Wikipedia
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Žirmūnai (; ; ) is the most populous administrative division ( elderate) in Vilnius. It is also a neighbourhood in the Lithuanian capital city Vilnius, encompassing the city district of the same name, built in the 1960s.
Žirmūnai's history has been traced to the late 14th century, when a Lithuanian fishing village was founded across the River Neris from Vilnius' Old Town. Several historic sites in Žirmūnai are internationally significant; it is the home of Lithuania's largest Jewish cemetery, as well as the location of mass graves of soldiers belonging to Napoleon's Grande Armée and victims of the NKGB's and MGB's executions after World War II. Tuskulėnai Manor, built in 1825, and the surrounding Peace Park are important historical and cultural attractions in Vilnius.
The area was given the name Žirmūnai during the early 1960s, when it became the site of an award-winning residential construction project; it was the first city district in the Lithuanian SSR to be constructed applying urban planning concepts established in the USSR at the time. The massive Palace of Concerts and Sports and Žalgiris Stadium are other relics of Žirmūnai's Soviet history. Žirmūnai was important to the industrial sector in the USSR; since that time, this function has been replaced or supplanted by newer businesses, including some of Lithuania's leading companies.
Žirmūnai has undergone major renovation and development in the 21st century. Šiaurės miestelis ("North Town") is an area of Žirmūnai that has rapidly evolved into one of the key business and residential districts of the city. This quarter was used by a number of regimes as a military garrison, and internationally significant historical findings have been made in the area.