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Introduction
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...)
Selected pictures
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Image 1Physical map and geomorphological subdivision of Lithuania (from Lithuania)
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Image 2Panorama of Vilnius in 1600 (from Lithuania)
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Image 5Lithuanian Army soldiers marching with their dress uniforms in Vilnius. An officer stands out with a sword. (from Lithuania)
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Image 6Simple Words of Catechism by Martynas Mažvydas was the first Lithuanian book and was published in 1547. (from Culture of Lithuania)
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Image 10Gryčia (traditional dwelling house, built in the 19th century) (from Lithuania)
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Image 11Real GDP per capita development of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (from Lithuania)
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Image 20Lithuania was a member of the United Nations Security Council. Its representatives are on the right side. (from Lithuania)
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Image 22Cepelinai, a potato-based dumpling dish characteristic of Lithuanian cuisine with meat, curd or mushrooms (from Lithuania)
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Image 26Vilnius University, one of the oldest universities in the region. It was established by Stephen Báthory, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, in 1579. (from Lithuania)
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Image 29Lithuania's GDP per capita compared to rest of the world (2022) (from Lithuania)
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Image 31Lithuanian artist Jonas Mekas, regarded as godfather of American avant-garde cinema (from Culture of Lithuania)
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Image 34Lithuanian counties by GDP per capita, 2022 (from Lithuania)
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Image 36Commemoration of the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania in the historical Seimas hall where it was originally signed in 1990. The ceremony is attended by the Lithuanian President, Prime Minister, Chairman of the Seimas and other high-ranking officials. (from Lithuania)
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Image 38On 11 March 1990, the Supreme Council announced the restoration of Lithuania's independence. The Act was the first such declaration in the USSR and served as an inspiration to other Soviet republics, and strongly influenced the dissolution of the Soviet Union. (from Lithuania)
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Image 42Lithuanian cemetery at All Souls night (from Culture of Lithuania)
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Image 43The earliest known Lithuanian glosses (between 1520 and 1530) written in the margins of Johann Herolt book Liber Discipuli de eruditione Christifidelium. Words: teprÿdav[ſ]ʒÿ (let it strike), vbagÿſte (indigence). (from Lithuania)
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Image 46Traditional Lithuanian house from late 19th century (from Culture of Lithuania)
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Image 48Lithuanian basketball clubs Žalgiris and Šiauliai playing a match (from Culture of Lithuania)
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Image 50The white stork is the national bird of Lithuania, which has the highest-density stork population in Europe. (from Lithuania)
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Image 51Lithuania's name in writing (Litua, on line 7), 1009 (from Lithuania)
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Image 53Stamp dedicated to Lithuania's presidency of the European Union. Post of Lithuania, 2013. (from Lithuania)
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Image 56Members of the Council of Lithuania after signing the Act of Independence of Lithuania in 1918 (from Lithuania)
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Image 57Cepelinai served with sour cream (from Culture of Lithuania)
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Image 58Changes in the territory of Lithuania from the 13th to 15th century. At its peak, Lithuania was the largest state in Europe. (from Lithuania)
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Image 59Population density of Lithuania (from Lithuania)
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Image 60Statutes of Lithuania were the central piece of Lithuanian law in 1529–1795. (from Lithuania)
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Image 61Le Château — Conte de fées (Lithuanian: Pilis — Pasaka) by Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1909) (from Culture of Lithuania)
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Image 62Guests of the 2023 Vilnius (NATO) summit in the Courtyard of the Presidential Palace in Vilnius (from Lithuania)
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Image 63The first Lithuanian printed book, Catechism of Martynas Mažvydas (1547, Königsberg) (from Lithuania)
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Image 66A ceremony of Lithuanian modern pagans. (from Culture of Lithuania)
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Image 68Trakai Island Castle, the former residence of the Grand Dukes. Trakai was the capital of the medieval state. (from Lithuania)
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Image 70Rock band Antis, which under firm censorship actively mocked the Soviet Union regime by using metaphors in their lyrics, during an Anti-Sovietism, Anti-communism concert in 1987 (from Lithuania)
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Image 73The title page of Radivilias (1592, Vilnius). The poem celebrating commander Mikalojus Radvila Rudasis (1512–1584) and recounts the famous victory of Lithuanian Armed Forces over Moscow troops (1564). (from Lithuania)
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Image 74Lithuania men's national basketball team is ranked eighth worldwide in FIBA Rankings. (from Lithuania)
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Image 78The Great Courtyard of Vilnius University and the Church of St. Johns (from Culture of Lithuania)
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Image 79Major highways in Lithuania (from Lithuania)
Selected county
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Image 1
Šiauliai County (Lithuanian: Šiaulių apskritis) is one of ten counties in Lithuania. It is in the north of the country, and its capital is Šiauliai. On 1 July 2010, the county administration was abolished, and since that date, Šiauliai County remains as the territorial and statistical unit. It borders Latvia. (Full article...) -
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Marijampolė County (Lithuanian: Marijampolės apskritis) is one of the ten counties in Lithuania. It is in the southwest of the country and roughly corresponds to the historical region of Sudovia. Its capital and the largest town is Marijampolė. On 1 July 2010, the county administration was abolished, and since that date, Marijampolė County remains as the territorial and statistical unit.
