Vilnius University

Vilnius University   (University)
Formation	1919
Headquarters	Vilnius, Lithuania
Type	•  public •  research
Lithuanian university with many disruptions during its history

Vilnius University is a public research university in Lithuania.

History

The university was first founded in 1579 as the Jesuit Academy (College) of Vilnius by Stephen Báthory, Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland. It was the third oldest university (after the Cracow Academy and the Albertina) in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Due to the failure of the November Uprising (1830–1831), the university was closed down and suspended its operation until 1919.

In the aftermath of World War I, the university saw failed attempts to restart it by the local Polish Society of Friends of Science in Wilno (1915 and November 1918), Lithuania (December 1918) and Soviet forces (March 1919). It finally resumed operations as Stefan Batory University in Poland (August 1919), a period followed by another Polish–Soviet War in 1920, and finally incorporated into Poland in 1922.

Following the Soviet takeover of eastern Poland in September 1939, the university was briefly administered by the Lithuanian Soviet authorities (from October 1939), and then after Soviet annexation of Lithuania (June 1940), punctuated by a period of German occupation after Operation Barbarossa, from 1941 to 1944, when it was administrated as the Vilnius State University.

In 1945, the Polish community of students and scholars of Stefan Batory University was transferred (expelled) to Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. After Lithuania regained its independence in 1990, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, it resumed its status as one of the prominent universities in Lithuania.

 

Alumni on Wikispooks

Person	Born	Nationality	Summary	Description
Lukas Andriukaitis		Lithuania	Researcher Spook Soldier	Integrity Initiative forensic researcher
Gabrielius Landsbergis	7 January 1982	Lithuania	Politician	Pro NATO Pro EU Lithuania foreign minister
Raimonda Murmokaitė	17 July 1959	Lithuania	Diplomat	Lithuanian diplomat who was President of the United Nations Security Council in February 2014 and May 2015, and Chairman of the UNSC's Counter-Terrorism Committee 2014-2015.
Laimonas Talat-Kelpša	4 November 1977	Lithuania	Diplomat	Lithuanian diplomat who took part in the Cold War Then and Now? event.

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