, a year before the formal <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Union" class="extiw" title="w:en:Dissolution of the Soviet Union">Dissolution of the Soviet Union</a>, Lithuania became the first Baltic state to declare itself independent, resulting in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Act_of_the_Re-Establishment_of_the_State_of_Lithuania" class="extiw" title="w:en:Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania">restoration of an independent State of Lithuania</a>.
</p><p>Vilnius is in the southeast part of Lithuania and is the second largest city in the Baltic states. Vilnius is the seat of the main government institutions of Lithuania and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Vilnius_District_Municipality" class="extiw" title="w:en:Vilnius District Municipality">Vilnius District Municipality</a>. Vilnius is known for the architecture in its <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Vilnius_Old_Town" class="extiw" title="w:en:Vilnius Old Town">Old Town</a>, declared a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:World_Heritage_Site" class="extiw" title="w:en:World Heritage Site">UNESCO World Heritage Site</a> in 1994. Before WWII, Vilnius was one of the largest Jewish centres in Europe. Its Jewish influence has led to it being described as the "Jerusalem of Lithuania" and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Napoleon" class="extiw" title="w:en:Napoleon">Napoleon</a> named it "the Jerusalem of the North” when he passed through in 1812. In 2009, Vilnius was the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:European_Capital_of_Culture" class="extiw" title="w:en:European Capital of Culture">European Capital of Culture</a>, together with the Austrian city of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Linz" class="extiw" title="w:en:Linz">Linz</a>.
During the period of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Vinlius underwent a period of expansion. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Wall_of_Vilnius" class="extiw" title="w:en:Wall of Vilnius">Vilnius city walls</a> were built for protection between 1503 and 1522, comprising nine city gates and three towers, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Sigismund_II_Augustus" class="extiw" title="w:en:Sigismund II Augustus">Sigismund August</a> moved his court there in 1544. Its growth was due in part to the establishment of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Vilnius_University" class="extiw" title="w:en:Vilnius University">Vilnius University</a> by the Polish King and Grand Duke of Lithuania <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Stephen_B%C3%A1thory" class="extiw" title="w:en:Stephen Báthory">Stefan Batory</a> in 1579. During its rapid development, the city was open to migrants from the territories of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Crown_of_the_Kingdom_of_Poland" class="extiw" title="w:en:Crown of the Kingdom of Poland">Crown of the Kingdom of Poland</a>, Grand Duchy and from further away. A variety of languages were spoken:  Polish, German, Yiddish, Ruthenian, Lithuanian, Russian, Old Church Slavonic, Latin, Hebrew, and Turkic languages; the city was compared to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Babylon" class="extiw" title="w:en:Babylon">Babylon</a>. Each group made its unique contribution to the life of the city, and crafts, trade, and science prospered.
The 17th century brought a number of setbacks. The Commonwealth was involved in a series of wars, collectively known as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Deluge_(history)" class="extiw" title="w:en:Deluge (history)">The Deluge</a>. During the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Russo-Polish_War_(1654%E2%80%931667)" class="extiw" title="w:en:Russo-Polish War (1654–1667)">Russo-Polish War (1654–1667)</a>, Vilnius was occupied by Russian forces; it was pillaged and burned, and its population was massacred. During the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:_Great_Northern_War" class="extiw" title="w:en: Great Northern War">Great Northern War</a> it was looted by the Swedish army. Due to an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Great_Northern_War_plague_outbreak" class="extiw" title="w:en:Great Northern War plague outbreak">outbreak of bubonic plague in 1710</a> and a succession of devastating fires the city's growth lost its momentum for many years, but even despite this fact, at the end of the 18th century and before the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Napoleonic_Wars" class="extiw" title="w:en:Napoleonic Wars">Napoleonic wars</a>, Vilnius, entered the Russian Empire as its third largest city.
</p>
<br><span style="color:blue;"><i>The <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Scotch_Mist/Poland" class="mw-redirect" title="User:Scotch Mist/Poland">Scotch Mist Gallery</a> contains many photographs of historic buildings, monuments and memorials of Poland and countries that previously comprised the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.</i></span>
<bdi><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Walenty_Wa%C5%84kowicz" class="extiw" title="w:en:Walenty Wańkowicz"><span title="Belarus-born Polish painter (1800-1842)">Walenty Wańkowicz</span></a>
</bdi>
CC BY-SA 4.0
<span class="int-own-work" lang="en">Own work</span>