It borders the Tauragė County in the north, Kaunas County and Alytus County in the east, Podlaskie Voivodeship of Poland in the south and Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia in the west. (Full article...) -
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Klaipėda County (Lithuanian: Klaipėdos apskritis) is one of ten counties in Lithuania, bordering Tauragė County to the southeast, Telšiai County to the northeast, Kurzeme in Latvia to the north, and Kaliningrad Oblast in Russia to the south. To the west is the Baltic Sea. It lies in the west of the country and is the only county to have a coastline and not be landlocked. Its capital is Klaipėda. On 1 July 2010, the county administration was abolished, and since that date, Klaipėda County remains as the territorial and statistical unit. (Full article...) -
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Utena County (Lithuanian: Utenos Apskritis) is one of ten counties in Lithuania. It is the country's most sparsely populated county. The capital and the largest city in the county is Utena, which is 95 km (59 mi) from Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. On 1 July 2010, the county administration was abolished. Since that date, Utena County remains as the territorial and statistical unit. It borders Latvia. (Full article...) -
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Telšiai County (Lithuanian: Telšių apskritis) is one of ten counties in Lithuania. It is in the west of the country, and its capital is Telšiai. There are Lithuanians (98.7%), Latvians (0.1%), Russians (0.9%), and others (0.3%). On 1 July 2010, the county administration was abolished, and since that date, Telšiai County remains as the territorial and statistical unit. It borders Latvia. (Full article...) -
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Alytus County (Lithuanian: Alytaus apskritis) is one of ten counties in Lithuania. It is the southernmost county, and its capital is the city of Alytus. Its territory lies within the ethnographic region of Dzūkija. On 1 July 2010, the county administration was abolished, and since that date, Alytus County remains as the territorial and statistical unit.
It borders the Vilnius County in the east, Marijampolė County and Kaunas County in the north, Podlaskie Voivodeship of Poland in the west, and Grodno Region of Belarus in the south. (Full article...) -
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Panevėžys County (Lithuanian: Panevėžio apskritis) is one of ten counties in Lithuania. It is in the north-east of the country, and its capital is Panevėžys. On 1 July 2010, the county administration was abolished, and since that date, Panevėžys County remains as the territorial and statistical unit. (Full article...) -
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Kaunas County (Lithuanian: Kauno apskritis) is one of ten counties of Lithuania. It is in the centre of the country, and its capital is Kaunas. On 1 July 2010, the county administration was abolished. (Full article...) -
Image 9
Vilnius County (Lithuanian: Vilniaus apskritis) is the largest of the 10 counties of Lithuania, located in the east of the country around the city Vilnius and is also known as Capital Region or Sostinės regionas by the Lithuanian statistics department and Eurostat. On 1 July 2010, the county administration was abolished, and since that date, Vilnius County remains as the territorial and statistical unit. (Full article...) -
Image 10
Tauragė County (Lithuanian: Tauragės apskritis) is one of ten counties in Lithuania. It is in the west of the country, and its capital is Tauragė. On 1 July 2010, the county administration was abolished, and since that date, Tauragė County remains as the territorial and statistical unit.
Famous landmarks include Tauragė Castle and Panemunė Castle. (Full article...)
Selected municipality
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Image 1
The Visaginas Municipality (Lithuanian: Visagino savivaldybė) is one of the 60 municipalities of Lithuania, situated in the north-east of the country. It consists of the city of Visaginas (administrative centre of the municipality), 16 villages (kaimai) and one farmstead (viensėdis).
It has significant Russian minority population in Lithuania, with half of the population claiming Russian ethnicity. (Full article...) -
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Marijampolė Municipality (Lithuanian: Marijampolės savivaldybė) is a municipality in Marijampolė County, south-western Lithuania. Its administrative seat and largest town is Marijampolė.
It borders Lazdijai District Municipality and Alytus District Municipality to the south-east, Prienai District Municipality to the east, Vilkaviškis District Municipality to the west, Kazlų Rūda Municipality to the north and Kalvarija Municipality to the south. (Full article...) -
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Druskininkai Municipality (Lithuanian: Druskininkų savivaldybė) is a municipality in Alytus County, Lithuania. (Full article...) -
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Šilutė District Municipality is one of 60 municipalities in Lithuania. It is known for spring floods when ice on Nemunas River starts melting. This is the only municipality in Lithuania that gets flooded on regular basis.
