{
  "place_id": "moletai#8068_11412",
  "wikidata": "Q957530",
  "country": "LT",
  "local_name": "Molėtai",
  "forms": [],
  "names": {
    "en": {
      "main": "Molėtai",
      "why": "Official Lithuanian Latin-script name retained in English.",
      "alternatives": [
        {
          "name": "Malaty",
          "why": "Polish historical or community name recorded in regional references; English prose frequency unverified."
        },
        {
          "name": "Mulau",
          "why": "German historical name explicitly quoted in English reference prose."
        },
        {
          "name": "Malata",
          "why": "Earlier name quoted in French history; exact period and English use unverified."
        },
        {
          "name": "Moletai",
          "why": "Diacritic-free typing/indexing variant of Molėtai for English retrieval; independent prose frequency unverified."
        }
      ]
    },
    "fr": {
      "main": "Molėtai",
      "why": "Same as in English; used as the French locality heading.",
      "alternatives": [
        {
          "name": "Moletaï",
          "why": "Russian-derived spelling explicitly printed in the French locality reference; French transcription rather than a new official name."
        },
        {
          "name": "Malaty",
          "why": "Polish historical name explicitly quoted in the French locality reference."
        },
        {
          "name": "Malata",
          "why": "Historical name explicitly printed in French history, but its exact period is uncertain."
        },
        {
          "name": "Moletai",
          "why": "Diacritic-free typing/indexing variant of Molėtai for French retrieval; independent prose frequency unverified."
        }
      ]
    }
  },
  "about_en": "Molėtai is a town in a lake district north of Vilnius in Lithuania. The nearby astronomical observatory and Museum of Ethnocosmology are important scientific and visitor destinations.",
  "about_fr": "",
  "certainty": "medium",
  "notes": "Molėtai retains its Lithuanian spelling in French, alongside Moletai, Russian-transcribed Moletaï and historical Malaty/Malata. Observatory and ethnocosmology museum are nearby, not assumed to stand in the town centre. Sources checked 2026-11-15: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q957530 ; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molėtai ; https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molėtai.",
  "dropped": [],
  "version": 0,
  "rank": 1578,
  "slug": "moletai"
}