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199-673: The territory included Vilnius , the historical capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . Lithuania, after declaring independence from the Russian Empire , claimed the Vilnius Region based on this historical legacy. Poland argued for the right of self-determination of the local Polish-speaking population. As a result, throughout the interwar period the control over the area was disputed between Poland and Lithuania. The Soviet Union recognized it as part of Lithuania in

398-557: A Polish majority. Vilnius at that point was divided nearly evenly between Poles and Jews, with Lithuanians constituting a mere fraction (about 2–2.6%) of the total population. These censuses and their organisation were heavily criticized by contemporary Lithuanians of the region as biased. At the end of the First World War, 50% of the Vilnius inhabitants were Polish and 43% were Jewish. According to E. Bojtar, who cites P. Gaučas,

597-563: A crown of stars, was built there in 2004. Vilnius is 312 km (194 mi) from the Baltic Sea and Klaipėda , the main Lithuanian seaport . It is connected by road to other major Lithuanian cities, such as Kaunas (102 km or 63 mi away), Šiauliai (214 km or 133 mi away) and Panevėžys (135 km or 84 mi away). Vilnius has an area of 402 km (155 sq mi). Buildings cover 29.1 percent of

796-465: A cultural and scientific center, attracting migrants from east and west. It had diverse communities, with Jewish, Orthodox, and German populations. The city experienced a number of invasions and occupations, including by the Teutonic Knights , Russia and, later, Germany. Under imperial Russian rule, Vilnius became the capital of Vilna Governorate and had a number of cultural revivals during

995-428: A detailed, realistic style – also spread at this time. Baroque sculptures dominated sacred architecture : tombstones with sculpted portraits and decorative sculptures in wood, marble, and stucco . Italian sculptors such as G. P. Perti, G. M. Galli, and A. S. Capone, key figures in the development of sculpture in the 17th-century grand duchy, were commissioned by Lithuanian nobility . Their works exemplify

1194-421: A few families and still others lived on isolated farms spread over the countryside. There were also areas where the pattern was a mix of two or more of those systems. Unlike in the late Roman period, there was no sharp break between the legal status of the free peasant and the aristocrat, and it was possible for a free peasant's family to rise into the aristocracy over several generations through military service to

1393-601: A king to rule over them all. By the late sixth century, this arrangement had been replaced by a permanent monarchy, the Kingdom of the Lombards . The invasions brought new ethnic groups to Europe, although some regions received a larger influx of new peoples than others. In Gaul for instance, the invaders settled much more extensively in the north-east than in the south-west. Slavs settled in Central and Eastern Europe and

1592-541: A number of art galleries and workshops. In its main square, a statue of an angel blowing a trumpet symbolises artistic freedom. The world's first bronze memorial to Frank Zappa was installed in the Naujamiestis district in 1995. In 2015, the Vilnius Talking Statues project was introduced. Eighteen statues around the city interact by smartphone with visitors in several languages. Vilnius has

1791-567: A powerful lord. Roman city life and culture changed greatly in the early Middle Ages. Although Italian cities remained inhabited, they contracted significantly in size. Rome, for instance, shrank from a population of hundreds of thousands to around 30,000 by the end of the 6th century. Roman temples were converted into Christian churches and city walls remained in use. In Northern Europe, cities also shrank, while civic monuments and other public buildings were raided for building materials. The establishment of new kingdoms often meant some growth for

1990-466: A practical skill rather than a sign of elite status. In the 4th century, Jerome (d. 420) dreamed that God rebuked him for spending more time reading Cicero than the Bible . By the 6th century, Gregory of Tours (d. 594) had a similar dream, but instead of being chastised for reading Cicero, he was chastised for learning shorthand . By the late 6th century, the principal means of religious instruction in

2189-688: A professional opera theatre in the Lower Castle in 1635, where drammas per musica were performed by the Italian Virgilio Puccitelli. The performances had basic, luxurious scenography. Middle Ages In the history of Europe , the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the Post-classical period of global history . It began with

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2388-474: A small foothold in southern Spain. Justinian's reconquests have been criticised by historians for overextending his realm and setting the stage for the early Muslim conquests , but many of the difficulties faced by Justinian's successors were due not just to over-taxation to pay for his wars but to the essentially civilian nature of the empire, which made raising troops difficult. In the Eastern Empire

2587-623: A variety of museums. The National Museum of Lithuania , in the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, Gediminas' Tower and the arsenals of the Vilnius Castle Complex, has exhibits about the history of Lithuania and Lithuanian culture. The Museum of Applied Arts and Design displays Lithuanian folk and religious art, objects from the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, and 18th- to 20th-century clothing. Other museums are

2786-618: A wooden castle on a hill. Vilnius became a city 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 (until 1795), and of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . Vilnius flourished under the commonwealth, especially after the 1579 establishment of Vilnius University by King Stephen Báthory . The city became

2985-533: Is Europe's first codification of secular law . Albertas Goštautas supported the use of Lithuanian in literature and protected Lithuanian authors (including Abraomas Kulvietis and Michael the Lithuanian ) who criticised the use of Old Church Slavonic , and called refugees Old Believers in De moribus tartarorum, lituanorum et moscorum . Since the 16th century, the Lithuanian Metrica has been kept at

3184-855: Is active in Vilnius; in 1970–71, the Ganelin/Tarasov/Chekasin trio founded the Vilnius Jazz School. The Vilnius Jazz Festival is held annually. The annual Gatvės muzikos diena (Street Music Day) gathers musicians on the city's streets. Vilnius is the birthplace of singers Mariana Korvelytė – Moravskienė , Paulina Rivoli , Danielius Dolskis , Vytautas Kernagis , Algirdas Kaušpėdas , Andrius Mamontovas , Nomeda Kazlaus , and Asmik Grigorian ); composers César Cui , Felix Yaniewicz , Maximilian Steinberg , Vytautas Miškinis , and Onutė Narbutaitė ); conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla ), and musicians Antoni Radziwiłł , Jascha Heifetz , Clara Rockmore , and Romas Lileikis ). It

3383-557: Is also located at the Slushko Palace in Antakalnis . Singers who have lectured at the academy include tenors Kipras Petrauskas and Virgilijus Noreika . The Lithuanian Grand Dukes' entertainment at the castle, rulers' visits abroad and guests' meetings had theatrical elements. During Sigismund III Vasa 's residence in Vilnius in the early 17th century, English actors performed at the palace. Władysław IV Vasa established

3582-407: Is confirmed by both Polish and Lithuanian research. The Vilnius Conference of September 1917, organized by Lithuanian activists under German auspices , elected a council of Lithuania , and an Act of Independence of Lithuania proclaimed an independent Lithuanian state with its capital in Vilnius. The Lithuanian government, however, failed to recruit soldiers among the Vilnius area inhabitants and

3781-692: Is considered a global financial centre, ranked 76th globally and 29th in Europe on the Global Financial Centres Index . It hosted the 2023 NATO Summit . Vilnius is a member of Eurocities and the Union of Capitals of the European Union (UCEU). Vilnius' name originates from the river Vilnia , the Lithuanian word for ripple . Its name has had a number of derivative spellings in various languages throughout its history; Vilna

3980-672: Is no universally agreed upon end date. Depending on the context, events such as the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453, Christopher Columbus 's first voyage to the Americas in 1492, or the Protestant Reformation in 1517 are sometimes used. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period. For Spain, dates commonly used are the death of King Ferdinand II in 1516,

4179-713: Is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history : classical civilisation or Antiquity , the Middle Ages and the Modern Period . The "Middle Ages" first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or "middle season". In early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum , or "middle age", first recorded in 1604, and media saecula , or "middle centuries", first recorded in 1625. The adjective "medieval" (or sometimes "mediaeval" or "mediæval"), meaning pertaining to

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4378-574: Is the capital of and largest city in Lithuania and the second-most-populous city in the Baltic states . The city's estimated July 2024 population was 605,270, and the Vilnius urban area (which extends beyond the city limits) has an estimated population of 708,627. Vilnius is notable for the architecture of its Old Town , considered one of Europe 's largest and best-preserved old towns. The city

4577-581: Is thus: the Iron Wolf represents a castle and a city which will be established by you on this site. This city will be the capital of the Lithuanian lands and the dwelling of their rulers , and the glory of their deeds shall echo throughout the world. Gediminas, obeying the gods , built two castles: the Lower Castle in the valley, and the Crooked Castle on Bald Hill . He moved his court there, declared it his permanent seat and capital, and developed

4776-539: The fyrd , which were led by the local elites. In military technology, one of the main changes was the return of the crossbow , which had been known in Roman times and reappeared as a military weapon during the last part of the Early Middle Ages. Another change was the introduction of the stirrup, which increased the effectiveness of cavalry as shock troops. A technological advance that had implications beyond

4975-717: The Alans , Vandals , and Suevi crossed into Gaul ; over the next three years they spread across Gaul and in 409 crossed the Pyrenees Mountains into modern-day Spain. The Migration Period began, when various peoples, initially largely Germanic peoples , moved across Europe. The Franks , Alemanni , and the Burgundians all ended up in northern Gaul while the Angles , Saxons , and Jutes settled in Britain , and

