The Vilnius Museum welcomes you to Viršuliškės, one of the smallest districts in Vilnius. With this exhibition, we begin a new series of studies of less obviously interesting districts of the capital.
Viršuliškės is a village with a history going back to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It played an important part in the development of radio in the city, it is a place with special ties to the Jewish culture of Vilnius, and it is a residential district that grew up in the 1970s as a result of the city’s expansion to the west.
The origin of the name of Viršuliškės is not entirely clear. The area is believed to have been owned by the Astikas family (along with the Pilaitė estate), several of whom used the alias Viršila (meaning ‘he who is higher’). Pilaitė itself was known as Viršilų Suderve (in Polish Suderwa Wirszyłłów). This may be why the village was named Viršuliškės. Alongside this theory, there is also a legend about a wealthy man who had three daughters. He divided his land into three parts, and gave one part to each of his daughters: to Justina he gave Justiniškės, to Karolina he gave Karoliniškės, and to Uršulė he gave Viršuliškės.