Unemployment rate in the municipality dropped from 10.9% in January 2003 to 7.7% in January 2005. However, the national rate remains 1.2-1.7% lower. (Full article...) -
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Neringa () or Neringa Municipality (Lithuanian: Neringos savivaldybė) is a municipality of Klaipėda County in westernmost Lithuania, comprising several villages in the Curonian Spit. In terms of population, it is the smallest municipality of the country. Nida is the seat of government and largest town in Neringa Municipality. (Full article...) -
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Klaipėda (/ˈkleɪpɛdə/ CLAY-ped-ə; Lithuanian: [ˈklˠɐɪ̯ˑpʲeːdˠɐ] ⓘ), historically also Memel, is a city in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea coast. It is the third largest city in Lithuania, the fifth largest city in the Baltic States and the capital of Klaipėda County, as well as the only major seaport in the country.
The city has a complex recorded history, partially due to the combined regional importance of the usually ice-free Port of Klaipėda at the mouth of the river Akmena-Danė [lt]. Located in Lithuania Minor, it was historically a part of Baltic Prussia, the Prussian State of the Teutonic Order, and later the Duchy of Prussia under the suzerainty of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth until the duchy gained independence from Poland in 1657. As part of the Kingdom of Prussia it was the northernmost big city of Germany until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles when it was placed under French occupation. In 1923, the Klaipėda Revolt resulted in the city's annexation by Lithuania, which lasted until all of Memelland rejoined Germany following the 1939 German ultimatum to Lithuania. After WW2 the USSR annexed both North East Prussia and Lithuania, and joined Memelland into the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. Klaipėda has remained within Lithuania since 1944. (Full article...) -
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Panevėžys (Lithuanian pronunciation: [pɐnʲɛvʲeːˈʑiːs] ⓘ) is the fifth-largest city in Lithuania and the eighth-most-populous city in the Baltic States. As of 2021,[update] it occupies 50 square kilometres (19 sq mi) with 89,100 inhabitants. As defined by Eurostat the population of the Panevėžys functional urban area that stretches beyond the city limits is estimated at 124,412 (as of 2022).
The largest multifunctional arena in Panevėžys, Kalnapilio Arena, formerly known as Cido Arena, hosted the Eurobasket 2011 group matches. (Full article...) -
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Šalčininkai District Municipality (Lithuanian: Šalčininkų rajono savivaldybė, Polish: Rejon solecznicki) is one of 60 district municipalities in Lithuania. The municipality is part of the Vilnius County and is located in southeastern Lithuania, next to the Belarus–Lithuania border. The south-eastern border of the municipality with Belarus includes a distinctive salient of Lithuanian territory, known as the Dieveniškės appendix, almost completely surrounded by Belarus.
Šalčininkai is the largest town and the administrative center of the district with its newly built quarters, while the second largest town is Eišiškės, a more historical town, which was the center of the district and the largest town before 1972. (Full article...) -
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Pakruojis District Municipality is one of 60 municipalities in Lithuania. It is an agricultural district, situated in the north of Lithuania and bordering with Latvia. The rivers Kruoja, Mūša and others flow through the district. Forests occupy 16.7% of the territory of the Pakruojis district. It is close to two major cities: Šiauliai is 40 kilometres (25 mi) to the west, and Panevėžys - about 50 kilometres (31 mi) to the southeast.
Pakruojis is known as one of the main centres of traditional Lithuanian brewing, along with Pasvalys and Biržai. The founder of the Lithuanian beer website alutis.lt reports that there are 19 breweries in the Pakruojis district. Most bars in town feature local types of beer. The main park in Pakruojis features a collection of local folk-art wood carvings. (Full article...) -
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Jurbarkas District Municipality (Lithuanian: Jurbarko rajono savivaldybė) is a municipality in Tauragė County, Lithuania (Full article...) -
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Lazdijai District Municipality (Lithuanian: Lazdijų rajono savivaldybė) is a municipality in Alytus County, Lithuania. (Full article...) -
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The Alytus District Municipality (Lithuanian: Alytaus rajono savivaldybė) is a municipality in Alytus County, Lithuania, located in the Dzūkija ethnographic region.
This municipality was founded in 1950, and until 1953 was a part of the Kaunas Province. In 1959, another reorganization of parts of the former Simnas and Daugai municipalities occurred, which included the towns of Simnas and Daugai. In 1962 it was expanded more, attaching part of the former Jieznas municipality. In 1968 parts of the municipality were attached to the Prienai District Municipality and Trakai District Municipality, and 1969 another part of Varėna District Municipality. (Full article...)
Selected World Heritage Site
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Image 1
Kernavė was a medieval capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and today is a tourist attraction and an archeological site (population 238, 2021). It is located in the Širvintos district municipality located in southeast Lithuania. A Lithuanian state cultural reserve was established in Kernavė in 1989. In 2004 Kernavė Archaeological Site was included into UNESCO World Heritage list. (Full article...) -
Image 2
The Curonian (Courish) Spit (Lithuanian: Kuršių nerija; Russian: Ку́ршская коса́) is a 98-kilometre (61 mi) long, thin, curved sand-dune spit that separates the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site shared by Lithuania and Russia. Its southern portion lies within Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, and its northern within southwestern Klaipėda County of Lithuania. (Full article...) -
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The Struve Geodetic Arc is a chain of survey triangulations stretching from Hammerfest in Norway to the Black Sea, through ten countries and over 2,820 kilometres (1,750 mi), which yielded the first accurate measurement of a meridian arc.