5174-529: The Benedictine Rule for Western monasticism during the 6th century, detailing the administrative and spiritual responsibilities of a community of monks led by an abbot . Monks and monasteries had a deep effect on the religious and political life of the Early Middle Ages, in various cases acting as land trusts for powerful families, centres of propaganda and royal support in newly conquered regions, and bases for missions and proselytisation. They were

5373-833: The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic . The conflict over Vilnius Region was settled after World War II when both Poland and Lithuania were in the Eastern Bloc , as Poland was the Soviet satellite state of the Polish People's Republic and Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union as the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic , and Poles were repatriated to Poland . From the late 1940s to 1990,

5572-531: The Desert Fathers of Egypt and Syria . Most European monasteries were of the type that focuses on community experience of the spiritual life, called cenobitism , which was pioneered by Pachomius (d. 348) in the 4th century. Monastic ideals spread from Egypt to Western Europe in the 5th and 6th centuries through hagiographical literature such as the Life of Anthony . Benedict of Nursia (d. 547) wrote

5771-555: The East-West Schism of 1054 . The Crusades , first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims . Kings became the heads of centralised nation-states , reducing crime and violence but making the ideal of a unified Christendom more distant. Intellectual life was marked by scholasticism , a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by

5970-586: The Eastern Partnership summit at the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania . Many European presidents, prime ministers, and high-ranking officials participated. In 2015, Remigijus Šimašius became the city's first directly elected mayor. The 2023 NATO summit was held in Vilnius. Vilnius is at the confluence of the Vilnia and Neris rivers in southeastern Lithuania. Several countries say that

6169-532: The Gregorian chant in liturgical music for the churches. An important activity for scholars during this period was the copying, correcting, and dissemination of basic works on religious and secular topics, with the aim of encouraging learning. New works on religious topics and schoolbooks were also produced. Grammarians of the period modified the Latin language, changing it from the Classical Latin of

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6368-574: The Jesuits . It published its first book, Piotr Skarga 's Pro Sacratissima Eucharistia contra haeresim Zwinglianam , in May 1576. The press was funded by the Lithuanian nobility and the church. In 1805, Józef Zawadzki bought the press and founded the Józef Zawadzki printing shop . Operating continuously until 1939, it published books in a number of languages; Adam Mickiewicz 's first poetry book

6567-668: The Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre and by the Vilnius City Opera . The Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society, the country's largest and oldest state-owned concert organization, produces live concerts and tours in Lithuania and abroad. The Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra , founded by Gintaras Rinkevičius , performs in Vilnius. Choral music is popular in Lithuania, and Vilnius has three choir laureates (Brevis, Jauna Muzika, and

6766-755: The Little Traveller's Book (Ruthenian: Малая подорожная книжка ), the first printed book of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, in 1522. Three years later, he printed the Acts and Epistles of the Apostles (the Apostle ). The Vilnius Academy Press was established in 1575 by Lithuanian nobleman Mikołaj Krzysztof "the Orphan" Radziwiłł as the Vilnius Academy printing house, delegating its management to

6965-647: The Lower Castle and safeguarded by the State Chancellor . Due to the deterioration of the books, Grand Chancellor Lew Sapieha ordered the Metrica recopied in 1594; the recopying continued until 1607. The recopied books were inventoried, rechecked, and transferred to a separate building in Vilnius; the older books remained in the Castle of Vilnius. According to 1983 data, 665 books remain on microfilm at

7164-714: The Macedonian dynasty . Commerce revived and the emperors oversaw the extension of a uniform administration to all the provinces. The military was reorganised, which allowed the emperors John I (r. 969–976) and Basil II (r. 976–1025) to expand the frontiers of the empire on all fronts. The imperial court was the centre of a revival of classical learning, a process known as the Macedonian Renaissance . Writers such as John Geometres ( fl. early 10th century) composed new hymns, poems, and other works. Missionary efforts by both Eastern and Western clergy resulted in

7363-681: The Soviet-Lithuanian Treaty of 1920 , but in 1920 it was seized by Poland and became part of the short-lived puppet state of Central Lithuania , and was subsequently incorporated into the Second Polish Republic . Direct military conflicts ( Polish–Lithuanian War and Żeligowski's Mutiny ) were followed up by fruitless negotiations in the League of Nations . After the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939, as part of

7562-635: The fall of the Western Roman Empire and transitioned into the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery . The Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history: classical antiquity , the medieval period, and the modern period . The medieval period is itself subdivided into the Early , High , and Late Middle Ages . Population decline , counterurbanisation ,

7761-563: 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

7960-568: The temporary capital in Kaunas , and the states officially remained at war. It was not until the Polish ultimatum of 1938, that the two states resolved diplomatic relations. Some historians speculated, that the loss of Vilnius might have nonetheless safeguarded the very existence of the Lithuanian state in the interwar period. Despite an alliance with the Soviets (Soviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty) and

8159-408: The 17th-century German historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods: ancient, medieval, and modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is around 500, with the date of 476 first used by Bruni. Later starting dates are sometimes used in the outer parts of Europe. For Europe as a whole, 1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there

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8358-582: The 1832 closure of Vilnius University, the Vilnius Art School continued to influence Lithuanian art. The Lithuanian Art Society was established in 1907 by Petras Rimša , Antanas Žmuidzinavičius and Antanas Jaroševičius , and the Vilnius Art Society was founded the following year. Artists included Jonas Šileika, Justinas Vienožinskis  [ lt ] , Jonas Mackevičius (1872)  [ lt ] , Vytautas Kairiūkštis , and Vytautas Pranas Bičiūnas , who employed Western European symbolism , realism , Art Nouveau and modernism . Socialist realism

8557-445: The 19th and early 20th centuries by Jews, Poles, Lithuanians, and Belarusians. After World War I , the city experienced conflict between Poland and Lithuania which led to its occupation by Poland before its annexation by the Soviet Union during World War II. After that war, Vilnius became the capital of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic . On 11 March 1990, the Supreme Council of the Lithuanian SSR announced its secession from

8756-427: The 5th and the 7th centuries, going first to England and Scotland and then on to the continent. Under such monks as Columba (d. 597) and Columbanus (d. 615), they founded monasteries, taught in Latin and Greek, and authored secular and religious works. The Early Middle Ages witnessed the rise of monasticism in the West. The shape of European monasticism was determined by traditions and ideas that originated with

8955-475: The 5th century. The Eastern Empire was marked by closer relations between the political state and Christian Church, with doctrinal matters assuming an importance in Eastern politics that they did not have in Western Europe. Legal developments included the codification of Roman law ; the first effort—the Codex Theodosianus —was completed in 438. Under Emperor Justinian (r. 527–565), another compilation took place—the Corpus Juris Civilis . Justinian also oversaw

9154-462: The 6th and 7th centuries, all of them ruled by the Merovingian dynasty, who were descended from Clovis. The 7th century was a tumultuous period of wars between Austrasia and Neustria. Such warfare was exploited by Pippin (d. 640), the Mayor of the Palace for Austrasia who became the power behind the Austrasian throne. Later members of his family inherited the office, acting as advisers and regents. One of his descendants, Charles Martel (d. 741), won

9353-484: The Arabs. The migrations and invasions of the 4th and 5th centuries disrupted trade networks around the Mediterranean. African goods stopped being imported into Europe, first disappearing from the interior and by the 7th century found only in a few cities such as Rome or Naples . By the end of the 7th century, under the impact of the Muslim conquests , African products were no longer found in Western Europe. The replacement of goods from long-range trade with local products

9552-425: The Bald received the western Frankish lands, comprising most of modern-day France. Charlemagne's grandsons and great-grandsons divided their kingdoms between their descendants, eventually causing all internal cohesion to be lost. In 987 the Carolingian dynasty was replaced in the western lands, with the crowning of Hugh Capet (r. 987–996) as king. In the eastern lands the dynasty had died out earlier, in 911, with

9751-417: The Balkan Peninsula. The settlement of peoples was accompanied by changes in languages. Latin , the literary language of the Western Roman Empire, was gradually replaced by vernacular languages which evolved from Latin, but were distinct from it, collectively known as Romance languages . These changes from Latin to the new languages took many centuries. Greek remained the language of the Byzantine Empire, but

9950-474: The Battle of Poitiers in 732, halting the advance of Muslim armies across the Pyrenees. Great Britain was divided into small states dominated by the kingdoms of Northumbria , Mercia , Wessex , and East Anglia which descended from the Anglo-Saxon invaders. Smaller kingdoms in present-day Wales and Scotland were still under the control of the native Britons and Picts . Ireland was divided into even smaller political units, usually known as tribal kingdoms, under

10149-441: The Byelorussian SSR. The Eastern Vilnius Region became part of Belarus. No parts of the region are in modern Poland. None of the countries have any further territorial claims. The term Central Lithuania refers to the short-lived puppet state of the Republic of Central Lithuania , proclaimed by Lucjan Żeligowski after his staged mutiny in the annexed areas. After eighteen months of existing under Poland's military protection, it

