Paper short abstract:

Located next to Belarus and historically known for its multiculturalism, the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius has Jewish, Lithuanian, Polish and Russian ethnicities. This paper examines the scope of the City's Belarusian ethnic facet which often is underrepresented.

Paper long abstract:

The city of Vilnius - the capital of Lithuania - is located 35 km from the border with Belarus. Historically known for its multiculturalism, Vilnius has among others Jewish, Lithuanian, Polish and Russian facets.

The Belarusian facet of this city (Vilnia in Belarusian) remains often underestimated or misrepresented even though Belarusian nationalism tends to sanctify Vilnia referring as "Kryvičian Mecca" (Kryvičian is alternative/poetic name for Belarusian). Such sacralisation may be parallelised with the role of Constantinople in Greek nationalist realm.

In the first half of the 20th century Vilnius was one of the main centres for the Belarusian national movement contesting the leading status with Minsk. Generally, Belarusian nationalism treats Vilnia as a long-standing capital of the Belarusian nation. Thus, the transfer of the City to Lithuania in 1939 is viewed by some Belarusian scholars as the reason that explains success of "de-nationalisation" and "sovietisation" of Belarusians since Minsk could not become a consolidating centre due to lack of own prominent "state-level" past. Despite "de-nationalisation" and "sovietisation" of the Belarusian historical memories in the post-war USSR - partly embodied into elimination of Vilnia from Belarusian collective memory - the City remained amongst the key elements for Belarusian nationalist realm.

The article discusses grounds and maturity of the Belarusian facet of Vilnius showing it as a case where the same terminology does not employ the same meanings. The article also highlights the main shortcomings of underestimation of the Belarusian facet of the City and its influence to the relations between current Belarusian and Lithuanian states and societies.