The chain was established and used by the German-born Russian scientist Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve in the years 1816 to 1855 to establish the exact size and shape of the earth. At that time, the chain passed merely through three countries: Norway, Sweden and the Russian Empire. The Arc's first point is located in Tartu Observatory in Estonia, where Struve conducted much of his research. Measurement of the triangulation chain comprises 258 main triangles and 265 geodetic vertices. The northernmost point is located near Hammerfest in Norway and the southernmost point near the Black Sea in Ukraine. (Full article...) -
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Kaunas (/ˈkaʊnəs/; Lithuanian: [ˈkɐʊ̯ˑnˠɐs] ⓘ; previously known in English as Kovno /ˈkɒvnoʊ/) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county [pl] in the Duchy of Trakai of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Trakai Palatinate since 1413. In the Russian Empire, it was the capital of the Kaunas Governorate from 1843 to 1915.
During the interwar period, it served as the temporary capital of Lithuania, when Vilnius was seized and controlled by Poland between 1920 and 1939. During that period Kaunas was celebrated for its rich cultural and academic life, fashion, construction of countless Art Deco and Lithuanian National Revival architectural-style buildings as well as popular furniture, interior design of the time, and a widespread café culture. The city interwar architecture is regarded as among the finest examples of European Art Deco and has received the European Heritage Label. It contributed to Kaunas being designated as the first city in Central and Eastern Europe as a UNESCO City of Design, and also to becoming a World Heritage Site in 2023 as the only European city representing large scale urbanization during the interwar period and versatile modernism architecture. (Full article...) -
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The Old Town of Vilnius (Lithuanian: Vilniaus senamiestis), one of the largest surviving medieval old towns in Northern Europe, has an area of 3.59 square kilometres (887 acres). It encompasses 74 quarters, with 70 streets and lanes numbering 1487 buildings with a total floor area of 1,497,000 square meters. It was founded by the Lithuanian Grand Duke and King of Poland Jogaila in 1387 on the Magdeburg rights the oldest part of the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, it had been developed over the course of many centuries, and has been shaped by the city's history and a constantly changing cultural influence. It is a place where some of Europe's greatest architectural styles—gothic, renaissance, baroque and neoclassical—stand side by side and complement each other. There are many Catholic, Lutheran and Orthodox churches, residential houses, cultural and architectural monuments, museums in the Old Town.
Pilies Street is the Old Town's main artery and the hub of cafe and street market life. The main street of Vilnius, Gediminas Avenue, is partially located in the Old Town. The central squares in the Old Town are the Cathedral Square and the Town Hall Square. (Full article...)
Selected history article
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Image 1
The rule of the Jagiellonian dynasty in Poland between 1386 and 1572 spans the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period in European history. The Lithuanian Grand Duke Jogaila (Władysław II Jagiełło) founded the dynasty; his marriage to Queen Jadwiga of Poland in 1386 strengthened an ongoing Polish–Lithuanian union. The partnership brought vast territories controlled by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania into Poland's sphere of influence and proved beneficial for both the Polish and Lithuanian people, who coexisted and cooperated in one of the largest political entities in Europe for the next four centuries.
In the Baltic Sea region, Poland engaged in ongoing conflict with the Teutonic Knights. The struggles led to a major battle, the Battle of Grunwald of 1410, but there was also the milestone Peace of Thorn of 1466 under King Casimir IV Jagiellon; the treaty defined the basis of the future Duchy of Prussia. In the south, Poland confronted the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Tatars, and in the east Poles helped Lithuania fight the Grand Duchy of Moscow. Poland's and Lithuania's territorial expansion included the far north region of Livonia. (Full article...) -
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The Vilna Governorate was a province (guberniya) of the Northwestern Krai of the Russian Empire. In 1897, the governorate covered an area of 41,907.9 square kilometres (16,180.7 sq mi) and had a population of 1,591,207 inhabitants. The governorate was defined by the Minsk Governorate to the south, the Grodno Governorate to the southwest, the Suwałki Governorate to the west, the Kovno and Courland Governorates to the north, and the Vitebsk Governorate to the east. The capital was located in Vilna (Vilnius). The city also served as the capital of Vilna Governorate-General, which existed until 1912. The area roughly corresponded to the Vilnius Region, which was later occupied by Germany, Bolsheviks, and Poland. (Full article...) -
Image 3The Narva culture or eastern Baltic was a European Neolithic archaeological culture in present-day Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Kaliningrad Oblast (former East Prussia), and adjacent portions of Poland, Belarus and Russia. A successor of the Mesolithic Kunda culture, the Narva culture continued up to the start of the Bronze Age. The culture spanned from c. 5300 to 1750 BC. The technology was that of hunter-gatherers. The culture was named after the Narva River in Estonia. (Full article...)
