Vilnius, capital city of the independent Lithuanian Republic, is at the easternmost edge of the European Union. This year it will be the EU’s “cultural capital,” a rotating honor intended to showcase the continent’s glorious heritage. Vilnius, indeed, abounds in culture as well as in lovely architecture and in historical associations. Formerly isolated from Europe by force of Soviet arms, the Vilnius of Adam Mickiewicz and Czeslaw Milosz—great Polish poets who came of age there—and of the resplendent Lithuanian baroque are no longer hidden from view or hard to visit. A small city, Vilnius will share the distinction of being cultural capital with Linz, a medium-sized Austrian town. The justification for pairing the two is detailed in a report by an EU selection panel that met in 2005 and appears to have arrived at its decision without much debate. Linz, an unspectacular place, was evidently deemed worthy because it has given priority to “its rapidly changing work environment, its worldwide networking capabilities, and the themes of social and economic justice; and natural resources and ecology.” In similarly strained syntax, the EU panel describes an urban ethos “based on equality, migrants enriching cities and regions and European integration including peace, solidarity, and diversity.”

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