The increasing numbers of Jewish populations in the cities of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) created the need to regulate their settlement and living space – a policy applied to other ethno-religious communities as well. Jewish quarter was one of the formats of such regulations. The basic idea was to create a densely populated Jewish living space in a certain area of the city. It is worth mentioning that such an area was not called a quarter back then. Since the 17th c. the widespread legal principal allowed Jewish settlement in certain streets or their parts, where in turn Christian settlement was prohibited. Nonetheless, each city had its own practice in implementing this system. The Vilnius Jewish quarter was formed in 1633 on the request of Jews themselves. Such a request was not commonplace in the GDL. Jewish quarter included Žydų st., Mėsinių st. (now M. Antakolskio st.) and Saint Nicholas st. These and surrounding streets became the centre of Jewish quarter, where the majority of the residents were Jews up until the Second World War. The given privilege to settle here did not prohibit residing in other parts of the city. Thirty years after the privilege was issued, there were complaints that Jews settle on Vokiečių and Stiklių streets. The constant growth of Jewish population in the city and the realization that controlling their settlement areas is not successful, the new privilege granted by the Grand Duke in 1742 allowed Jews to settle anywhere in the city, except for the “sacral” and therefore “noblemen'' streets, i.e. the area between the Gates of Dawn, Gates of Trakai and Vilnius university. Jewish quarter was the centre of Jewish communal life. Building of the Great Vilnius synagogue began soon after the formation of the quarter and it did not take long for the synagogue’s courtyard, surrounded by communal buildings, to develop.