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10348-459: The Byzantine Empire, as the assumption of the imperial title by the Carolingians asserted their equivalence to the Byzantine state. There were several differences between the newly established Carolingian Empire and both the older Western Roman Empire and the concurrent Byzantine Empire. The Frankish lands were rural in character, with only a few small cities. Most of the people were peasants settled on small farms. Little trade existed and much of that

10547-467: The Byzantine Empire, which he sealed with the marriage of his son Otto II (r. 967–983) to Theophanu (d. 991), daughter of an earlier Byzantine Emperor Romanos II (r. 959–963). By the late 10th century Italy had been drawn into the Ottonian sphere after a period of instability; Otto III (r. 996–1002) spent much of his later reign in the kingdom. The western Frankish kingdom was more fragmented, and although kings remained nominally in charge, much of

10746-430: The Chamber Choir of the Conservatoire) at the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing . The Lithuanian Song and Dance Festival in Vilnius has been presented every four years since 1990 for about 30,000 singers and folk dancers in Vingis Park . In 2008, the festival and its Latvian and Estonian counterparts were designated as a UNESCO Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity . The jazz scene

10945-462: The Christian period as nova (or "new"). Petrarch regarded the post-Roman centuries as " dark " compared to the "light" of classical antiquity . Leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People (1442), with a middle period "between the fall of the Roman Empire and the revival of city life sometime in late eleventh and twelfth centuries". Tripartite periodisation became standard after

11144-422: The Church had widened to the extent that the cultural and religious differences were greater than the similarities. The formal break, known as the East–West Schism , came in 1054, when the papacy and the patriarchy of Constantinople clashed over papal supremacy and excommunicated each other, which led to the division of Christianity into two Churches—the Western branch became the Roman Catholic Church and

11343-499: The Church had become music and art rather than the book. Most intellectual efforts went towards imitating classical scholarship, but some original works were created, along with now-lost oral compositions. The writings of Sidonius Apollinaris (d. 489), Cassiodorus (d. c.  585 ), and Boethius (d. c. 525) were typical of the age. Changes also took place among laymen, as aristocratic culture focused on great feasts held in halls rather than on literary pursuits. Clothing for

11542-448: The Dnieper River in modern Ukraine to the Adriatic Sea. By 1018, the last Bulgarian nobles had surrendered to the Byzantine Empire. Few large stone buildings were constructed between the Constantinian basilicas of the 4th century and the 8th century, although many smaller ones were built during the 6th and 7th centuries. By the beginning of the 8th century, the Carolingian Empire revived the basilica form of architecture. One feature of

11741-534: The Early Middle Ages are mostly illuminated manuscripts and carved ivories , originally made for metalwork that has since been melted down. Objects in precious metals were the most prestigious form of art, but almost all are lost except for a few crosses such as the Cross of Lothair , several reliquaries , and finds such as the Anglo-Saxon burial at Sutton Hoo and the hoards of Gourdon from Merovingian France, Guarrazar from Visigothic Spain and Nagyszentmiklós near Byzantine territory. There are survivals from

11940-455: The Eastern branch the Eastern Orthodox Church . The ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Empire survived the movements and invasions in the west mostly intact, but the papacy was little regarded, and few of the Western bishops looked to the bishop of Rome for religious or political leadership. Many of the popes prior to 750 were more concerned with Byzantine affairs and Eastern theological controversies. The register, or archived copies of

12139-427: The Eastern emperors to pay tribute. They remained a strong power until 796. An additional problem to face the empire came as a result of the involvement of Emperor Maurice (r. 582–602) in Persian politics when he intervened in a succession dispute . This led to a period of peace, but when Maurice was overthrown, the Persians invaded and during the reign of Emperor Heraclius (r. 610–641) controlled large chunks of

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12338-436: The European population remained rural peasants. Many were no longer settled in isolated farms but had gathered into small communities, usually known as manors or villages. These peasants were often subject to noble overlords and owed them rents and other services, in a system known as manorialism . There remained a few free peasants throughout this period and beyond, with more of them in the regions of Southern Europe than in

12537-441: The Frankish King Charles the Simple (r. 898–922) to settle in what became Normandy . The eastern parts of the Frankish kingdoms, especially Germany and Italy, were under continual Magyar assault until the invader's defeat at the Battle of Lechfeld in 955. The breakup of the Abbasid dynasty meant that the Islamic world fragmented into smaller political states, some of which began expanding into Italy and Sicily, as well as over

12736-466: The Franks and Celtic Britons set up small polities. Francia was centred in northern Gaul, and the first king of whom much is known is Childeric I (d. 481). His grave was discovered in 1653 and is remarkable for its grave goods , which included weapons and a large quantity of gold. Under Childeric's son Clovis I (r. 509–511), the founder of the Merovingian dynasty , the Frankish kingdom expanded and converted to Christianity. The Britons, related to

12935-425: The German tried to annex all of East Francia. Louis the Pious died in 840, with the empire still in chaos. A three-year civil war followed his death. By the Treaty of Verdun (843), a kingdom between the Rhine and Rhone rivers was created for Lothair to go with his lands in Italy, and his imperial title was recognised. Louis the German was in control of Bavaria and the eastern lands in modern-day Germany. Charles

13134-431: The Great (d. 526) and set up a kingdom marked by its co-operation between the Italians and the Ostrogoths, at least until the last years of Theodoric's reign. The Burgundians settled in Gaul, and after an earlier realm was destroyed by the Huns in 436, formed a new kingdom in the 440s. Between today's Geneva and Lyon , it grew to become the realm of Burgundy in the late 5th and early 6th centuries. Elsewhere in Gaul,

13333-400: The Holocaust , Vilnius was one of Europe's most important Jewish centers. Its Jewish influence has led to its being called "the Jerusalem of Lithuania", and Napoleon called it "the Jerusalem of the North" when he passed through in 1812. Vilnius was a 2009 European Capital of Culture with Linz in Austria. In 2021, the city was named one of fDi 's 25 Global Cities of the Future. Vilnius

13532-403: The Italian peninsula was conquered by the Ostrogoths . The Eastern Roman Empire, often referred to as the Byzantine Empire after the fall of its western counterpart, had little ability to assert control over the lost western territories. The Byzantine emperors maintained a claim over the territory, but while none of the new kings in the west dared to elevate himself to the position of emperor of

13731-420: The Lithuanian State Historical Archives in Vilnius. Over 200 tiles and plaques commemorating writers who lived and worked in Vilnius and foreign authors connected to Vilnius and Lithuania adorn walls on Literatų Street (Lithuanian: Literatų gatvė ) in the Old Town, outlining the history of Lithuanian literature. The Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore and the Lithuanian Writers' Union are in

13930-439: The Lombards, which freed the papacy from the fear of Lombard conquest and marked the beginnings of the Papal States . The coronation of Charlemagne as emperor on Christmas Day 800 is regarded as a turning point in medieval history, marking a return of the Western Roman Empire, since the new emperor ruled over much of the area previously controlled by the Western emperors. It also marks a change in Charlemagne's relationship with

14129-405: The Mediterranean, pottery remained prevalent and appears to have been traded over medium-range networks, not just produced locally. The various Germanic states in the west all had coinages that imitated existing Roman and Byzantine forms. Gold continued to be minted until the end of the 7th century in 693-94 when it was replaced by silver in the Merovingian kingdom. The basic Frankish silver coin

14328-466: The Middle Ages, derives from medium aevum . Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the " Six Ages " or the " Four Empires ", and considered their time to be the last before the end of the world. When referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being "modern". In the 1330s, the Italian humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua (or "ancient") and to

14527-956: The Middle East than Europe, losing control of sections of the Muslim lands. Umayyad descendants took over the Iberian Peninsula, the Aghlabids controlled North Africa, and the Tulunids became rulers of Egypt. By the middle of the 8th century, new trading patterns were emerging in the Mediterranean; trade between the Franks and the Arabs replaced the old Roman economy . Franks traded timber, furs, swords and slaves in return for silks and other fabrics, spices, and precious metals from

14726-619: The Moon , was first shown at the Lukiškės Square movie theater in 1902; it was the first feature film shown in Vilnius. The first movie theater in Vilnius, Iliuzija (Illusion), opened in 1905 at 60 Didžioji Street . The first movie theaters, similar to theatres, had boxes with more-expensive seats. Because early films were silent, showings were accompanied by orchestral performances. Cinema screenings were sometimes combined with theatrical performances and illusion shows. On 4 June 1924,

14925-723: The Paneriai Memorial visitor information centre. Vilnius has a number of art galleries. Lithuania's largest art collection is housed in the Lithuanian National Museum of Art . The Vilnius Picture Gallery, in the city's Old Town, houses a collection of Lithuanian art from the 16th to the early 20th centuries. Across the Neris, the National Art Gallery has a number of exhibitions of 20th-century Lithuanian art. The Contemporary Art Centre ,

15124-590: The People's Commissariat of Education, which established the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society, the following year. In 1965, Lithuania's most modern movie theater ( Lietuva ) opened in Vilnius; it had over 1.84 million visitors per year, and an annual profit of over 1 million  roubles . After reconstruction, it had one of Europe's largest screens: 200 square metres (2,200 sq ft). Closed in 2002, it

