The largest international gathering ever held in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, the 90th World Esperanto Congress with more than 2300 participants from 62 countries took place from 23 to 30 July 2005. All working sessions, presentations and artistic performances at the Congress were in the international language Esperanto.
The Congress in Vilnius took place 100 years after the first World Esperanto Congress in Boulogne-sur-Mer in 1905, which marked the start of the period of spoken use of Esperanto. The Congress thus provided an opportunity, under the title of "Esperanto Congresses: 100 years of interculural communication", to reflect on the whole sequence of such congresses.
In the course of decades marked by social change, political upheavals and two terrible wars, the Esperanto congresses have preserved their most prominent feature - as a forum for meetings of "people with people" (as Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof, the creator of Esperanto, put it in Boulogne-sur-Mer), with a determination to overcome the barriers of nationality and ideology. Several sessions in the Vilnius congress were devoted to the benefits that participants draw from the Esperanto congresses. Many stressed the educational value of the congresses - not only for gaining a broader view of various subjects but also for raising awareness of the effects of intercultural communication at the most personal level.
In his address to the Congress in 1905, Zamenhof's aim was to create a feeling of solidarity and the conviction that it is possible by means of Esperanto to improve the way people live together in the world. That is the tradition on which the World Esperanto Congresses continue to rest, demonstrating that striving to improve the life of humanity through the step-by-step efforts of individuals is always relevant. The congresses are examples of a constant endeavour to show the importance of good will in bringing people closer together.
The Congress in Vilnius, held in the region where Esperanto was born, at a crossroads of cultures, showed once again the success of a week-long gathering of people united by the language Esperanto who communicate together without prejudices or restrictions. The participants are confident that the century-long history of successful World Esperanto Congresess will continue and therefore call on like-minded people of good will to learn Esperanto and benefit from similar experiences as those enjoyed in Vilnius.