Pilaitė is an eldership in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, 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, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. It occupies . According to the 2011 census, it had a population of 20,320. municipality
statistics-municipality. 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 sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

from the West. The castle was destroyed during the Battle of Vilnius 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.

Demographics

The district is one of the fastest-growing in the entire city. It is estimated that in the last 20 years, the population of the district has increased by more than 101 percent. In 2001, the population of Little Castle was 15,996, with an increase to 20,320 in 2011 and 28,234 in 2021. As of 2023, Pilaitė is predominantly populated by

Lithuanians Lithuanians () are a Balts, Baltic ethnic group. They are native to Lithuania, where they number around 2,378,118 people. Another two million make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the Lithuanian Americans, United Sta ...

, Belarussians,

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

, and

Ukrainians Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the List of contemporary eth ...

, where

making 6/7 of the entire population.

References

{{Authority control Neighbourhoods of Vilnius