page_title: Žirmūnai
section_title: 14th–19th centuries
hierarchical_section_title: Žirmūnai / History / 14th–19th centuries
caption_attribution_description: Tuskulėnai Manor
context_page_description: Žirmūnai in Vilnius. It is also a neighbourhood in the Lithuanian capital city Vilnius, encompassing the city district of the same name, built in the 1960s.
  Žirmūnai's history has been traced to the late 14th century, when a Lithuanian fishing village was founded across the River Neris from Vilnius' Old Town. Several historic sites in Žirmūnai are internationally significant; it is the home of Lithuania's largest Jewish cemetery, as well as the location of mass graves of soldiers belonging to Napoleon's Grande Armée and victims of the NKGB's and MGB's executions after World War II. Tuskulėnai Manor, built in 1825, and the surrounding Peace Park are important historical and cultural attractions in Vilnius.
  The area was given the name Žirmūnai during the early 1960s, when it became the site of an award-winning residential construction project; it was the first city district in the Lithuanian SSR to be constructed applying urban planning concepts established in the USSR at the time. The massive Palace of Concerts and Sports and Žalgiris Stadium are other relics of Žirmūnai's Soviet history.
context_section_description: Žirmūnai's southernmost section, which lies on the bank of the River Neris opposite the Vilnius Castle Complex, was part of the settlement known as Žvejai; another part of that settlement is now located within the elderate of Šnipiškės. According to archaeological surveys from 2005, a fishing village may have been located here as early as the late 14th century, giving the area its name, literally, Fishermen; it was later settled by craftsmen and housed the Orthodox Church of St Barbara. During the 16th century, the only glass factory in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was located in the suburb of Žvejai. In 1563, after the construction of the first bridge over the River Neris (at the approximate location of today's Mindaugas Bridge), the suburb of Žvejai became an integral part of the city of Vilnius. During Tsarist rule in the 19th century, the name of Žvejai was superseded by that of Piramont, originating from the small estate of Piramont in the area (now Kalvarijų 1). Piramontskij Alley can be seen in a 1904 map of Vilnius where today's A. Juozapavičiaus Street in the elderate of Šnipiškės is located, close to the boundary of Žirmūnai. The usage of Piramont as a placename gradually became limited to the southern part of Žvejai.
  The heritage of Žvejai was retained in the name of Žvejų ("Fishermen's") Street, which runs alongside the River Neris in southern Šnipiškės and Žirmūnai. However, the Žirmūnai section of this street was renamed Olimpiečių ("Olympians") in 2000 to commemorate the achievements of Lithuanian Olympic athletes in the Sydney Olympics.
  The largest and oldest Jewish cemetery in Lithuania, first mentioned in 1592, was also located in Žvejai. It was known in the local Jewish community as Shnipishok. The Yiddish placename later became associated with the whole borough of Šnipiškės, now bordering Žirmūnai on the west. Although the cemetery was officially closed in 1830 and was subject to gradual deterioration, there were further interments. Vilna Gaon, as well as other famous Vilnian Jews, were interred in the cemetery.
  During the years of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, in the area on the right bank of the River Neris opposite the St. Peter and St. Paul's Church in Antakalnis, a Royal Manor called Derevnictva (Polish: Derewnictwo), was established in the mid-16th century by King Sigismund Augustus as an outpost of the Vilnius Castles. The manor was held by the kings Sigismund III Vasa and Władysław IV Vasa, nobleman M. Piegłowski, the Wołowicz family, the Grand Hetman of Lithuania Michał Kazimierz Pac, as well by the Tyzenhaus family after 1741. In the mid-18th century, Lateran monks acquired the manor and named it Tusculanum, after the resort outside the ancient Roman city of Tusculum. (see also: Villa Rufinella) The surrounding forests were used as a game reserve and for sport fishing. Towards the end of the century, the manor was separated into the folwarks of Tuskulėnai, based on the core of the old royal manor, and Derevnictva. 
  Under the rule of the Russian Empire in the 19th century, the Tuskulėnai Manor was held by various noble families and high-ranking state officials, including Governor General of Lithuanian–Vilna Governorate, Alexander Rimsky-Korsakov. In the mid-19th century the main palace was transformed into a guesthouse that became a cultural center in Vilnius, often visited by Stanislaw Moniuszko and Józef Ignacy Kraszewski. The manor passed into the possession of Julija Safranovich after 1886, and then was held by Olga Melentjeva and her noble family until World War II. 
  The area surrounding Tuskulėnai Manor was referred to as Tuskulėnai (Russian: Tuskuljany; Polish: Tuskulanum) until World War II. This area was also known as Losiovka or Losiuvka, colloquially named after A. Losev, colonel of Special Corps of Gendarmes and later general of the Russian Empire, who owned the folwark of Tuskulėnai in 1869. The placenames are associated primarily with individual wooden houses, built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, some of which are still scattered among the apartment buildings.
  
caption: Painting of the Tuskulėnai Manor in 1848
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 350D DIGITAL", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "240", "Image YResolution": "240", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "ACD Systems Digital Imaging", "Image DateTime": "2006:11:20 22:01:14", "Image Artist": "EOS 350D DIGITAL", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "256", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/30", "EXIF FNumber": "9/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "1600", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:11:20 21:01:52", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:11:20 21:01:52", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "4906891/1000000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "86797/20000", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "28", "EXIF SubSecTime": "843", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "832", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "570", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "646", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "1728000/437", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}