The LNF is located in the historic Old Town of Vilnius, which commemorates the most important stages of the city's political and cultural life. In the early 16th century, the Rusėnai Merchants' House was built close to the city's defensive wall, and continued to serve as a commercial and guest house until the end of the 19th century. At that time, in Vilnius, which was part of the Russian Empire, it was decided to build a new representative City Hall and a hotel on the site of the Ruthenian Merchant House. The project was designed by the Russian engineer Konstantin Korojedov, whose design and construction of the City Hall in 1902 remains one of the most important monuments of Vilnius' historicist architecture to this day. In 1904, the first Lithuanian bookshop in Vilnius was opened here, in 1905 the Great Vilnius Seimas gathered and demanded political autonomy for Lithuania for the first time, and in 1906 the first Lithuanian national opera, Mikis Petrauskas's "Birutė", premiered. In 1909, Jascha Heifetz, one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century, made his debut at the City Hall. In 1940, the Vilnius City Hall became the home of the State Philharmonic of the Lithuanian SSR, which in turn took over the Vilnius Symphony Orchestra founded by Balys Dvarionas (now the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra), the Mixed Choir, and the Folk Song and Dance Ensemble. The Philharmonic's concert activities continued during World War II. After the war, until Lithuania's independence in 1990, the Philharmonic and all its ensembles were subordinated to the Soviet Soyuzkoncert network, which had a monopoly over the whole of the Soviet Union and covered both classical and entertainment or traditional music. As a substitute of the Soviet philharmonic network, the Vilnius Philharmonic monopolised concert life on a republic-wide scale, with branches in several major Lithuanian cities - Kaunas (1944-2006), Klaipėda (1963-2004) and Šiauliai (1982-2003) - which at the time were hiding the musical culture approved by Soviet ideology in the regions. After the 1990s, when the activities and structure of the LNF were reorganised, it remained the country's largest concert institution.