This spring Vilnius University is celebrating an impressive anniversary: it is 444 years old!
For such an important day, it would be good to share a little bit of history with members of the community of Vilnius University and with the rest of the world.
The first Jesuits visited Vilnius in 1569 and a year later they founded the first college in the Grand Dutchy of Lithuania. In 1577, Pope Gregory XIII approved the college’s reorganisation into a university. A year later, Steponas Batoras, the Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland, bestowed a preliminary privilege, which granted the same rights as universities and academies had at that time. On 1 April 1579, Steponas Batoras announced the bestowal of a privilege that enabled the college to be reorganised into a university. On 30 October of the same year, Pope Gregory XIII issued a papal bull confirming that privilege.
As is the case each year, Vilnius University invited the entire community and the public to join all the week’s anniversary festivities: the green festival Cool the Heat, the scientific communication competition Science Sprint, the artistic sound installations (D)in (D)an and Generations, a concert performed by the Vilnius University Chamber Orchestra, the orienteering game 4.44 in which one had to find places related to Vilnius University all around Vilnius, educational events organised by the Vilnius University Botanical Garden, the traditional exposition of Catechism by Martynas Mažvydas (the first printed Lithuanian book), and other festivities.
On 3 April, the Vilnius University Faculty of Medicine invited the entire community and its closest neighbours—the Vilnius University Cultural Centre, the Health and Sport Centre, and the Faculty of Chemistry and Geosciences—to join a festive lunch and spend some time together.
© VU MF