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Religion

By the 17th century, Vilnius was known as a city of numerous religions. In 1600, Samuel Lewkenor's book about cities with universities was published in London; According to Lewkenor, Vilnius' population included Catholics, Orthodox, followers of John Calvin and Martin Luther, Jews and Tartar Muslims.

During that century, Vilnius had a reputation as a city unrivaled in Europe for its number and variety of churches. Robert Morden wrote in Geography Rectified or a Description of the World that no other city in the world could surpass Vilnius in the number of churches and temples except, perhaps, Amsterdam.

Vilnius is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vilnius, housing major church institutions and the archdiocesan Vilnius Cathedral. A number of Christian beatified people, martyrs, servants of God and saints are associated with the city. They include the Franciscan martyrs of Vilnius, the Orthodox martyrs Anthony, John, and Eustathius, Saint Casimir, Josaphat Kuntsevych, Andrew Bobola, Raphael Kalinowski, Faustina Kowalska, and Jurgis Matulaitis-Matulevičius. There are a number of Roman Catholic churches in the city, small monasteries, and religious schools. Church architecture includes Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and neoclassical styles, with examples of each in the Old Town. Eastern Rite Catholicism has also had a presence in Vilnius since the Union of Brest. The Baroque Basilian Gate is part of an Eastern Rite monastery.

Vilnius has had an Eastern Orthodox presence since the 12th century, and the Russian Orthodox Monastery of the Holy Spirit is near the [Gate of Dawn. St. Paraskeva's Orthodox Church in the Old Town was the site of the 1705 baptism of Hannibal, the great-grandfather of Alexander Pushkin, by Tsar Peter the Great. Many Old Believers, who split from the Russian Orthodox Church in 1667, settled in Lithuania; a Supreme Council of Old Believers is based in Vilnius. The Orthodox Church of St. Constantine and St. Michael was built in 1913. A number of Protestant and other Christian denominations are represented in Vilnius, notably Lutheran Evangelicals and Baptists.

Lithuania's pre-Christian religion, centred on the forces of nature and personified by deities such as Perkūnas (the thunder god), is experiencing increased interest. Romuva established a Vilnius branch in 1991.