VILNA or WILNO, a town of Poland, capital of the province of the same name, 436 m. S.S.W. of Leningrad, at the inter section of the railways from Leningrad to Warsaw and from Libau to the mouth of the Don. Pop. (1931) With its suburbs Antokol, Lukishki, Pogulyanka and Sarechye, it stands on and around a knot of hills (2,450 ft.) at the confluence of the Vileika with the Viliya. Its streets are in part narrow and not very clean; but Vilna is an old town, rich in historical associations. Its imperial palace, and the cathedral of St. Stanislaw (1387, restored 1801), containing the silver sarcophagus of St. Casimir and the tomb of Prince Vitoft, are fine buildings. There is a second cathe dral, that of St. Nicholas, built in 1596-1604; also several churches dating from the 14th to the 16th centuries. The Ostra Brama chapel contains an image of the Virgin greatly venerated by Orthodox Greeks and Roman Catholics alike. The museum of antiquities has valuable historical collections. The ancient castle of the Jagellones is now a mass of ruins. The old university, founded in 1578, restored (1803) by Alexander I., but closed in 1832 for political reasons was reopened in 192o. Vilna is an archie piscopal see of the Orthodox Greek Church and an episcopal see of the Roman Catholic Church. The city possesses a botanical garden and a public library. It is an important centre for trade in timber and grain, which are exported ; and has theological seminaries, both Orthodox Greek and Roman Catholic. (X.) was founded in the loth century, but became important as the capital of Lithuania (q.v.) under Gedymin in 1323. In the early part of the 15th century, Lithuania and Poland coalesced, but owing to their cultural superiority the Poles gradually absorbed Lithuania although in point of territory it was three times the size of Poland. Vilna became a centre of Polish erudition and had a printing-press as early as 1519, but politically ceded pride of place to Warsaw. In the long struggle between Russia, Poland and Sweden which filled the 17th century, the city was nearly ruined. Russia finally retained it in 1795, after the partition of Poland. In 1803 a university was established there, but suppressed for political reasons in 1832. The Polish in habitants took part in the abortive risings of 1831 and 1863. The
town remained the capital of what was now the province of Vilna and became a first class fortress. As such, it fell into Ger man hands after an ephemeral resistance in the autumn of 1915.
The question of the political disposal of Vilna therefore did not arise until Poland and Lithuania re-emerged as separate States after the World War of 1914-18. No definite frontier existed between them, but on Dec. 8, 1919, the Supreme Council of the Allies in Paris laid down a provisional eastern frontier for Poland, the so-called "Curzon Line" which assigned to Poland most ter ritories where the Polish element was in a majority, but excluded mixed and doubtful districts, the principal among these being Vilna city and province which the Bolsheviks, with whom the Lithuanians were then at war, had succeeded in capturing for themselves. The provisional Lithuanian Government fled to Kaunas (Kovno). Three months later, the Lithuanians by ar rangement with the Poles were on the point of recapturing Vilna when it fell to Polish troops. Obviously, in time of war, this important strategic position at the confluence of two rivers and at the intersection of three railway lines had to be secured quickly.
Lithuania made peace with Russia (July 1920), her claim to Vilna being recognised by the Soviet—now that the Poles held it. Soon after, the Poles, fighting Russia single-handed, lost not only Vilna, but nearly all their country. Nevertheless the face of the war changed, and the Poles drove back the Bolsheviks who, no longer able to hold Vilna themselves, handed it to Lithuanian troops (end of Aug. 1920), and from that time forth remained consistent in their recognition of the Lithuanian claim. On Oct. 9, Polish troops under the "rebel" general Zeligovski recaptured the town thereby breaking the agreement signed at Suvalki in the presence of the military control commission of the League of Nations two days earlier, whereby the Poles recognised the Lithuanian occupation of Vilna and Vilna region. Since then the Lithuanians have never ceased to protest against the Polish occupation of their historic capital, of two-fifths of their historic territory and the alienation of nearly half their historic popula tion. They had the sympathy of the League of Nations.