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Vilnius is the capital and largest city of Lithuania. It lies on the bank of Neris river and has approxmately 560,000 inhabitants. Along with Linz, Austria, Vilnius was the European Capital of Culture in 2009.

Demographics

Inhabited since the Middle Ages, Vilnius has always been a multinational city with Polish, Jewish, Russian and Belorussian minorities making a substantial share of its population. According to the last census of 2001, Vilnius population includes 57.8% Lithuanians, 18.7% Poles, 14% Russians, 4.0% Belarusians, 1.3% Ukrainians and 0.5% Jews. During World War II, 80,000 Jews from Vilnius were executed by the Nazi regime at the forest of Paneriai and other nearby places. After the war, most of the urban Polish population moved to Poland, while during 1950 - 1970 urbanization they were replaced by people from other parts of Lithuania, neighbouring parts of Belarus, as well as Russia, Ukraine and other Soviet republics.