15323-405: The Polish population was repatriated from Lithuanian SSR to Poland. The area was originally inhabited by Lithuanian Balts . It was subjected to East Slavic and Polish cultural influences and settlement, which led to its gradual Ruthenization and Polonization. According to Polish historian Norman Davies , Vilnius was culturally Polish by the 17th century. By the 18th and 19th centuries, the city

15522-783: The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the late 18th century it was annexed by the Russian Empire which established the Vilna Governorate there. As a result of World War I , it was seized by Germany and given to the civilian administration of the Ober-Ost . With the German defeat in World War I and the outbreak of hostilities between various factions of the Russian Civil War , the area was disputed by

15721-721: The Polish–Lithuanian border of 1918–1920 as permanent nor did they ever acknowledge the sovereignty of the puppet Republic of Central Lithuania. In 1922 the Republic of Central Lithuania voted to join Poland and the choice was later accepted by the League of Nations, The area granted to Lithuania by the Bolsheviks in 1920 continued to be claimed by Lithuania, with the city of Vilnius being treated as that state's official capital and

15920-830: The Pyrenees into the southern parts of the Frankish kingdoms. Efforts by local kings to fight the invaders led to the formation of new political entities. In Anglo-Saxon England , King Alfred the Great (r. 871–899) came to an agreement with the Viking invaders in the late 9th century, resulting in Danish settlements in Northumbria, Mercia, and parts of East Anglia. By the middle of the 10th century, Alfred's successors had conquered Northumbria, and restored English control over most of

16119-623: The Rhine and eastwards, leaving Charles West Francia with the empire to the west of the Rhineland and the Alps. Louis the German (d. 876), the middle child, who had been rebellious to the last, was allowed to keep Bavaria under the suzerainty of his elder brother. The division was disputed. Pepin II of Aquitaine (d. after 864), the emperor's grandson, rebelled in a contest for Aquitaine , while Louis

16318-681: The Roman Empire into a more flexible form to fit the needs of the Church and government. By the reign of Charlemagne, the language had so diverged from the classical Latin that it was later called Medieval Latin . Charlemagne planned to continue the Frankish tradition of dividing his kingdom between all his heirs, but was unable to do so as only one son, Louis the Pious (r. 814–840), was still alive by 813. Just before Charlemagne died in 814, he crowned Louis as his successor. Louis's reign of 26 years

16517-496: The Romans and the invaders are often similar, and tribal items were often modelled on Roman objects. Much of the scholarly and written culture of the new kingdoms was also based on Roman intellectual traditions. An important difference was the gradual loss of tax revenue by the new polities. Many of the new political entities no longer supported their armies through taxes, instead relying on granting them land or rents. This meant there

16716-644: The Russo-Lithuanian convention of July 12, 1920, that granted the latter state territory seized from Poland by the Red Army during the Polish–Soviet War, then promised to Lithuania as the Soviet forces were retreating under the Polish advance; particularly as the Soviets had previously renounced claims to that region in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk . In turn, the Lithuanian authorities did not acknowledge

16915-652: The Soviet Union and intention to restore an independent Lithuania. On 9 January 1991, the Soviet Union sent in troops; this culminated in the 13 January attack on the State Radio and Television Building and Vilnius TV Tower which killed 14 civilians. The Soviet Union recognised Lithuanian independence in September 1991. According to the Constitution of Lithuania , "the capital of the State of Lithuania shall be

17114-549: The Soviet fulfilment of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , the entire region was occupied by the Soviet Union. About one-fifth of the region, including Vilnius, was ceded to Lithuania by the Soviet Union on 10 October 1939 in exchange for Soviet military bases within the territory of Lithuania as part of the Soviet–Lithuanian Mutual Assistance Treaty . The remaining part of the region was given to

17313-416: The Soviets proposed to sign the Soviet–Lithuanian Mutual Assistance Treaty . According to this treaty, about one-fifth of the Vilnius Region, including the city of Vilnius itself, was returned to Lithuania in exchange for stationing 20,000 Soviet troops in Lithuania. Lithuanians at first did not want to accept this, but later the Soviet Union said that troops would enter Lithuania, anyway, so Lithuania accepted

17512-636: The Vandals went on to cross the strait of Gibraltar after which they conquered the province of Africa . In the 430s the Huns began invading the empire; their king Attila (r. 434–453) led invasions into the Balkans in 442 and 447, Gaul in 451, and Italy in 452. The Hunnic threat remained until Attila's death in 453, when the Hunnic confederation he led fell apart. These invasions by the tribes completely changed

17711-513: The Vilnia flows into the river Neris . The successful wisent hunt lasted longer than expected, and Gediminas decided to spend the night in the valley. He fell asleep and dreamed of a huge Iron Wolf at the top of a hill, howling loudly. Upon awakening, the Duke asked the krivis Lizdeika to interpret the dream. The chief priest told him: What is destined for the ruler and the State of Lithuania,

17910-402: The Vilnius magistrate established a 1,200-seat movie theater in the city hall ( Polish : Miejski kinematograf , City Movie Theater) to provide cultural education for students and adults. In 1926, 502,261 tickets were sold; 24,242 tickets were given to boarding children, 778 to tourists, and 8,385 to soldiers. In 1939, Lithuanian authorities renamed it Milda. The last city government gave it to

18109-679: The Vilnius Museum, the House of Histories, Church Heritage Museum, Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights , Fight for Freedom Museum in the Vilnius TV Tower , M. K. Čiurlionis House, Samuel Bak Museum, Centre for Civil Education, Toy Museum, Vilnil (Museum of Illusions), Energy and Technology Museum, House of Signatories, Tolerance Center, Railway Museum, Money Museum, Kazys Varnelis House-Museum, Liubavas Manor Watermill-Museum, Museum of Vladislovas Sirokomlė, Amber Museum-Gallery, and

18308-506: The West were not uniform; some areas had greatly fragmented landholding patterns, but in other areas large contiguous blocks of land were the norm. These differences allowed for a wide variety of peasant societies, some dominated by aristocratic landholders and others having a great deal of autonomy. Land settlement also varied greatly. Some peasants lived in large settlements that numbered as many as 700 inhabitants. Others lived in small groups of

18507-567: The acceptance of figurative monumental sculpture in Christian art , and by the end of the period near life-sized figures such as the Gero Cross were common in important churches. During the later Roman Empire, the principal military developments were attempts to create an effective cavalry force as well as the continued development of highly specialised types of troops. The creation of heavily armoured cataphract -type soldiers as cavalry

18706-417: The basilica is the use of a transept , or the "arms" of a cross-shaped building that are perpendicular to the long nave . Other new features of religious architecture include the crossing tower and a monumental entrance to the church , usually at the west end of the building. Carolingian art was produced for a small group of figures around the court, and the monasteries and churches they supported. It

18905-443: The city a Baltic construction leader. Vilnius was selected as a 2009 European Capital of Culture with Linz , the capital of Upper Austria . The 2007–2008 financial crisis led to a drop in tourism, which prevented many projects from completion; allegations of corruption and incompetence were made; tax increases for cultural activity led to protests, and economic conditions sparked riots. On 28–29 November 2013, Vilnius hosted

19104-769: The city have increased significantly during the last 30 years, a change which the Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service attributes to human-induced global warming . Summer days are warm to hot, especially in July and August, with daytime temperatures above 30 °C (86 °F) during periodic heat waves. Outdoor bars, restaurants and cafés are frequented during the day. Winters can be very cold, although temperatures above 0 °C (32 °F); still occasionally occur. Temperatures below −25 °C (−13 °F) are recorded every other year. Vilnius's rivers freeze in particularly cold winters, and

19303-407: The city of Byzantium as the newly renamed eastern capital, Constantinople . Diocletian's reforms strengthened the governmental bureaucracy, reformed taxation, and strengthened the army, which bought the empire time but did not resolve the problems it was facing: excessive taxation, a declining birthrate, and pressures on its frontiers, among others. Civil war between rival emperors became common in

19502-478: The city of Vilnius, the long-standing historical capital of Lithuania". Vilnius has become a modern European city. Its territory has been expanded with three acts since 1990, incorporating urban areas, villages, hamlets, and the city of Grigiškės . Most historic buildings have been renovated and a business and commercial area became the New City Centre , the main administrative and business district on

19701-496: The city was a capital of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and an important city in the Second Polish Republic . The name Vilna is still used in Finnish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Hebrew : וילנה . Wilna is still used in German with Vilnius . According to a legend recorded during the c.  1530s , Grand Duke Gediminas ( c.  1275 –1341) was hunting in the sacred forest near Šventaragis' Valley , (where

19900-609: The city. After the outbreak of the Polish–Soviet War , during the summer offensive of the Red Army , the region got under Soviet control as the part of planned Lithuanian–Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (Litbel). Following Lithuanian–Soviet War , Bolshevik Russia signed the Soviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty with Lithuania on 12 July 1920. According to it, all area disputed between Poland and Lithuania, at

