{
  "place_id": "vysahinas#8088_11468",
  "wikidata": "Q203892",
  "country": "LT",
  "local_name": "Visaginas",
  "names": {
    "en": {
      "main": "Visaginas",
      "why": "Lithuanian official Latin-script name, retained in English in its native spelling.",
      "alternatives": [
        {
          "name": "Sniečkus",
          "why": "Former Lithuanian official name, replaced by Visaginas in 1992; named after a Soviet Lithuanian leader."
        },
        {
          "name": "Snieckus",
          "why": "Diacritic-free spelling of the former name, used in older English indexes."
        },
        {
          "name": "Snechkus",
          "why": "Russian-mediated spelling of the former Soviet name, useful for English historical searches."
        }
      ]
    },
    "fr": {
      "main": "Visaginas",
      "why": "Same as in English; retain this spelling in French. No separate French exonym is selected.",
      "alternatives": [
        {
          "name": "Sniečkus",
          "why": "Former name used in French histories of the Soviet nuclear town; replaced in 1992."
        },
        {
          "name": "Snieckus",
          "why": "Accent-free rendering of that former Lithuanian name in French indexes."
        },
        {
          "name": "Snietchkous",
          "why": "French-style rendering of the former Russian name; historical retrieval form, with limited evidence of a settled French preference."
        }
      ]
    }
  },
  "about_en": "Visaginas is a planned town in eastern Lithuania amid lakes and pine woods. It was built for workers at the Ignalina nuclear power plant and has a strong Russian-speaking cultural heritage.",
  "about_fr": "",
  "certainty": "high",
  "notes": "Renamed on 22 September 1992 according to the municipality. The power station and the town of Ignalina are separate places. Input label is Ukrainian or indirect; local_name gives the native spelling. Reference: https://www.visaginas.lt/savivaldybe/istorija/21",
  "rank": 502,
  "slug": "visaginas"
}