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The city was already noted for its multicultural population in the time of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, with contemporary sources comparing it to Babylon. Before World War II and the Holocaust, Vilnius was one of the most important Jewish centers in Europe. Its Jewish influence has led to its nickname "the Jerusalem of Lithuania". Napoleon called it "the Jerusalem of the North"[22] as he passed through in 1812.
In 2009, Vilnius was the European Capital of Culture, together with Linz in Austria.[23] In 2021, Vilnius was named one of fDi's 25 Global Cities of the Future.[24] Vilnius is considered one of the major world financial centres, ranked 76th globally and 29th in Europe, according to the Global Financial Centres Index.[25] In 2023, Vilnius hosted the 2023 NATO Summit. Vilnius is a member of Eurocities[26] and the Union of Capitals of the European Union (UCEU).[27]
^Widespread use of the nickname from the 16th century to this day as a reference to the many Catholic churches and monasteries in Vilnius and overall religious atmosphere in the centre. This nickname was/is used not only by foreigners but also by the local population. The 19th-century Lithuanian cultural figure Dionizas Poška called Vilnius "Rome of the North", as, according to him, Vilnius is "the old religious centre, that transformed from a pagan city into the bastion of Christianity". D. Poška, Raštai, Vilnius, 1959, p. 67
^Especially in the 16th–17th centuries, Vilnius was called the ‘New Babylon’ because of the many languages spoken there, as well as its many religions (various Christian denominations as well as Jews and a Muslim Tatar community). E.g.: S. Bodniak, "Polska w relacji włoskiej z roku 1604", Pamiętnik biblioteki kórnickiej, 2, (Kórnik, 1930), p. 37.
^This nickname was very popular among the Lithuanian nobility, citizens of Vilnius, and poets, especially during the Baroque period. Many poets of the period, including Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski, called Vilnius "the capital of Palemon" or "the city of Palemon". Živilė Nedzinskaitė, Vilnius XVII–XVIII a. LDK lotyniškojoje poezijoje, Acta Academiae Artium Vilnensis, Vilnius, 2010, p. 16; Eugenija Ulčinaitė, Motiejus Kazimieras Sarbievijus: Antikos ir krikščionybės sintezė; Vilniaus pasveikinimas, Lietuvių literatūros ir tautosakos institutas, Vilnius, 2001, pp. 47, 59, 61, 63; etc.