Visaginas

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Visaginas
City (Lithuania)
Flag Coat of arms
Visaginas Location of Visaginas Show map of Lithuania Visaginas Visaginas (Europe) Show map of Europe
Coordinates: 55°35′53″N 26°26′17″E / 55.598°N 26.438°E / 55.598; 26.438
Country	Lithuania
Ethnographic region	Aukštaitija
County	Utena County
Municipality	Visaginas municipality
Capital of	Visaginas municipality
Established	1975
Granted city rights	1995
Area
• Total	13.8 km2 (5.3 sq mi)
Elevation	164 m (538 ft)
Population  (2020-01-21)
• Total	18,024
• Density	1,300/km2 (3,400/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Website	visaginas.lt

Visaginas (pronunciation^ⓘ) is a city in northeastern Lithuania. It is the centre of Lithuania's youngest municipality, located on the north-eastern edge of the country. It was built as a town for workers engaged in the construction of the now decommissioned Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant. Visaginas is the only city in Lithuania where the majority of population speaks Russian as their first language.^[1] Originally the aerial view of Visaginas was designed to resemble a butterfly. However, after work on the nuclear power plant was cancelled, so was further construction of the town. Currently Visaginas consists of three residential regions that locals refer to as the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Microdistricts. Visaginas has 14 streets. The city grew up in a pine forest by Lake Visaginas. Tourism is currently an area of great potential, as is the possibility of a new nuclear power plant.

The administrative centre of Visaginas municipality is situated near the country's biggest lake, Drūkšiai. Its administrative boundaries are in the process of being defined. The Vilnius–Daugavpils (Latvia) railway runs alongside the city, providing convenient communication with those cities.