2023Anniversary of Vilnius 700 - Miniature Sheet

The official birthday of Vilnius is January 25. On this day in 1323 the name of the capital of Lithuania was mentioned for the first time in the letter of Grand Duke Gediminas to European cities. In this way, the ruler of the LDK invited craftsmen, knights and farmers of various fields from Western European cities to come to Vilnius, thereby contributing to the prosperity of the capital of Lithuania.

Ethnic and cultural diversity is an important feature of Vilnius' history. Although Lithuanians currently make up close to 70% of the population. city residents, but, for example, in the 19th century help the dominant national and religious group of Vilnius residents were Jews.

From the 18th century Vilnius was recognized as one of the world centres of Jewish culture and intellectual and artistic life and was called the North Jerusalem.

Today, Vilnius is the largest city in Lithuania, with over 626 000 inhabitants. It is considered one of the fastest growing cities in the entire Baltic region.