Of all the students at the Stefan Batory University during the interwar period, it was Czesław Miłosz (1911–2004), winner of the 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature, who achieved the greatest international renown. The poet is associated with Vilnius, but he was not born there. He came into the world in Šeteiniai on the Neman River in the Kaunas region. He may have visited Vilnius for the first time at the age of two, in 1913, whilst travelling with his parents to Krasnoyarsk. The Vilnius period in the future writer’s life spanned the years 1921–1937 – his school and university years. In 1921, he became a pupil at the Sigismund Augustus State Grammar School in Vilnius and settled in Vilnius with his family. He began his studies in 1929, initially studying Polish language and literature at the Faculty of Humanities, before transferring to law at the Faculty of Social Sciences shortly afterwards. He made his literary debut in 1930 in the pages of the university magazine *Alma Mater Vilniensis*. He was a member of the ‘Żagary’ poetry group and a co-founder of the supplement to *Słowo* bearing the same name. In 1933, the artist’s debut book, *Poemat o czasie zastygłym* (*A Poem about Frozen Time*), was published. A year later, the Polish Writers’ Union in Vilnius awarded him the Filomats Prize for this work. From 1935, he worked at the Polish Radio station in Vilnius, but was dismissed after a year of service. In 1936, he published *Three Winters* on the banks of the Vilia; although only 300 copies were printed, the book gained considerable acclaim amongst readers and critics. It also paved the way for Miłosz to move to Warsaw, where he went in 1937.

However, he returned to Vilnius on numerous occasions. In September 1939, he reached the city, which had been handed over to the Lithuanians; he even took Lithuanian citizenship, but fled to Warsaw following the Soviet Union’s annexation of Lithuania. The poet did not return to the city on the Viliya until 1992, after an absence of 52 years. He visited Vilnius from time to time, returning to his homeland and taking part in the literary life of both nations. The Vilnius period left a deep mark on Miłosz’s life and work; indeed, it is said that the very fact that Kraków bore the greatest resemblance to Vilnius was the deciding factor in his choice of that city as his place of residence upon his return to Poland in 1993.

Czesław Miłosz lived at 5 Podgórna Street in Vilnius. The Miłosz family occupied a flat on the high ground floor on the left-hand side. There were gardens at the rear of the tenement. He attended the Zygmunt August State Lower Secondary School, which was situated on the corner of Góra Bouffałowa and Mała Pohulanka streets. In June 2011, a plaque dedicated to the poet was unveiled on the building. Miłosz recalled that he used to walk to school from his flat on Podgórna Street along Portowa Street, where he would meet the Rymkiewicz brothers, who were also on their way to the secondary school; one of them, Aleksander, also became a poet. They would then walk uphill – after all, the street was called Góra Bouffałowa – and reportedly got out of breath, their tongues practically hanging out of their cheeks, because they were in such a hurry. They had to arrive by eight o’clock sharp, because the caretaker locked the doors at that exact time. The poet recalled that he really disliked PE; he was not very tall and often found himself losing out to stronger classmates in various competitions; besides, it was cold in the gym. He also recalled that every morning all the pupils would gather in the corridor and sing the song ‘Kiedy ranne wstają zorze’. When Miłosz was in Year 7, he lived as a boarder with the Biszewski family, near the Tomasz Zan Library, opposite the State Railways Headquarters. In Year 8, before his A-levels, he moved in with Mrs Klecka, near Portowa Street. The future poet began his studies in 1929 with Polish Studies at the Faculty of Humanities, but after two weeks he transferred to Law at the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences. However, he did not sever his ties with the Polish Studies department. He attended some lectures, such as those given by the literary historian Professor Manfred Kridl and the literary historian and philosopher Marian Zdziechowski. In 1932, the Polish Studies Society was founded at Stefan Batory University under the academic supervision of Stanisław Pigoń – also a literary historian and former rector of Vilnius University – and comprised students from various faculties. These young people held discussions and organised meetings with writers. The Polish Studies Society also ran a Section for Original Creative Work. One of the leading activists in the Society was Teodor Bujnicki; others included Czesław Miłosz, Leon Szreder, Jerzy Putrament, Jerzy Zagórski and Zbigniew Folejewski. In the academic year 1930/1931, the Intellectuals’ Club was established. The group comprised young students from Vilnius, including Czesław Miłosz, Teodor Bujnicki, Henryk Dębiński and Stefan Jędrychowski. The famous ‘U Rudnickiego’ café, situated opposite the cathedral, became their meeting place, and the topic of discussion was contemporary Polish literature.

Miłosz made his literary debut in 1930 in the university journal *Alma Mater Vilniensis* with the poems ‘Kompozycja’ and ‘Podróż’. In 1933, the artist’s debut book, *Poemat o czasie zastygłym* (*A Poem on Frozen Time*), was published. A year later, the Polish Writers’ Union in Vilnius awarded him the Filomats Prize for this work.

