Vilnius district municipality is situated in the territory once settled by the
Baltic (), and numerous archaeological sites from this period are situated within its borders. During the formation of the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the major part of what is now Vilnius district municipality was the nucleus of the
Duchy of Lithuania, while the territory to the north of
Maišiagala belonged to the . There is some evidence that
Bukiškis just north of Vilnius whose historic name was Gedvydžiai could be associated with Duke
Gedvydas and through this link – with
Mindaugas. According to
Jan Długosz, the pagan ruler of Lithuania
Algirdas was cremated in the sacred forest of Kukaveitis near
Maišiagala after his death in Maišiagala castle in 1377. Nemenčinė (1338), Maišiagala (1254, 1365) and Medininkai (1387), known from written sources from the 13th-14th centuries, were among the oldest settlements in Lithuania. These were trade and defense centers with castles as well as religious centers – after the
Christianization of Lithuania, early churches were built here. As Vilnius was the capital of the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the territory around the city was forming the very center of the state, so-called
Lithuania proper. It was the major part of a much larger and later –
Vilnius Voivodeship. After the partitions of the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth,
Vilna Governorate was formed and
Vilensky Uyezd occupied all of what is now Vilnius district municipality. When Vilnius and its suburbs in 1923 were incorporated into
Interwar Poland, what is now Vilnius district municipality was the core of
Wilno-Troki County. After
World War II, Vilnius district municipality was formed. The initially small Vilnius district (938 km2) was soon significantly enlarged, absorbing
Naujoji Vilnia district (in 1959) and
Nemenčinė district (in 1962) and parts of Ukmergė district, but transferring some smaller administrative territories to
Molėtai district and
Švenčionys district, including
Pabradė (in 1962). After 1962 (then 2313 km2), there were only minor administrative reforms, attaching some territories from Vilnius district municipality (now 2129 km2) to
Vilnius city. In March 1987, the villages of
Pašilaičiai,
Fabijoniškės, Kelmija, Raisteliai and parts of the villages of Pavilionys,
Baltoji Vokė, Prašiškės,
Bajorai,
Buivydiškės,
Grigaičiai and
Vanaginė were attached to Vilnius city. Almost all of the municipality belongs to the Vilnius urban belt, forming suburban environs of the capital city. Some projects, that may have been changed the district radically were not implemented. During the interwar period,
hydropower plant was started to be built in 1938 only to be abandoned in 1940. The reservoir between
Turniškės and
Nemenčinė was not created. During the 70s, a plan to build a pumped storage plant in
Sudervė was too dropped off and
such a plant was built in
Kruonis instead. == Demographics ==