20099-883: The city. The Vilnius book fair is held annually at LITEXPO , the Baltics' largest exhibition centre. The first public film session in Vilnius was held in the Botanical Garden (now the Bernardinai Garden ) in July 1896. It was held after 1895 film sessions by Auguste and Louis Lumière in Paris. The session in Vilnius showed the Lumière brothers' documentary films. The first films shown were educational, filmed outside Vilnius (in India and Africa), and introduced other cultures. Georges Méliès ' film, A Trip to

20298-461: The city; green space covers 68.8 percent, and water covers 2.1 percent. The city has eight nature reserves : Vokės Senslėnio Slopes Geomorphological Reserve, Aukštagiris Geomorphological Reserve, Valakupių Klonio Geomorphological Reserve, Veržuva Hydrographic Reserve, Vokė Hydrographic Reserve, Cedronas Upstream Landscape Reserve, Tapeliai Landscape Reserve, and Šeškinė Slopes Geomorphological Reserve. Several lakes, including Balžis , are located on

20497-670: The collapse of centralized authority, invasions, and mass migrations of tribes , which had begun in Late Antiquity , continued into the Early Middle Ages. The large-scale movements of the Migration Period , including various Germanic peoples , formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the 7th century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire —came under

20696-599: The conquest of North Africa sundered maritime connections between those areas. Increasingly, the Byzantine Church differed in language, practices, and liturgy from the Western Church. The Eastern Church used Greek instead of the Western Latin. Theological and political differences emerged, and by the early and middle 8th century issues such as iconoclasm , clerical marriage , and state control of

20895-743: The construction of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople and the reconquest of North Africa from the Vandals and Italy from the Ostrogoths, under Belisarius (d. 565). The conquest of Italy was not complete, as a deadly outbreak of plague in 542 led to the rest of Justinian's reign concentrating on defensive measures rather than further conquests. At the Emperor's death, the Byzantines had control of most of Italy , North Africa, and

21094-551: The control of kings. There were perhaps as many as 150 local kings in Ireland, of varying importance. The Carolingian dynasty , as the successors to Charles Martel are known, officially took control of the kingdoms of Austrasia and Neustria in a coup of 753 led by Pippin III (r. 752–768). A contemporary chronicle claims that Pippin sought, and gained, authority for this coup from Pope Stephen II (pope 752–757). Pippin's takeover

21293-638: The conversion of the Moravians , Bulgars , Bohemians , Poles , Magyars, and Slavic inhabitants of the Kievan Rus' . These conversions contributed to the founding of political states in the lands of those peoples—the states of Moravia , Bulgaria , Bohemia , Poland , Hungary, and the Kievan Rus'. Bulgaria, which was founded around 680, at its height reached from Budapest to the Black Sea and from

21492-490: 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

21691-565: The deal. 1/5 of the Vilnius region was ceded, even though the Soviet Union always recognised the whole Vilnius region as part of Lithuania previously. Vilnius Region was under Lithuanian administration unitl June 1940, when the entire Lithuania was annexed by the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was awarded the Vilnius region during the Yalta Conference , and it subsequently became part of the Lithuanian SSR . About 150,000 of

21890-769: The death of Louis the Child , and the selection of the unrelated Conrad I (r. 911–918) as king. The breakup of the Carolingian Empire was accompanied by invasions, migrations, and raids by external foes. The Atlantic and northern shores were harassed by the Vikings , who also raided the British Isles and settled there as well as in Iceland. In 911, the Viking chieftain Rollo (d. c. 931) received permission from

22089-401: The death of Queen Isabella I of Castile in 1504, or the conquest of Granada in 1492. Historians from Romance-speaking countries tend to divide the Middle Ages into two parts: an earlier "High" and later "Low" period. English-speaking historians, following their German counterparts, generally subdivide the Middle Ages into three intervals: "Early", "High", and "Late". In the 19th century,

22288-403: The disorder, was killed fighting the Goths at the Battle of Adrianople on 9 August 378. In addition to the threat from such tribal confederacies in the north, internal divisions within the empire, especially within the Christian Church, caused problems. In 400, the Visigoths invaded the Western Roman Empire and, although briefly forced back from Italy, in 410 sacked the city of Rome . In 406

22487-400: The disputed area before the Lithuanians arrived, while the most important part of it with the city of Vilnius was secured by Lithuania. Due to Polish-Lithuanian tensions, the allied powers withheld diplomatic recognition of Lithuania until 1922. Since the two states were not at war, diplomatic negotiations were begun. The negotiations and international mediation led to nowhere and until 1920

22686-473: The disputed territory remained divided into a Lithuanian and a Polish part. In the 1920s, League of Nations twice attempted to organise plebiscites, although neither side was eager to participate. After a staged mutiny by Lucjan Żeligowski Poles took control over the area, and organised elections , which were boycotted by most Lithuanians, but also by many Jews and Belarusians because of strong Polish military control. The Polish government never acknowledged

22885-467: The early 16th century, primarily by the Italian sculptors Bernardinus Zanobi da Gianotti, Giovani Cini, and Giovanni Maria Padovano. During the Renaissance, portrait tombstones and medals were valued; examples are the marble tombs of Albertas Goštautas (1548) and Paweł Holszański (1555) by Bernardino de Gianotis in Vilnius Cathedral. Italian sculpture is characterized by its naturalistic treatment of forms and precise proportions. Local sculptors adopted

23084-457: The early 19th century was singer Maria de Neri . In the early 20th century, Vilnius was the hometown of Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis , Mikas Petrauskas , and Juozas Tallat-Kelpša . Late-20th- and early 21st-century musicians include Vyacheslav Ganelin , Petras Vyšniauskas , Petras Geniušas , Mūza Rubackytė , Alanas Chošnau , and Marijonas Mikutavičius . The Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre , headquartered on Gediminas Avenue ,

23283-442: The early Carolingian period, with a growing dominance of elite heavy cavalry. The use of militia-type levies of the free population declined over the Carolingian period. Although much of the Carolingian armies were mounted, a large proportion during the early period appear to have been mounted infantry , rather than true cavalry. One exception was Anglo-Saxon England, where the armies were still composed of regional levies, known as

23482-505: The eastern limit of the region lies between the Lithuanian and Belarusian border. This border divides the Vilnius Region into two parts: western and eastern. The Western Vilnius Region, including Vilnius, is now part of Lithuania. It constitutes about one-third of the total Vilnius Region. Lithuania gained about 6,880 km (2,660 sq mi) on October 10, 1939, from the Soviet Union and 2,650 km (1,020 sq mi) (including Druskininkai and Švenčionys ) on August 3, 1940, from

23681-465: The elites was richly embellished with jewels and gold. Lords and kings supported entourages of fighters who formed the backbone of the military forces. Family ties within the elites were important, as were the virtues of loyalty, courage, and honour. These ties led to the prevalence of the feud in aristocratic society, examples of which included those related by Gregory of Tours that took place in Merovingian Gaul. Most feuds seem to have ended quickly with

23880-399: The emergence of Islam in Arabia during the lifetime of Muhammad (d. 632). After his death, Islamic forces conquered much of the Eastern Roman Empire and Persia, starting with Syria in 634–635, continuing with Persia between 637 and 642, reaching Egypt in 640–641, North Africa in the later seventh century, and the Iberian Peninsula in 711. By 714, Islamic forces controlled much of

24079-403: The empire than tax-payers. The Emperor Diocletian (r. 284–305) split the empire into separately administered eastern and western halves in 286; the empire was not considered divided by its inhabitants or rulers, as legal and administrative promulgations in one division were considered valid in the other. In 330, after a period of civil war, Constantine the Great (r. 306–337) refounded

24278-418: The empire to Christianity , a gradual process that lasted from the 2nd to the 5th centuries. In 376, the Goths , fleeing from the Huns , received permission from Emperor Valens (r. 364–378) to settle in the Roman province of Thracia in the Balkans . The settlement did not go smoothly, and when Roman officials mishandled the situation, the Goths began to raid and plunder. Valens, attempting to put down

24477-447: The empire, including Egypt, Syria, and Anatolia until Heraclius' successful counterattack. In 628 the empire secured a peace treaty and recovered all of its lost territories. In Western Europe, some of the older Roman elite families died out while others became more involved with ecclesiastical than secular affairs. Values attached to Latin scholarship and education mostly disappeared, and while literacy remained important, it became

24676-423: The empire. Such movements were aided by the refusal of the Western Roman elites to support the army or pay the taxes that would have allowed the military to suppress the migration. The emperors of the 5th century were often controlled by military strongmen such as Stilicho (d. 408), Aetius (d. 454), Aspar (d. 471), Ricimer (d. 472), or Gundobad (d. 516), who were partly or fully of non-Roman background. When

24875-454: The entire Middle Ages were often referred to as the " Dark Ages ", but with the adoption of these subdivisions, use of this term was restricted to the Early Middle Ages, at least among historians. The Roman Empire reached its greatest territorial extent during the 2nd century AD; the following two centuries witnessed the slow decline of Roman control over its outlying territories. Economic issues, including inflation, and external pressure on

25074-440: The first local musicians in written sources was Steponas Vilnietis (Stephanus de Vylna). The first textbook of Lithuanian music, The Art and Practice of Music ( Latin : Ars et praxis musica ), was published in Vilnius by Žygimantas Liauksminas in 1667. Italian artists produced Lithuania's first opera on 4 September 1636 at the Palace of the Grand Dukes, commissioned by Grand Duke Władysław IV Vasa . Operas are produced at

