Pilaitė is an eldership in the

Vilnius city municipality Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

. It occupies 13,9 km². According to the 2011 census, it has a

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

of 20,320. Although being one of the newest elderships in Vilnius, with many buildings under construction, Pilaitė used to be a place with a medieval castle, rebuilt in

Renaissance style Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of Ancient Greece, ancient Greek and ...

in the 16th century, which guarded roads to the capital of the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state that existed from the 13th century to 1795, when the territory was partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Empire of Austria. The state was founded by Li ...

from the West. The castle was destroyed during the

Battle of Vilnius (1655) The Battle of Vilnius, Wilno, or Vilna was an attack by Russian and Cossack forces on Vilnius, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, that occurred on 8 August 1655 during the Russo-Polish War (16 ...

and was never rebuilt, but the place retained its name. It is mainly known to Vilnius residents by the two lakes it borders - Salotė and Gėlužis. Pilaitė is also known for its old windmill, which is not far away from Salotė Lake. It is known that there used to be a farm near that windmill, with some of the stone structures still standing.

References

Neighbourhoods of Vilnius {{VilniusCounty-geo-stub