As a student, the future Nobel laureate lived in the newly built university hall of residence at 5 Bouffałowa Góra Street, first in a twin room, then in a single room on the third floor. Whilst living on the banks of the Vilia, he was also a member of the Vilnius Wanderers’ Club. Together they went on walking trips along the Philomaths’ trail, travelled to nearby Ponary, to the Green Lakes, to Jaszun or the Rudnicka Forest. It is possible that, whilst still a student, he went on a trip to Trakai with the family of Professor Manfred Kridl and his fellow student Irena Sławińska. They also often went canoeing on the Vilia River, meeting up at the AZS rowing club on Kościuszki Street.

From 1935, he worked at the Polish Radio station in Vilnius, which was then located at 22 Mickiewicza Street, but he was dismissed after a year’s service. At the time, he lived in Literacki Alley, in the former Puzyna house, not far from the tenement where Adam Mickiewicz had once lived. Miłosz recalled that in the gateway, on the right, there was an entrance to a flight of stairs leading up to the room. The window was set in a deep bay window. This is the house at what is now 9 Literatų Street, adjoining the walls of the Bernardine convent next to the Church of St Michael the Archangel. Today, the Nobel laureate is commemorated at this very spot, with a plaque bearing his name hung amongst those of many other writers and poets on the Wall of Writers.

In 2016, the Czesław Miłosz Stairs were also unveiled in Vilnius. This unusual monument is situated between the former streets of Basztowa, St Anne’s and Onos Šimaitės. The location was chosen, in a sense, thanks to a ‘hint’ from Miłosz, who recalled that this was the first place in Vilnius he remembered from his youth.

In 1927, the Polish Radio facilities in Vilnius were established – the broadcasting building in Zwierzyniec and the radio mast in Lipówka. For a time, the young Czesław worked for the radio station. After moving to Warsaw, Miłosz worked for Polish Radio. The events of 1939 led him to leave for Romania; he then made his way to Kaunas, from where he travelled to Vilnius, which the Russians had by then handed over to the Lithuanians. He then took up residence near the cathedral, on Arsenalska Street, in the flat of his relatives – the Pawlikowski family. In July 1940, the poet left for Warsaw.

At number 6 Ostrobramska Street stands the Gothic Miednicki House, where, between 1939 and 1940, Vilnius writers would meet in secret, including Czesław Miłosz, as well as Aleksander Rymkiewicz and Tadeusz Łopalewski.

One of the many streets mentioned by Miłosz is Wileńska Street, where, in one of the tenement houses, there was a book lending library. It was there that Miłosz’s grandmother paid her subscription. The future poet, then a teenager, used to go there to borrow books.

Between 1922 and 1939, the editor Stanisław Cat-Mackiewicz published and served as editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper *Słowo*, whose editorial office was situated at number 2 Zamkowa Street. It was he who suggested that the young people publish a literary supplement alongside his paper, a task which Miłosz also took on. In the spring of 1931, *Żagary* began to appear. Thanks to this literary journal, an avant-garde poetry group was formed, whose members included Aleksander Rymkiewicz, Antoni Gołubiew and Teodor Bujnicki.

Czesław Miłosz, whilst living in the town on the Vileja River, would wander its many streets, lanes and alleys every day. He was no stranger to Niemiecka Street, which was lined with numerous shops, craft workshops and – here and there – small restaurants, nor to Zamkowa, Wielka and Ostrobramska Streets, leading from the cathedral all the way to the Ostra Brama. Whilst still a pupil at the Zygmunt August State Grammar School, he would attend services at St George’s Church with his classmates. Living outside the Old Town, beyond Zawalna Street – which marked the exact boundaries of the old part of the city – he would often walk down (the streets of Vilnius are spread across the city’s numerous hills, offering panoramic views of different parts of the town) down Ludwisarska Street, which, descending ever lower, led towards the Church of the Brothers of Mercy and Napoleon Square. He used to visit relatives at 6 Arsenalska Street, and it was there that he spent his last night in Vilnius.

He often returned to his city in his writing. He wrote the poem ‘A City Without a Name’ and ‘A Song About Porcelain’. In 1937, whilst in Warsaw, he published a poem entitled “In My Homeland” – full of doomsday prophecies and premonitions of impending historical events. And in 1967, in Berkeley, he immortalised the image of the city on the Vilia in the very famous poem ‘Never from you, city’. He described his time in Vilnius in the works *My Native Europe* and *Starting from My Streets*.

In 1993, during his second visit to Lithuania, he visited the building of the former Sigismund Augustus State Gymnasium in Vilnius. Two years later, when he returned to the banks of the Vilia, he was awarded the Order of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Gediminas, 2nd class. He last visited his homeland in 2000, together with other Nobel Prize laureates in Literature – Günter Grass and Wisława Szymborska – and they were accompanied on that occasion by the Lithuanian poet Tomas Venclova.