25273-452: The founding of universities . The theology of Thomas Aquinas , the paintings of Giotto , the poetry of Dante and Chaucer , the travels of Marco Polo , and the Gothic architecture of cathedrals such as Chartres are among the outstanding achievements toward the end of this period and into the Late Middle Ages. The Late Middle Ages was marked by difficulties and calamities including famine, plague, and war, which significantly diminished

25472-405: The frontiers combined to create the Crisis of the Third Century , with emperors coming to the throne only to be rapidly replaced by new usurpers. Military expenses increased steadily during the 3rd century, mainly in response to the war with the Sasanian Empire , which revived in the middle of the 3rd century. The army doubled in size, and cavalry and smaller units replaced the Roman legion as

25671-699: The iconographic scheme of Renaissance tombs; their works, such the tomb of Lew Sapieha ( c.  1633 ) in the Church of St. Michael , are stylized. During this period, local and Western European painters created religious and mythological compositions and portraits with late Gothic and Baroque features; illustrated prayerbooks, illustrations, and miniatures have survived. During the late-16th-century Baroque , wall painting developed. Most palaces and churches were decorated in frescoes with bright colors, sophisticated angles, and drama. Secular painting – representational, imaginative, epitaph portraits, scenes of battles and politically important events in

25870-399: The imperial officials called missi dominici , who served as roving inspectors and troubleshooters. Charlemagne's court in Aachen was the centre of the cultural revival sometimes referred to as the " Carolingian Renaissance ". Literacy increased, as did development in the arts, architecture and jurisprudence, as well as liturgical and scriptural studies. The English monk Alcuin (d. 804)

26069-556: The inhabitants of Wilno, a population devoid of culture, would mean giving an opportunity to agitators to fool people. The thing is to unite former branches with the old trunk. Based on that, we draw the border far beyond Wilno, near Oszmiana. Lida County is also Lithuanian..." 54°30′N 25°25′E  /  54.500°N 25.417°E  / 54.500; 25.417 Vilnius Vilnius ( / ˈ v ɪ l n i ə s / VIL -nee-əs , Lithuanian: [ˈvʲɪlʲnʲʊs] ), previously known in English as Vilna ,

26268-436: The internationally acclaimed contemporary writers such as Jurga Ivanauskaitė , Undinė Radzevičiūtė and Kristina Sabaliauskaitė . The first consideration of the First Statute of Lithuania took place in 1522 at the Seimas of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . The code was drafted under the guidance of Grand Chancellor of Lithuania Albertas Goštautas in accordance with customary law , legislation, and canon and Roman law . It

26467-415: The king of the united Austrasia and Neustria. Charles, more often known as Charles the Great or Charlemagne , embarked upon a programme of systematic expansion in 774 that unified a large portion of Europe, eventually controlling modern-day France, northern Italy, and Saxony . In the wars that lasted beyond 800, he rewarded allies with war booty and command over parcels of land. In 774, Charlemagne conquered

26666-456: The lakes surrounding the city are almost always frozen from December to March, and even April, in the most extreme years. The Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service, headquartered in Vilnius, monitors the country's climate. 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

26865-500: The large brooches in fibula or penannular form that were a key piece of personal adornment for elites, including the Irish Tara Brooch . Highly decorated books were mostly Gospel Books and these have survived in larger numbers , including the Insular Book of Kells , the Book of Lindisfarne , and the imperial Codex Aureus of St. Emmeram , which is one of the few to retain its " treasure binding " of gold encrusted with jewels. Charlemagne's court seems to have been responsible for

27064-455: The largest contemporary-art venue in the Baltic States, has an exhibition space of 2,400 square metres (26,000 sq ft). The centre develops international and Lithuanian exhibitions and presents a range of public programs which include lectures, seminars, performances, film and video screenings, and live music. On 10 November 2007, the Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Center was opened by avant-garde filmmaker Jonas Mekas ; its premiere exhibition

27263-407: The leading Lithuanian national activists, Mykolas Biržiška , "the issue of belonging to a certain nationality is not decided by everyone at will, it is not a matter that can be resolved according to the principles of political liberalism, even one cloaked in democratic slogans." Another leading activist, Petras Klimas , had already declared in September 1917: "Giving the right of self-determination to

27462-415: The letters, of Pope Gregory the Great (pope 590–604) survived, and of those more than 850 letters, the vast majority were concerned with affairs in Italy or Constantinople. The only part of Western Europe where the papacy had influence was Britain, where Gregory had sent the Gregorian mission in 597 to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. Irish missionaries were most active in Western Europe between

27661-417: The line of Western emperors ceased, many of the kings who replaced them were from the same background. Intermarriage between the new kings and the Roman elites was common. This led to a fusion of Roman culture with the customs of the invading tribes, including the popular assemblies that allowed free male tribal members more say in political matters than was common in the Roman state. Material artefacts left by

27860-456: The linguistic situation, but didn't include the category of ethnic affiliation)) the Vilna Governorate was occupied predominantly by Belarusian speakers (56,05%), while Polish speakers amounted to only 8,17% of the population. The Russians maintained that the local Polish population consisted mainly of nobles, while the region's peasantry could not be Polish. The later German (1916) and Polish (1919) censuses showed that Vilnius and its environs had

28059-517: The main and sometimes only outposts of education and literacy in a region. Many of the surviving manuscripts of the Latin classics were copied in monasteries in the Early Middle Ages. Monks were also the authors of new works, including history, theology, and other subjects, written by authors such as Bede (d. 735), a native of northern England who wrote in the late 7th and early 8th centuries. The Frankish kingdom in northern Gaul split into kingdoms called Austrasia , Neustria , and Burgundy during

28258-410: The main tactical unit. The need for revenue led to increased taxes and a decline in numbers of the curial , or landowning, class, and decreasing numbers of them willing to shoulder the burdens of holding office in their native towns. More bureaucrats were needed in the central administration to deal with the needs of the army, which led to complaints from civilians that there were more tax-collectors in

28457-806: The mature Baroque, with expressive forms and sensuality. Local sculptors emphasized Baroque decorative features, with less expression and emotion. Lithuanian painting was influenced by the Vilnius Art School during the late 18th and 19th centuries, which introduced classical and romantic art. Painters had internships abroad, mainly in Italy. Allegorical, mythological compositions, landscapes, and portraits of representatives of various circles of society began, and historical themes prevailed. The era's best-known classical painters are Franciszek Smaglewicz , Jan Rustem , Józef Oleszkiew , Daniel Kondratowicz  [ pl ] , Józef Peszka , and Wincenty Smokowski . Romantic artists were Jan Rustem, Jan Krzysztof Damel , Wincenty Dmochowski and Kanuty Rusiecki . After

28656-401: The middle of the 4th century, diverting soldiers from the empire's frontier forces and allowing invaders to encroach. For much of the 4th century, Roman society stabilised in a new form that differed from the earlier classical period , with a widening gulf between the rich and poor, and a decline in the vitality of the smaller towns. Another change was the Christianisation , or conversion of

28855-436: The migrations of the Slavs added Slavic languages to Eastern Europe. As Western Europe witnessed the formation of new kingdoms, the Eastern Roman Empire remained intact and experienced an economic revival that lasted into the early 7th century. There were fewer invasions of the eastern section of the empire; most occurred in the Balkans. Peace with the Sasanian Empire , the traditional enemy of Rome, lasted throughout most of

29054-464: The military was the horseshoe , which allowed horses to be used in rocky terrain. The High Middle Ages was a period of tremendous expansion of population . The estimated population of Europe grew from 35 to 80 million between 1000 and 1347, although the exact causes remain unclear: improved agricultural techniques, the decline of slaveholding, a more clement climate and the lack of invasion have all been suggested. As much as 90 per cent of

29253-429: The natives of Britannia  – modern-day Great Britain – settled in what is now Brittany . Other monarchies were established by the Visigothic Kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula , the Suebi in northwestern Iberia, and the Vandal Kingdom in North Africa . In the sixth century, the Lombards settled in Northern Italy , replacing the Ostrogothic kingdom with a grouping of duchies that occasionally selected

29452-427: The newly established Lithuanian, Polish and Belarusian states. Poles based their claims on demographic grounds and pointed to the will of the inhabitants. Lithuanians used geographical and historical arguments and underlined the role Vilnius played as the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. According to Lithuanian national activists, Poles and Belarusians of the region were " Slavicized Lithuanians". Their view

29651-577: The north of Švenčionys . The majority of the population was composed of Poles (roughly 60%) according to the latter three censuses. and the Lithuanian government claimed that the majority of local Poles were in fact Polonised Lithuanians. Today, the Po prostu dialect is the native language for Poles in Šalčininkai District Municipality and in some territories of Vilnius District Municipality ; its speakers consider themselves to be Poles and believe Po prostu language to be purely Polish. The population, including those of "the locals" (Tutejshy) who live in