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The Kingdom of Lithuania was an attempt to establish an independent constitutional Lithuanian monarchy in February 1918. It was created towards the end of World War I when Lithuanian-speaking lands were under military occupation by the German Empire. The state was officially dissolved in November 1918.
The Council of Lithuania declared Lithuania's independence on 16 February 1918, but the council was unable to form a government, police, or other state institutions due to the continued presence of German troops. The Germans presented various proposals to incorporate Lithuania into the German Empire, particularly Prussia. The Lithuanians resisted this idea and hoped to preserve their independence by creating a separate constitutional monarchy. (Full article...) -
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The Act of Independence of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos Nepriklausomybės Aktas) or the Act of February 16th, also the Lithuanian Resolution on Independence (Lithuanian: Lietuvos Nepriklausomybės Nutarimas), was signed by the Council of Lithuania on February 16, 1918, proclaiming the restoration of an independent State of Lithuania, governed by democratic principles, with Vilnius as its capital. The Act was signed by all twenty representatives of the Council, which was chaired by Jonas Basanavičius. The Act of February 16 was the result of a series of resolutions on the issue, including one issued by the Vilnius Conference and the Act of January 8. The path to the Act was long and complex because the German Empire exerted pressure on the Council to form an alliance. The Council had to carefully maneuver between the Germans, whose troops were present in Lithuania, and the demands of the Lithuanian people.
The immediate effects of the announcement of Lithuania's re-establishment of independence were limited. Publication of the Act was prohibited by the German authorities, and the text was distributed and printed illegally. The work of the Council was hindered, and Germans remained in control over Lithuania. The situation changed only when Germany lost World War I in the fall of 1918. In November 1918 the first Cabinet of Lithuania was formed, and the Council of Lithuania gained control over the territory of Lithuania. Independent Lithuania, although it would soon be battling the Wars of Independence, became a reality. (Full article...) -
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The military occupation of Lithuania by Nazi Germany lasted from the German invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, to the end of the Battle of Memel on January 28, 1945. At first the Germans were welcomed as liberators from the repressive Soviet regime which had occupied Lithuania. In hopes of re-establishing independence or regaining some autonomy, Lithuanians organized a Provisional Government that lasted six weeks. (Full article...) -
Image 7The history of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1648) covers a period in the history of Poland and Lithuania, before their joint state was subjected to devastating wars in the mid-17th century. The Union of Lublin of 1569 established the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a more closely unified federal state, replacing the previously existing personal union of the two countries. The Union was largely run by the Polish and increasingly Polonized Lithuanian and Ruthenian nobility, through the system of the central parliament and local assemblies, but from 1573 led by elected kings. The formal rule of the nobility, which was a much greater proportion of the population than in other European countries, constituted a sophisticated early democratic system, in contrast to the absolute monarchies prevalent at that time in the rest of Europe.[a]
The Polish–Lithuanian Union had become an influential player in Europe and a significant cultural entity. In the second half of the 16th and the first half of the 17th century, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a huge state in central-eastern Europe, with an area approaching one million square kilometers. (Full article...) -
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The History of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1764–1795) is concerned with the final decades of existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The period, during which the declining state pursued wide-ranging reforms and was subjected to three partitions by the neighboring powers, coincides with the election and reign of the federation's last king, Stanisław August Poniatowski.
During the later part of the 18th century, the Commonwealth attempted fundamental internal reforms. The reform activity provoked hostile reaction and eventually military response on the part of the surrounding states. The second half of the century brought improved economy and significant growth of the population. The most populous capital city of Warsaw replaced Danzig (Gdańsk) as the leading trade center, and the role of the more prosperous urban strata was increasing. The last decades of the independent Commonwealth existence were characterized by intense reform movements and far-reaching progress in the areas of education, intellectual life, arts and sciences, and especially toward the end of the period, evolution of the social and political system. (Full article...) -
Image 9Early dukes of Lithuania (including Samogitia) reigned before Lithuanians were unified by Mindaugas into a state, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. While the Palemonids legend provides genealogy from the 10th century, only few dukes were mentioned by contemporary historical sources. All of them were mentioned in written sources the 13th century. Data about them is extremely scarce and is usually limited to few brief sentences. The primary sources are the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia and Hypatian Codex. (Full article...)
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Image 10
The Soviet occupation of the Baltic states covers the period from the Soviet–Baltic mutual assistance pacts in 1939, to their invasion and annexation in 1940, to the mass deportations of 1941.
