The mixed valence europium nitridosilicate Eu2SiN3 has been synthesized at 900°C in welded tantalum ampules starting from europium and silicon diimide Si(NH)2 in a lithium flux. The structure of the black material has been determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis (Cmca (no. 64), a=542.3(11) pm, b=1061.0(2) pm, c=1162.9(2) pm, Z=8, 767 independent reflections, 37 parameters, R1=0.017, wR2=0.032). Eu2SiN3 is a chain-type silicate comprising one-dimensional infinite nonbranched zweier chains of corner-sharing SiN4 tetrahedra running parallel [100] with a maximum stretching factor fs=1.0. The compound is isostructural with Ca2PN3 and Rb2TiO3, and it represents the first example of a nonbranched chain silicate in the class of nitr...