29850-422: The north side of the river Neris. The area includes modern residential and retail space, with the municipal building and the 148.3 m (487 ft) Europa Tower its most prominent buildings. The construction of Swedbank 's headquarters indicates the importance of Scandinavian banks in Vilnius. The Vilnius Business Harbour complex was built and expanded. Over 75,000 flats were built from 1995 to 2018, making

30049-415: The north-eastern outskirts of Vilnius. Vilnius has a humid continental climate ( Köppen climate classification Dfb ), with temperature records since 1777. The average annual temperature is 7.3 °C (45 °F); the average January temperature is −3.9 °C (25 °F), and the July average is 18.7 °C (66 °F). Average annual precipitation is 691 mm (27.20 in). Temperatures in

30248-422: The organisation of peasants into villages that owed rent and labour services to the nobles , and feudalism , the political structure whereby knights and lower-status nobles owed military service to their overlords in return for the right to rent from lands and manors , were two of the ways society was organized in the High Middle Ages. This period also saw the collapse of the unified Christian church, with

30447-437: The other part of Vilnius region that was occupied by the Soviet Union and passed on to Belarus, still has a strong presence of Polish identity. After the extermination of Jews , displacements and migrations, Lithuanians became the undisputed ethnic majority in the Vilnius region in 1989 (50,5%). The share of Lithuanians in the Vilnius city grew from 2% in the first half of the 20th century to 42.5% in 1970, 57.8% in 2001 (while

30646-444: The other part of Vilnius region that was occupied by the Soviet Union and passed on to Belarus, still has a strong presence of Polish identity. Despite the fact, that this language is the uncodified Belarusian vernacular with substrate relics from Lithuanian language, its speakers consider themselves to be Poles and believe Po prostu dialect to be purely Polish. The population, including those of "the locals" ( Tutejszy ) who live in

30845-478: The payment of some sort of compensation . Women took part in aristocratic society mainly in their roles as wives and mothers of men, with the role of mother of a ruler being especially prominent in Merovingian Gaul. In Anglo-Saxon society the lack of many child rulers meant a lesser role for women as queen mothers, but this was compensated for by the increased role played by abbesses of monasteries. Only in Italy does it appear that women were always considered under

31044-467: The peninsula in a region they called Al-Andalus . The Islamic conquests reached their peak in the mid-eighth century. The defeat of Muslim forces at the Battle of Tours in 732 led to the reconquest of southern France by the Franks, but the main reason for the halt of Islamic growth in Europe was the overthrow of the Umayyad Caliphate and its replacement by the Abbasid Caliphate . The Abbasids moved their capital to Baghdad and were more concerned with

31243-408: The political and demographic nature of what had been the Western Roman Empire. By the end of the 5th century the western section of the empire was divided into smaller political units, ruled by the tribes that had invaded in the early part of the century. The deposition of the last emperor of the west, Romulus Augustulus , in 476 has traditionally marked the end of the Western Roman Empire. By 493

31442-532: The political power devolved to the local lords. Missionary efforts to Scandinavia during the 9th and 10th centuries helped strengthen the growth of kingdoms such as Sweden , Denmark , and Norway , which gained power and territory. Some kings converted to Christianity, although not all by 1000. Scandinavians also expanded and colonised throughout Europe. Besides the settlements in Ireland, England, and Normandy, further settlement took place in what became Russia and Iceland . Swedish traders and raiders ranged down

31641-442: The population of Europe; between 1347 and 1350, the Black Death killed about a third of Europeans. Controversy, heresy , and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the interstate conflict, civil strife, and peasant revolts that occurred in the kingdoms. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages and beginning the early modern period . The Middle Ages

31840-418: The pressures of internal civil wars combined with external invasions: Vikings from the north, Magyars from the east, and Saracens from the south. During the High Middle Ages, which began after 1000, the population of Europe increased greatly as technological and agricultural innovations allowed trade to flourish and the Medieval Warm Period climate change allowed crop yields to increase. Manorialism ,

32039-419: The protection and control of a male relative. Peasant society is much less documented than the nobility. Most of the surviving information available to historians comes from archaeology ; few detailed written records documenting peasant life remain from before the 9th century. Most of the descriptions of the lower classes come from either law codes or writers from the upper classes. Landholding patterns in

32238-405: The region was divided between the Lithuanian SSR and Byelorussian SSR, and since 1990 between modern-day independent Lithuania and Belarus. Initially, the Vilnius Region did not possess exact borders per se, but encompassed Vilnius and the surrounding areas. This territory was disputed between Lithuania and Poland after both countries had successfully reestablished their independence in 1918. Later,

32437-470: The rivers of the Russian steppe, and even attempted to seize Constantinople in 860 and 907 . Christian Spain, initially driven into a small section of the peninsula in the north, expanded slowly south during the 9th and 10th centuries, establishing the kingdoms of Asturias and León . In Eastern Europe, Byzantium revived its fortunes under Emperor Basil I (r. 867–886) and his successors Leo VI (r. 886–912) and Constantine VII (r. 913–959), members of

32636-437: The rule of the Umayyad Caliphate , an Islamic empire, after conquest by Muhammad's successors . Although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire, Rome's direct continuation, survived in the Eastern Mediterranean and remained a major power. The empire's law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or "Code of Justinian",

32835-449: The slow infiltration of the Balkans by the Slavs added a further difficulty for Justinian's successors. It began gradually, but by the late 540s Slavic tribes were in Thrace and Illyrium , and had defeated an imperial army near Adrianople in 551. In the 560s the Avars began to expand from their base on the north bank of the Danube ; by the end of the 6th-century, they were the dominant power in Central Europe and routinely able to force

33034-430: The southern part of Great Britain. In northern Britain, Kenneth MacAlpin (d. c. 860) united the Picts and the Scots into the Kingdom of Alba . In the early 10th century, the Ottonian dynasty had established itself in Germany , and was engaged in driving back the Magyars. Its efforts culminated in the coronation in 962 of Otto I (r. 936–973) as Holy Roman Emperor . In 972, he secured recognition of his title by

33233-452: The surrounding area into a city he named Vilnius. Vilnius' history dates to the Stone Age . The city has been ruled by imperial and Soviet Russia , Napoleonic France , imperial and Nazi Germany , interwar Poland , and Lithuania. Initially a Baltic settlement, 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

33432-403: The surrounding villages were mainly inhabited by Belarusian speakers who considered themselves Poles. There was also a large group who chose their self-declared national identification in accordance with the particular political situation. According to the 1916 census conducted by the German authorities Lithuanians constituted 18.5% of the population. However, during this census the Vilnius region

33631-440: The time controlled by the Bolsheviks, was to be transferred to Lithuania. However, the actual control over the area remained in the Bolsheviks' hands. After the Battle of Warsaw of 1920 it became clear that the advancing Polish Army would soon recapture the area. Seeing that they could not secure it, the Bolshevik authorities started to transfer the area to Lithuanian sovereignty. The advancing Polish Army managed to retake much of

33830-661: The total population of the city expanded several times). and 67.1% in 2021. The Poles are still concentrated in the area around Vilnius, and constituted 63.6% of the population in Vilnius District Municipality and 82.4% of the population in Šalčininkai District Municipality in 1989, By 2011 the number had shrunk to 52.07% of the population in Vilnius District Municipality and 77.75% in Šalčininkai District Municipality . a. Lithuanian : Vilniaus kraštas or Vilnija ; Polish : Wileńszczyzna ; Belarusian : Віленшчына . Also formerly known in English as Vilna Region or Wilno Region . b. According to one of

34029-447: The towns chosen as capitals. Although there had been Jewish communities in many Roman cities , the Jews suffered periods of persecution after the conversion of the empire to Christianity. Officially they were tolerated, if subject to conversion efforts, and at times were even encouraged to settle in new areas. Religious beliefs in the Eastern Roman Empire and Iran were in flux during the late sixth and early seventh centuries. Judaism

34228-436: The war with Poland, Lithuania was very close to being invaded by the Soviets in the summer of 1920 and having been forcibly converted into a socialist republic. They believe it was only the Polish victory against the Soviets in the Polish–Soviet War (and the fact that the Poles did not object to some form of Lithuanian independence) that derailed the Soviet plans and gave Lithuania an experience of interwar independence. In 1939,

34427-514: The west, Byzantine control of most of the Western Empire could not be sustained; the reconquest of the Mediterranean periphery and the Italian Peninsula ( Gothic War ) in the reign of Justinian (r. 527–565) was the sole, and temporary, exception. The political structure of Western Europe changed with the end of the united Roman Empire. Although the movements of peoples during this period are usually described as "invasions", they were not just military expeditions but migrations of entire peoples into

34626-472: The western limit of the region became a de facto administration line between Poland and Lithuania following Polish military action in autumn 1920. Lithuania refused to recognize this action or the border. The eastern limit was defined by the Soviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty . The eastern line was never turned into an actual border between states and remained only a political vision. The total territory covered about 32,250 km (12,450 sq mi). Today

34825-452: Was The Avant-Garde: From Futurism to Fluxus . In 2018, the MO Museum opened as an initiative of Lithuanian scientists and philanthropists Danguolė and Viktoras Butkus. Its collection of 5,000 modern pieces includes major Lithuanian artworks from the 1950s to the present. Around 1520, Francysk Skaryna (author of the first Ruthenian Bible ) established eastern Europe 's first printing house in Vilnius. Skaryna prepared and published

