Žirmūnai () is the most populous administrative division (elderate) 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. Žirmūnai was important to the industrial sector in the USSR; since that time, this function has been replaced or supplanted by newer businesses, including some of Lithuania's leading companies.
Žirmūnai has undergone major renovation and development in the 21st century. Šiaurės miestelis ("North Town") is an area of Žirmūnai that has rapidly evolved into one of the key business and residential districts of the city. This quarter was used by a number of regimes as a military garrison, and internationally significant historical findings have been made in the area.
Geography
The Žirmūnai elderate occupies 5.7 km2 or 1.4% of the total area of the municipality of Vilnius according to data used for the 2001 census. Žirmūnai is located north of central Vilnius, along the western bank of the River Neris, on a flat plain which rises to the north. The elderate extends for about 4.4 kilometres from north to south, and is about 1.5 kilometres across at its widest point. The southernmost point of the Žirmūnai elderate is only some 450 metres from Vilnius' Cathedral Square, in the centre of the city. Žirmūnai is bordered by the elderates of Verkiai in the north and Šnipiškės in the west, and is separated from Vilnius' Old Town and Antakalnis by the Neris. Žirmūnai's western boundary is defined by the following streets (from north to south): Verkių, Žvalgų, Kalvarijų, Žalgirio, and Rinktinės. The River Neris serves as Žirmūnai's northern, eastern and southern boundary. Žirmūnų Street is the district's main artery.
Despite the proximity of the city centre, the Žirmūnai bank of the River Neris is covered with a strip of dense deciduous forest that begins at the Žirmūnai Bridge and continues upstream (northeasterly). The forested strip is largely uninterrupted, with gaps near bridges. At the approximate centrepoint of the Žirmūnai shoreline, the forest surrounds a backwater, which had been used to park disused passenger ferries. The forest's northernmost section is part of a botanical nature reserve within Verkiai Regional Park.
The Žirmūnai bank of the River Neris, from a point near Žirmūnai Bridge and continuing downstream, was stabilised during the 1980s with a steeply-sloped concrete net-like structure which includes patches of grass between the "webbing" of the net; the lower part of the fortification is a concrete tiled walkway, ending just over 4 kilometres downstream, beyond Liubartas Bridge in Žvėrynas. The walkway is used extensively by walkers, joggers, and cyclists, as well as providing seating for anglers. Construction vehicles sometimes use it to reach work areas. The walkway is submerged during the river floods, mostly in springtime.
Demographics
Ethnicity
As of the census taken in April 2001, the ethnic makeup of Žirmūnai was 59.2% Lithuanian, 16.8% Russian (the third highest percentage among Vilnius' elderates, behind Naujoji Vilnia and Naujininkai), 14.4% Poles, 3.8% Belarusian, 1.7% Ukrainian, 0.8% Jewish, 0.2% Tatar, 0.1% Latvian, 0.1% Armenian, and 2.9% other or unspecified ethnicity.
Population According to the 2001 census, Žirmūnai was the most populous elderate in Vilnius (47,410 residents, comprising 8.7% of Vilnius' total population) and the third most populous in Lithuania after Šilainiai and Dainava, Kaunas. The population density was 8,317.5/km2. According to the census, there were 21,363 private households in the Žirmūnai elderate, making for an average household size of about 2.2 persons. The population of Žirmūnai has been rapidly increasing, largely due to construction of residential buildings in the Šiaurės miestelis section of the elderate. A former elder of Žirmūnai estimated its 2002 population to be about 60,000 residents – an increase of about 13,000 over the 2001 census figure. This rapid growth has placed a strain on city services.
Age cohorts Žirmūnai is occasionally described as a "borough of elderly people" or even a "borough of elderly women". There is a certain statistical basis to the claim: according to the data of the April 2001 census, only about 43.5% of Žirmūnai's population were male, the second lowest percentage in Vilnius, after Žvėrynas (43.1%); 27.4% of the population (33.2% of women and 19.9% of men) were of legal retirement age, which was 57.5 years for women and 61.5 years for men at the time. This is the highest percentage in Vilnius; accordingly, Žirmūnai had the lowest percentage of residents that were statistically of working age (defined as over age 15 and up to the retirement age) in Vilnius, only 56.4% in total: 52.8% of women and 61.1% of men.
The heavy proportion of elderly persons in the district may be attributed to the settled way of life of those residents who arrived during the building boom of the 1960s: the children of these residents moved elsewhere to live, leaving their parents in the old dwelling. The skewed male–female ratio is probably an artifact of the differential between male and female lifespans in Lithuania (male average lifespan in Lithuania was 66 years in 2004, as against 78 for females), according to the World Health Organization.
At the time of the 2001 census, persons aged between 0 and 15 years comprised 16.1% of Žirmūnai's population, the second lowest percentage among Vilnius' elderates, slightly higher than Viršuliškės at 15.5%. However, it is likely that the average age of Žirmūnai's residents has decreased since the last census, and will continue to decrease, as a result of the active construction of new dwellings, which are acquired primarily by younger people. As housing prices rise, retirees are motivated to sell their apartments with the goal of acquiring cheaper housing elsewhere with funds to spare.
Crime statistics In 2005, 2,317 crimes were registered in the Žirmūnai elderate. This is the third highest figure among Vilnius' elderates, behind the Old Town and Naujamiestis. Using the population data of the latest available census (2001), this would amount to about 48.9 crimes per 1,000 residents per year (only the eighth highest figure, due to the elderate's large population; Vilnius' total crime rate, using the same population data, would be about 51 crimes per 1,000 residents). In terms of crime density, 406.5 crimes per 1 square kilometre were registered (the fourth highest figure, behind the Old Town, Naujamiestis and Šnipiškės; Vilnius' total crime density, using the same population data, would be about 70.4).
However, thanks largely to the crime prevention programme Saugus miestas ("Safe City"), crime rates in Žirmūnai, as in all other elderates of Vilnius, are declining. For instance, 886 crimes were registered in Žirmūnai during the first four months of 2005, versus 672 during the same period of 2006, a decline of about 24%. If this trend continues, Žirmūnai's crime rate for 2006 would decrease to about 37.2 crimes per 1,000 residents.
The most frequently registered crimes during the first four months of 2006 were: theft (335 instances, including 19 car thefts, constituting about 50% of the total number of crimes); rape (259 instances or about 38.5% of the total); robbery (44 instances or about 6.5%); and bodily injury (20 instances or about 3%). Percentage data may overlap as one criminal act may have several features, which are registered separately, but the total number of crimes is calculated per incident.
History The elderate of Žirmūnai embraces three historical suburbs of Vilnius: Žvejai, Tuskulėnai and Šiaurės miestelis. Fishing village Žvejai dating to the 14th century included the only glass factory in the 16th century Lithuania, as well as the largest Jewish cemetery. It became an integral part of Vilnius in the 16th century. The area south of Žvejai became known after the name of the Tusculanum Manor. Manor itself was a property of noble families and officials, and is the oldest building in Žirmūnai. In the 19th century, a military garrison was established in the present-day Šiaurės miestelis, which was used by Russian, French and Polish armies. These territories were consolidated into Vilnius city during the period of rapid growth that occurred in the 1950s and 1960s. The Tuskulėnai Manor was used as the KGB officers' apartments back then. In the last years, a housing renovation program was launched in Žirmūnai. Military structures in Šiaurės miestelis of a historical value have been preserved and restored. Šiaurės miestelis became one of the most sought–after residential and commercial areas of Vilnius.
14th–19th centuries 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.