In September and October 1939 the Soviet government compelled the much smaller Baltic states to conclude mutual assistance pacts which gave the Soviets the right to establish military bases there. Following invasion by the Red Army in the summer of 1940, Soviet authorities compelled the Baltic governments to resign. The presidents of Estonia and Latvia were imprisoned and later died in Siberia. Under Soviet supervision, new puppet communist governments and fellow travelers arranged rigged elections with falsified results. Shortly thereafter, the newly elected "people's assemblies" passed resolutions requesting admission into the Soviet Union. In June 1941 the new Soviet governments carried out mass deportations of "enemies of the people". Consequently, at first many Balts greeted the Germans as liberators when they occupied the area a week later. (Full article...) -
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Poland–Lithuania, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and also referred to as the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth or the First Polish Republic, was a federative real union of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania between 1569 and 1795. It was one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th- to 17th-century Europe. At its largest territorial extent, in the early 17th century, the Commonwealth covered almost 1,000,000 km2 (400,000 sq mi) and as of 1618 sustained a multi-ethnic population of almost 12 million. Polish and Latin were the two co-official languages. Catholicism was the state religion, though religious freedom was established in 1573.
The Commonwealth was established as a single entity by the Union of Lublin on 1 July 1569. The two nations had previously been in a personal union since the Krewo Agreement of 1385 and the subsequent marriage of Queen Jadwiga of Poland to Grand Duke Jogaila of Lithuania, who was crowned jure uxoris King of Poland. Their descendant, Sigismund II Augustus, enforced the merger to strengthen frontiers of his dominion and maintain unity as he remained childless. His death in 1572 marked the end of the Jagiellonian dynasty and introduced an elective monarchy, whereupon members of domestic noble families or external dynasties were elected to the throne for life. (Full article...) -
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The Corded Ware culture comprises a broad archaeological horizon of Europe between c. 3000 BC – 2350 BC, thus from the late Neolithic, through the Copper Age, and ending in the early Bronze Age. Corded Ware culture encompassed a vast area, from the contact zone between the Yamnaya culture and the Corded Ware culture in south Central Europe, to the Rhine in the west and the Volga in the east, occupying parts of Northern Europe, Central Europe and Eastern Europe. Autosomal genetic studies suggest that the Corded Ware culture originated from the westward migration of Yamnaya-related people from the steppe-forest zone into the territory of late Neolithic European cultures, evolving in parallel with (although under significant influence from) the Yamnaya, with no evidence of direct male-line descent between them.
The Corded Ware culture is considered to be a likely vector for the spread of many of the Indo-European languages in Europe and Asia. (Full article...) -
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The Kingdom of Lithuania was a sovereign state that existed from the 17 July 1251 until the death of the first crowned king of Lithuania, Mindaugas, on 12 September 1263. Mindaugas was the only Lithuanian monarch crowned king with the assent of the Pope and the head of the first catholic Lithuanian state. The formation of the kingdom is widely regarded as a partially successful attempt at unifying all surrounding Baltic tribes, including the Old Prussians, into a single unified state under a common king.
Other monarchs of Lithuania were referred to as grand dukes, kings or emperors in extant foreign written sources as the size of the realm and their power expanded or contracted. This practice can be compared to that of British, Japanese and many other monarchs who are known as kings or emperors in spite of not being crowned with the assent of the Pope. Because Lithuania was pagan in the 13th century, Lithuanian monarchs were not granted the title of a Catholic monarch even though extant Christian sources referred to Lithuanian rulers as kings or emperors regardless of their religious affiliation. For instance, Gediminas titled himself King of Lithuania and Rus, and Duke of Semigalia. The Pope also addressed him as King. (Full article...) -
Image 14The Soviet Union (USSR) occupied most of the territory of the Baltic states in its 1944 Baltic Offensive during World War II. The Red Army regained control over the three Baltic capitals and encircled retreating Wehrmacht and Latvian forces in the Courland Pocket where they held out until the final German surrender at the end of the war. (Full article...)
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The archaeological Neman culture (German: Memel-Kultur) existed from about 5100 to the 3rd millennium BC, starting in the Mesolithic and continued into the middle Neolithic. It was located in the upper basin of the Neman River (present-day northern Poland, southern Lithuania, western Belarus and Kaliningrad Oblast). In the north, the Neman culture bordered the Kunda culture during the Mesolithic and the Narva culture during the Neolithic. (Full article...)
Selected politics article
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Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania (in Lithuanian: Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucinis Teismas) is the constitutional court of the Republic of Lithuania, established by the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania of 1992. It began the activities after the adoption of the Law of Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania on 3 February 1993. Since its inception, the court has been located in Vilnius. (Full article...) -
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Parliamentary elections were held in Lithuania on 9 and 23 October 2016 to elect the 141 members of the Seimas. 71 were elected in single-member constituencies using the two-round system, and the remaining 70 in a single nationwide constituency using proportional representation. The first round was held on 9 October and the second round on 23 October. (Full article...) -
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Gitanas Nausėda ([ɡɪˈtɐ.nɐs nɐˈu.sʲeː.dɐ]; born 19 May 1964) is a Lithuanian politician, economist, and banker who is serving as the ninth and incumbent president of Lithuania since 2019. Born in Klaipėda, Nausėda graduated from Vilnius University with an economics degree in 1987. He was director of monetary policy at the Bank of Lithuania from 1996 to 2000 and chief economist to the chairman of SEB bankas from 2008 to 2018. (Full article...) -
Image 4This article lists political parties in Lithuania.