35024-438: Was a trend throughout the old Roman lands that happened in the Early Middle Ages. This was especially marked in the lands that did not lie on the Mediterranean, such as northern Gaul or Britain. Non-local goods appearing in the archaeological record are usually luxury goods. In the northern parts of Europe, not only were the trade networks local, but the goods carried were simple, with little pottery or other complex products. Around

35223-434: Was almost completely surrounded by Slavs , while the Vilnius region became exceptionally ethnically diverse Belarusian-Polish-Lithuanian territory. The Belarusian population moved into the areas devastated by wars of the 17th and the early 18th centuries (Northern Ashmyany , Trakai , Švenčionys and Vilnius counties) and only a few Lithuanian settlements remained there. According to the Russian census of 1897 (which studied

35422-402: Was an active proselytising faith, and at least one Arab political leader converted to it. In addition Jewish theologians wrote polemics defending their religion against Christian and Islamic influences. Christianity had active missions competing with the Persians' Zoroastrianism in seeking converts, especially among residents of the Arabian Peninsula . All these strands came together with

35621-438: Was an important feature of the 5th-century Roman military. The various invading tribes had differing emphases on types of soldiers—ranging from the primarily infantry Anglo-Saxon invaders of Britain to the Vandals and Visigoths who had a high proportion of cavalry in their armies. During the early invasion period, the stirrup had not been introduced into warfare, which limited the usefulness of cavalry as shock troops because it

35820-408: Was annexed by Poland on 24 March 1922 thus finalizing Poland's claims over the territory. In the Middle Ages , Vilnius and its environs had become a nucleus of the early ethnic Lithuanian state, the Duchy of Lithuania , also referred to in Lithuanian historiography as a part of the Lithuania Propria , that became Kingdom of Lithuania and later Grand Duchy of Lithuania . After the Partitions of

36019-407: Was at 54°54′N 25°19′E  /  54.900°N 25.317°E  / 54.900; 25.317  ( Purnuškės (centre of gravity) ) . 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

36218-414: Was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994. The architectural style known as Vilnian Baroque is named after the city, which is farthest to the east among Baroque cities and the largest such city north of the Alps . 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

36417-436: Was demolished in 2017 and replaced by MO Museum. Kino Pavasaris is the city's largest film festival. The Lithuanian Film Centre ( Lithuanian : Lietuvos kino centras ), tasked with promoting the development and competitiveness of the Lithuanian film industry, is in Vilnius. Musicians performed at the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania as early as the 14th century, since Grand Duke Gediminas' daughter Aldona of Lithuania

36616-420: Was dominated by efforts to regain the dignity and classicism of imperial Roman and Byzantine art , but was also influenced by the Insular art of the British Isles. Insular art integrated the energy of Irish Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Germanic styles of ornament with Mediterranean forms such as the book, and established many characteristics of art for the rest of the medieval period. Surviving religious works from

36815-467: Was expanded greatly and ended near Brest-Litovsk , and included the city of Białystok . Due to the addition of further Polish regions, the percentage of the Lithuanian population was diluted. The questioned by Lithuanian side post-war Polish censuses of 1921 and 1931, found 5% of Lithuanians living in the area, with several almost purely Lithuanian enclaves located to the south-west, south ( Dieveniškės enclave), east ( Gervėčiai enclave) of Vilnius and to

37014-439: Was introduced after World War II , with propaganda paintings, historical and household works, still lives , landscapes, portraits, and sculptures. Late 20th- and 21st-century painters are Žygimantas Augustinas, Eglė Ridikaitė, Eglė Gineitytė, Patricija Jurkšaitytė, Jurga Barilaitė, and Solomonas Teitelbaumas. The Užupis district near the Old Town, a run-down district during the Soviet era, hosts bohemian artists who operate

37213-408: Was invited to Aachen and brought the education available in the monasteries of Northumbria. Charlemagne's chancery —or writing office—made use of a new script today known as Carolingian minuscule , allowing a common writing style that advanced communication across much of Europe. Charlemagne sponsored changes in church liturgy , imposing the Roman form of church service on his domains, as well as

37412-413: Was known to be enthusiastic about music. Aldona brought court musicians and singers to Kraków after marrying King Casimir III the Great . During the 16th century, composers such as Wacław of Szamotuły , Jan Brant , Heinrich Finck , Cyprian Bazylik , Alessandro Pesenti , Luca Marenzio , and Michelagnolo Galilei lived in Vilnius; the city was also home to virtuoso lutist Bálint Bakfark . One of

37611-434: Was less need for large tax revenues and so the taxation systems decayed. Warfare was common between and within the kingdoms. Slavery declined as the supply weakened, and society became more rural. Between the 5th and 8th centuries, new peoples and individuals filled the political void left by Roman centralised government. The Ostrogoths , a Gothic tribe, settled in Roman Italy in the late fifth century under Theoderic

37810-439: Was marked by numerous divisions of the empire among his sons and, after 829, civil wars between various alliances of father and sons over the control of various parts of the empire. Eventually, Louis recognised his eldest son Lothair I (d. 855) as emperor and gave him Italy. Louis divided the rest of the empire between Lothair and Charles the Bald (d. 877), his youngest son. Lothair took East Francia , comprising both banks of

38009-496: Was not possible to put the full force of the horse and rider behind blows struck by the rider. The greatest change in military affairs during the invasion period was the adoption of the Hunnic composite bow in place of the earlier, and weaker, Scythian composite bow. Another development was the increasing use of longswords and the progressive replacement of scale armour by mail armour and lamellar armour . The importance of infantry and light cavalry began to decline during

38208-501: Was once common in English. The most notable non-Lithuanian names for the city include Latin : Vilna , Polish : Wilno , Belarusian : Вiльня ( Vilnia ), German : Wilna , Latvian : Viļņa , Ukrainian : Вільно ( Vilno ), Yiddish : ווילנע ( Vilne ). A Russian name dating to the Russian Empire was Вильна ( Vilna ), although Вильнюс ( Vilnyus ) is now used. The names Wilno , Wilna , and Vilna were used in English-, German-, French-, and Italian-language publications when

38407-807: Was published in 1822. Mikalojus Daukša translated and published a catechism by Spanish Jesuit theologian Jacobo Ledesma in 1595, the first printed Lithuanian-language book in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He also translated and published Jakub Wujek 's Postilla Catholica in 1599. Many writers were born in Vilnius, lived there, or are alumni of Vilnius University; they include Konstantinas Sirvydas , Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski , Antoni Gorecki , Józef Ignacy Kraszewski , Antoni Edward Odyniec , Michał Józef Römer , Adam Mickiewicz, Władysław Syrokomla , Józef Mackiewicz , Romain Gary , Juliusz Słowacki , Simonas Daukantas , Mykolas Biržiška , Petras Cvirka , Kazys Bradūnas , Nobel laureate Czesław Miłosz ). Vilnius Academy of Arts alumnae have also added to

38606-409: Was rediscovered in Northern Italy in the 11th century. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions. Monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks , under the Carolingian dynasty , briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th and early 9th centuries. It covered much of Western Europe but later succumbed to

38805-442: Was reinforced with propaganda that portrayed the Merovingians as inept or cruel rulers, exalted the accomplishments of Charles Martel, and circulated stories of the family's great piety. At the time of his death in 768, Pippin left his kingdom in the hands of his two sons, Charles (r. 768–814) and Carloman (r. 768–771). When Carloman died of natural causes, Charles blocked the succession of Carloman's young son and installed himself as

39004-417: Was the denarius or denier , while the Anglo-Saxon version was called a penny . From these areas, the denier or penny spread throughout Europe from 700 to 1000 AD. Copper or bronze coins were not struck, nor were gold except in Southern Europe. No silver coins denominated in multiple units were minted. Christianity was a major unifying factor between Eastern and Western Europe before the Arab conquests, but

39203-474: Was the hometown of 18th-century composers Michał Kazimierz Ogiński , Johann David Holland (colleague of C. Bach ), Maciej Radziwiłł , and Michał Kleofas Ogiński . Nineteenth-century Vilnius was known for singer Kristina Gerhardi Frank , a close friend of Mozart and Haydn (who starred in the premiere of Haydn's Creation ), mid-19th century guitar virtuoso Marek Konrad Sokołowski and composer Stanisław Moniuszko . The wealthiest woman in Vilnius during

39402-440: Was unable to organize the defence of the region against the Bolsheviks . During November and December 1918, local Polish self-defence formations were created in Vilnius and many surrounding localities. They were formally included into the Polish Army by the end of the year. The Lithuanian Taryba left Vilnius together with the German garrison at the start of January 1919, when the first Polish-Soviet military clashes occurred east of

39601-409: Was with the British Isles and Scandinavia, in contrast to the older Roman Empire with its trading networks centred on the Mediterranean. The empire was administered by an itinerant court that travelled with the emperor, as well as approximately 300 imperial officials called counts , who administered the counties the empire had been divided into. Clergy and local bishops served as officials, as well as

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