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In the history of the town of Vilnius is reflected the eventful history of Lithuania. The town was founded in 1323 by archduke Gediminas and becames the capital of the strongly expanding Lithuania. The personal union with Poland (1386) formed the great Polish-Lithuanian empire. As Lithuania in the east more and more crumbled off, Poland became more and more dominant in this whole. In 1569 the Union between Poland and Lithuania was formed, by which Lithuania became more a part of Poland.

In 1773 the eastern part of Lithuania, which formed part of the Polish-Lithuanian empire, became part of Russia. In 1792 the rest of Poland was divided and the rest of Lithuania also became a part of the Russian empire. Lithuania was divided in three government areas : Kowno (Kaunas), Wilna (Vilnius) en Grodno (Gardinas). After 1815 the district Suwalki (Suvalkai) also came to Russia.
For a long time there no postmarks were used in the Russian Empire: letters were registered instead. Sometimes the weight and the received amount had been written on the backside of the letter.
However used already in some places, there came official postmarks in 1782, which were introduced as proof that the correct tariff was received.
In the postal regulations of 22 October 1830 it was decreed that all letters, both when sent and on arrival, must get a postmark with place and date.
And talking about dates: the Russian Empire used the old Julian calender to February 1918 and when mentioning dates in association with this period I also will do this. For our calendar, which most countries also used in that period, 12 days must be added in the period 1800-1899, and 13 days in the period after 1900.

From this pre-adhesive stamp period (or pre-philately) a letter from Vilnius, 1837, here below:

Picture (JPEG resized to 60 %) send by M. Lam

The seldom seen postmark: The postmark in in an old spelling. Vilnius is to recognize very well, the second word is 'January' in a very old form.

The postmark was not only a sign that the mail was weighed and registered and the rate was paid, it was also an sender-postmark and in fact all letters were so registered.
Often by departure als a second postmark was given: the departure-postmark. In the place of arrival an arrival-postmark was used.

By the reform of 1830 only the post-offices of St.Peterburg and Mocow held a governing function. The new Government-postoffices, as Vilnius, resorted direct under the 'Head-Postadministration', which was a part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
By the reform of 1884 the post offices were classified in seven classes. This classification was done on base of rate of 'turnover'. On the top was KONTARA Class I with an turnover of at least 100.000 rubel.

Introduction of postage stamps: 1857.
With this also the necessity of cancellation comes into existence. In the beginning postmarks of the former period were still used for this until the introduction of number-cancellations. Greater places, so the capitals of the governments, get a number, surrounded by points in the form of a circle. For Vilnius was this the mumber "5". For the backside also the old postmarks were still used.
Postage stamps were used for mail to foreign countries not until 1864.

ONE-RING-POSTMARKS

After 1860: one-ring-postmarks with only cyrillic letters (only Moscow and St. Petersburg got a double-ring-postmark):

Clicking on an illustration: blow up. Real size of scan: 13,36 x 9,77 Cm
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Postcard from Vilnius-4 (Wilna) to Brussels (1881). At the top the place name, under it the month in cyrillic letters, underneath that the year. At the bottom an ornament. In smaller places the name of government came in the place of the ornament, but Vilnius (Wilna) was also the capital of the government Wilna and so it held the ornament.


Clicking on an illustration: blow up. Real size of scan: 13,14 x 9,97 cm
Details about making the illustrations:Picture
Postcard from Vilnius-5 to Berlin (1885).


In later postmarks more information is included:

Clicking on an illustration: blow up. Real size of scan: 15,12 x 8,77 Cm
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Postal stationary (envelop with imprinted stamp, Mi., nr U33), 5 February 1891. Reverse side:
From Vilnius (Wilna 12) to Riga, with local mail postmark.
This postmark gives already more information than the early one-ring-postmarks: at the bottom is indicated:

The month is still in cyrillic letters and the year remains directly under the month.

In circular 13 of 5 April 1890 the instruction arrived to use Roman numerals for new stamps. This happened on suggestion of the U.P.U., the Universal Postal Union.
Also the postmarks in Russia change in the 'crossed date'-type. In the middle the day stays first, under it the month (in Roman numerals), left of the whole the century and right the rest of the year::

From Vilnius to Magdeburg (1898).
Clicking on an illustration: blow up. Real size of scan: 15,21 x 12,45 Cm
Details about making the illustrations:Picture