Lithuania has a multi-party system with numerous political parties, in which no one party often has a chance of gaining power alone, and parties must work with each other to form coalition governments. As of October 2024[update], there are 22 active political parties, one party undergoing formal registration, one inactive political party, and four political parties that are in the process of disestablishment registered with the Ministry of Justice. (Full article...) -
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Ingrida Šimonytė (Lithuanian: [ɪŋʲɡʲrʲɪˈdɐ ɕɪmoːˈnʲîːtʲeː]; born 15 November 1974) is a Lithuanian politician, public servant and economist who is serving as the 17th and current prime minister of Lithuania since 2020. She has been a Member of the Seimas for the Antakalnis constituency since 2016 and was Minister of Finance in the second Kubilius cabinet from 2009 until 2012. Šimonytė was a candidate in the 2019 and 2024 presidential election, but lost in the second round runoff to Gitanas Nausėda both times. She has been a member of Homeland Union since 2022, having previously been an independent politician. (Full article...) -
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The president of the Republic of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos Respublikos Prezidentas) is the head of state of the Republic of Lithuania. The president directs and appoints the executive branch of the Government of Lithuania, represents the nation internationally and is the commander-in-chief of the Lithuanian Armed Forces. The president is directly elected by the citizens of Lithuania for a five-year term, with the office holder limited to serving two terms consecutively. The current president is Gitanas Nausėda who assumed office on July 12, 2019. (Full article...) -
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The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos Respublikos Seimas), or simply the Seimas (Lithuanian: [sɛɪˑmɐs]), is the unicameral legislative body of the Republic of Lithuania. The Seimas constitutes the legislative branch of government in Lithuania, enacting laws and amendments to the Constitution, passing the budget, confirming the Prime Minister and the Government and controlling their activities. (Full article...) -
Image 8The territory of Lithuania is divided into 10 counties (Lithuanian: singular apskritis, plural apskritys), all named after their capitals. The counties are divided into 60 municipalities (Lithuanian: singular savivaldybė, plural savivaldybės): 9 city municipalities, 43 district municipalities and 8 municipalities. Each municipality is then divided into elderates (Lithuanian: singular seniūnija, plural seniūnijos). This division was created in 1994 and slightly modified in 2000. (Full article...)
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Image 9Taxes in Lithuania are levied by the central and the local governments. Most important revenue sources include the value added tax, personal income tax, excise tax and corporate income tax, which are all applied on the central level. In addition, social security contributions are collected in a social security fund, outside the national budget. Taxes in Lithuania are administered by the State Tax Inspectorate, the Customs Department and the State Social Insurance Fund Board. In 2019, the total government revenue in Lithuania was 30.3% of GDP. (Full article...)
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The 2014 European Parliament election in Lithuania was an election of the delegation from Lithuania to the European Parliament in 2014. It was part of the wider 2014 European election. (Full article...) -
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The prime minister of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Ministras Pirmininkas; lit. "Minister-Chairman") is the head of government of Lithuania. The prime minister is appointed by the president with the assent of the Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas. The modern office of prime minister was established in 1990, when Lithuania declared its independence, although the official title was "Chairperson of the Council of Ministers" until 25 November 1992. (Full article...) -
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The Speaker of the Seimas (Lithuanian: Seimo pirmininkas, literally translated as Chairman of the Seimas) is the presiding officer of the Seimas, the parliament of Lithuania. The speaker and deputy speakers are elected by the members of the Seimas during the session. (Full article...) -
Image 13In Lithuania, a public election committee (Lithuanian: visuomeninis rinkimų komitetas) is an organized group of voters outside of political parties which participates in local or European Parliament elections. (Full article...)
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A seniūnija (in English: eldership, elderate, ward, parish, or subdistrict) is the smallest administrative division of Lithuania. An eldership may comprise a very small region consisting of few villages, one single town, or a part of a big city. Elderships vary in size and population depending on their location and nature. A few elderships make up a municipality. Šilainiai, Dainava, Verkiai, Žirmūnai and Pašilaičiai are the most populous elderates, with population counts over 40,000, around twice the population of some entire municipalities. (Full article...) -
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The Supreme Court of the Republic of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos Respublikos Aukščiausiasis Teismas) is the only court of cassation in the Lithuania for reviewing effective judgements and rulings passed by the courts hearing criminal cases at the first and appeal instances as well as decisions and rulings in civil cases passed by the courts of appeals. It is the highest court of cassation, but it cannot interpret the constitution, since that is under the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court of Lithuania. (Full article...)
Selected biography
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Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He is known for his intense leading man roles in film. Over his career, he has earned numerous accolades including two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award, as well as nominations for three BAFTA Film Awards. Penn received an Honorary César in 2015.
