Welcome to the Lithuania Portal — Sveiki atvykę į Lietuvos Portalą
Lithuania (/ˌlɪθjuˈeɪniə/ LITH-ew-AY-nee-ə; Lithuanian: Lietuva [lʲiətʊˈvɐ]), officially the Republic of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos Respublika [lʲiətʊˈvoːs rʲɛsˈpʊblʲɪkɐ]), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. It borders Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and the Russian semi-exclave of Kaliningrad Oblast to the southwest, with a maritime border with Sweden to the west. Lithuania covers an area of 65,300 km2 (25,200 sq mi), with a population of 2.88 million. Its capital and largest city is Vilnius; other major cities are Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai and Panevėžys. Lithuanians belong to the ethnolinguistic group of the Balts and speak Lithuanian.
For millennia, the southeastern shores of the Baltic Sea were inhabited by various Baltic tribes. In the 1230s, Lithuanian lands were united for the first time by Mindaugas, who formed the Kingdom of Lithuania on 6 July 1253. Subsequent expansion and consolidation resulted in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which by the 14th century was the largest country in Europe. In 1386, the Grand Duchy entered into a de facto personal union with the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. The two realms were united into the bi-confederal Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569, forming one of the largest and most prosperous states in Europe. The Commonwealth lasted more than two centuries, until neighbouring countries gradually dismantled it between 1772 and 1795, with the Russian Empire annexing most of Lithuania's territory. Towards the end of World War I, Lithuania declared Independence in 1918, founding the modern Republic of Lithuania. In World War II, Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union, then by Nazi Germany, before being reoccupied by the Soviets in 1944. Lithuanian armed resistance to the Soviet occupation lasted until the early 1950s. On 11 March 1990, a year before the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union, Lithuania became the first Soviet republic to break away when it proclaimed the restoration of its independence.
Lithuania is a developed country with a high income, advanced economy, ranking 37th in the Human Development Index (HDI) and 19th in the World Happiness Report. Lithuania is a member of the European Union, the Council of Europe, the eurozone, the Nordic Investment Bank, the Schengen Agreement, NATO, and OECD. It also participates in the Nordic-Baltic Eight (NB8) regional co-operation format. (Full article...)
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Antanas Paškevičius – Poška (24 March [O.S. 10 March] 1903 – 16 October 1992) was a prominent Lithuanian traveler and anthropologist, as well as an active member of the Esperanto movement in Lithuania. He is best known for his journey to India in 1929–36. In India, he studied Sanskrit and received bachelor's degree in anthropology from the University of Bombay and wrote his PhD thesis at the University of Calcutta on the Shina-speaking people but was unable to defend it. He interacted with India's intellectual elite and participated in anthropological expeditions. He met with Rabindranath Tagore and translated some of his works into Lithuanian. Poška returned to Lithuania in 1936 and worked as a journalist. He was recognized as the Righteous Among the Nations for hiding three Lithuanian Jews during the Holocaust in Lithuania. After the Soviet takeover in 1945, he refused to destroy books deemed unacceptable to the Soviet regime and was imprisoned in a Gulag. Unable to return to Lithuania, Poška later worked at several museums in Central Asia. He was allowed to return to Lithuania in 1959 and worked as a lecturer and journalist and continued his anthropological studies, but his past as a political prisoner prevented him from taking a more prominent position. By age 60, he had visited 75 countries and 120 nations. Poška was a prolific writer contributing articles to Lithuanian and foreign press. His bibliography, published in 2006, has 3,756 entries, but his main work, the eight-volume Nuo Baltijos iki Bengalijos (From the Baltic Sea to the Bay of Bengal) on his experiences in India, was published only in 2002–12, a decade after his death. (Full article...)
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Did you know -
- ...Jurgis Mačiūnas was a founding member and the central coordinator of Fluxus, an international community of artists, architects, composers, and designers?
- ...over 76% of the country's population spectated the Lithuania men's national basketball team games live in 2014?
- ...Lithuania-born political activist Michael Oliver attempted to create a sovereign micronation Republic of Minerva?
- ... that after being arrested for organizing a general strike in 1920, S. Girinis was sent to the Soviet Union following a Soviet-Lithuanian exchange of political prisoners?
- ... that in 2020 Robert Tvorogal became Lithuania's first European champion in gymnastics?
- ... that Lithuanian communist activist Valerija Narvydaitė spent more than 14 years in jails and detention centres?
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Military of Lithuania
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Public holidays in Lithuania | |||
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Date | English name | Local name | Remarks |
1 January | New Year's Day | Naujųjų metų diena | |
16 February | Day of Restoration of the State of Lithuania (1918) | Lietuvos valstybės atkūrimo diena | |
11 March | Day of Restoration of Independence of Lithuania (1990) | Lietuvos nepriklausomybės atkūrimo diena | |
Moveable Sunday | Easter Sunday | Šv. Velykos | Commemorates resurrection of Jesus. The first Sunday after the full moon that occurs on or soonest after 21 March. |
The day after Easter Sunday | Easter Monday | Antroji šv. Velykų diena | |
1 May | International Workers' Day | Tarptautinė darbo diena | |
First Sunday in May | Mother's Day | Motinos diena | |
First Sunday in June | Father's Day | Tėvo diena | |
24 June | St. John's Day / Day of Dew | Joninės / Rasos | Celebrated according to mostly pagan traditions (Midsummer Day, Saint Jonas Day). |
6 July | Statehood Day | Valstybės (Lietuvos karaliaus Mindaugo karūnavimo) ir Tautiškos giesmės diena | Celebrates the 1253 coronation of Mindaugas, the first King of Lithuania, and the national anthem of Lithuania. |
15 August | Assumption Day | Žolinė (Švč. Mergelės Marijos ėmimo į dangų diena) | Also marked according to pagan traditions, celebrating the goddess Žemyna and noting the mid-August as the middle between summer and autumn. |
1 November | All Saints' Day | Visų šventųjų diena | Halloween is increasingly popular and is also informally celebrated on the eve (31 October). |
2 November | All Souls' Day | Mirusiųjų atminimo (Vėlinių) diena | |
24 December | Christmas Eve | Šv. Kūčios | |
25 and 26 December | Christmas Day | Šv. Kalėdos | Commemorates birth of Jesus. |
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Rules | Match log | Results page (for watching) | Last updated: 2024-09-29 20:46 (UTC)
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- Edward Pawłowicz (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Marcelus (talk · contribs · new pages (1)) started on 2024-09-29, score: 20
- Battle of Lwów (1695) (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Fajowy (talk · contribs · new pages (4)) started on 2024-09-29, score: 20
- Aivaras Mikutis (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Seacactus 13 (talk · contribs · new pages (30)) started on 2024-09-29, score: 40
- Konstantinas Avižienis (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by KrivisKrivaitis (talk · contribs · new pages (6)) started on 2024-09-28, score: 60
- Boomerang (Europe) (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by 2601:152:5082:19F0:34B6:B23D:2E98:21F3 (talk · contribs · new pages (1)) started on 2024-09-28, score: 20
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- 2003–04 UEFA Cup first round (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by S.A. Julio (talk · contribs · new pages (37)) started on 2024-09-27, score: 30
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