Vilnius celebrated the beginning of this year's Christmas season with a ceremony of lighting the city’s main tree. Shaped as a giant birthday cake, the decoration foreshadows the 700th anniversary that Vilnius is celebrating in 2023.
The Christmas tree on Cathedral Square is 25-metres-high and 22 metres in diameter. It sports 700 candle-shaped lights, marking the city’s official age.
“This year’s Christmas tree is a bright invitation to visit the capital of Lithuania and a special birthday greeting to Vilnius. We hope that this magnificent and enchanting Christmas tree, like the letters written by the 14th century Grand Duke Gediminas of Lithuania, will become a letter from Vilnius to Europe and the whole world today, and that the news of Vilnius’ 700th anniversary will spread widely,” Paulius Jurgutis, director of the Vilnius Culture Centre, was quoted in a statement.
The full programme of Christmas in Vilnius can be found here.