Penn made his feature film debut in the drama Taps (1981), before taking roles in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), Bad Boys (1983), and At Close Range (1986). He later won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice for playing a grieving father in Mystic River (2003) and Harvey Milk in Milk (2008). He was Oscar-nominated for his roles in Dead Man Walking (1995), Sweet and Lowdown (1999) and I Am Sam (2001). Penn's other credits include Casualties of War (1989), State of Grace (1990), Carlito's Way (1993), She's So Lovely (1997), The Game (1997), The Thin Red Line (1998), Hurlyburly (1998), 21 Grams (2003), Fair Game (2010), The Tree of Life (2011), Licorice Pizza (2021), and Daddio (2023). (Full article...) -
Image 2Marcelijus Teodoras Martinaitis (1 April 1936 – 5 April 2013) was a Lithuanian poet, essayist, translator. (Full article...)
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Tomas Danilevičius (born 18 July 1978) is a Lithuanian former professional footballer and former president of the Lithuanian Football Federation. (Full article...) -
Image 4Algirdas Julien Greimas (French: [alɡiʁdas ʒyljɛ̃ gʁɛmas]; born Algirdas Julius Greimas; 9 March 1917 – 27 February 1992) was a Lithuanian literary scientist who wrote most of his body of work in French while living in France. Greimas is known among other things for the Greimas Square (le carré sémiotique). He is, along with Roland Barthes, considered the most prominent of the French semioticians. With his training in structural linguistics, he added to the theory of signification, plastic semiotics, and laid the foundations for the Parisian school of semiotics. Among Greimas's major contributions to semiotics are the concepts of isotopy, the actantial model, the narrative program, and the semiotics of the natural world. He also researched Lithuanian mythology and Proto-Indo-European religion, and was influential in semiotic literary criticism. (Full article...)
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Tomas Tamošauskas (born 22 May 1983) is a Lithuanian football manager and a former midfielder. (Full article...) -
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Abraham "Abe" Cahan (Yiddish: אַבֿרהם קאַהאַן; July 7, 1860 – August 31, 1951) was a Lithuanian-born Jewish American socialist newspaper editor, novelist, and politician. Cahan was one of the founders of The Forward (Yiddish: פֿאָרווערטס, romanized: Forverts, lit. 'Forward!'), an American Yiddish publication, and was its editor-in-chief for 43 years. During his stewardship of the Forward, it became a prominent voice in the Jewish community and in the Socialist Party of America, voicing a relatively moderate stance within the realm of American socialist politics. (Full article...) -
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Laurence Harvey (born Zvi Mosheh Skikne; 1 October 1928 – 25 November 1973) was a Lithuanian-born actor. He was born to Lithuanian Jewish parents and emigrated to South Africa at an early age, before later settling in the United Kingdom after World War II. In a career that spanned a quarter of a century, Harvey appeared in stage, film and television productions primarily in the United Kingdom and the United States.
Harvey was known for his clipped, refined accent and cool, debonair screen persona. His performance in Room at the Top (1959) resulted in an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. That success was followed by the roles of William Barret Travis in The Alamo and Weston Liggett in Butterfield 8, both films released in the autumn of 1960. He also appeared as the brainwashed Sergeant Raymond Shaw in The Manchurian Candidate (1962). He made his directorial debut with The Ceremony (1963), and continued acting into the 1970s until his early death in 1973 of cancer. (Full article...) -
Image 8Aleksey Nikiforov (born 27 April 1957) is a Lithuanian ice hockey coach and former player for Dinamo Riga. He is the father of Quad City Storm winger Vladimir Nikiforov. He resides on Long Island and coaches in Hauppauge, New York. (Full article...)
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Ieronim Petrovich Uborevich (Lithuanian: Jeronimas Uborevičius; Russian: Иерони́м Петро́вич Уборе́вич; 14 January [O.S. 2 January] 1896 – 12 June 1937) was a Soviet military commander of the Red Army during the Russian Civil War, reaching the rank of komandarm in 1935. He was executed during the Great Purge in June 1937 and was posthumously rehabilitated in 1957. (Full article...) -
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Charitina of Lithuania (died 1281) is a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Her feast is on 5 October. Because her hagiography did not survive, very little is known about her life.
Charitina was a noblewoman from the pagan Grand Duchy of Lithuania who became a nun in Novgorod. Possibly she was arranged to marry a Prince of Novgorod, but that could be a conflation of Charitina with Euphrosyne of Suzdal [ru] who was betrothed to Fyodor, eldest son of Yaroslav II of Vladimir. In Novgorod, unmarried Charitina entered the Monastery of Saints Peter and Paul. There she earned the reputation of piousness and became an abbess. In 2009, Lithuanian historian Algimantas Bučys raised a hypothesis that she might be a daughter of Tautvilas, who escaped to Novgorod after her father's murder by Treniota. (Full article...) -
Image 11Darius Maciulevičius (born 6 November 1973) is a Lithuanian football coach and a former player. He is the former manager and current Technical Director of Ekranas (Full article...)
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Image 12Romualdas Granauskas (18 May 1939 – 28 October 2014) was a Lithuanian/Samogitian author and dramaturge. He was born in Mažeikiai, Lithuania. (Full article...)
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