The State of Lithuania is an independent and democratic republic (Article 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania). In Lithuania, the powers of the State are exercised by the Seimas (the Parliament), the President of the Republic, the Government, and the Judiciary. The scope of powers is defined by the Constitution. Public authorities serve the people. (ibidem, Article 5).
State Emblem. Since 1991, the State Emblem is a white Vytis (a mounted armoured
knight with a raised sword) against a red background.
National Flag. The colours of the State Flag (National Flag) are yellow, green, and red. The tricolour stripes are horizontal.
National Anthem. Tautiška Giesmė by Vincas Kudirka was officially proclaimed the National Anthem in 1919. Music of the National Anthem was also composed by the same author.
Administrative Regions. The country is divided into 10 counties spanning the country's 60 administrative districts and towns.
National Holidays:
January 1 New Year’s Day
February 16 Day of Re-establishment of the State of Lithuania (Independence Day)
March 11 Day of Restitution of Independence of Lithuania
Sunday-Monday (March-April) Easter (in the Western Christian tradition)
May 1 International Labour Day
First Sunday of May Mother's Day
June 24 St. John’s Day, Midsummer Day (Joninės, Rasos)
July 6 Day of the Statehood (the Crowning Day of the Lithuanian King Mindaugas)
August 15 Assumption Day (Žolinės)
November 1 All Saints’ Day (Vėlinės)
December 25-26 Christmas
Geographic Location: the Republic of Lithuania lies on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. In the north, the country borders on Latvia (588 km), in the east – on Belarus (660 km), in the south – on Poland (103 km) and Kaliningrad Region of the Russian Federation (273 km). Lithuania holds a 90 kilometre long area of the Baltic Sea coast. As the National Geographic Institute of France confirmed in 1989, the geographic centre of Europe lies just 24 kilometres northwest of Vilnius.
Total area: 65,300 sq. km. Nearly one third of the territory is covered by forests, 4.5% – by inland waters. There are over 2,800 lakes larger than 0.5 hectares in size, and 18 rivers longer than 100 kilometres in Lithuania.
Climate: oceanic/continental. Average temperature in July is +17°C, in January – -4.9°C. However, temperatures can soar up to +30?C in summer, and drop down to -32?C in winter. Summers here are pleasantly mild, whereas not every winter offers abundance of snow.
Local Time: Lithuania lies in the Central European Time zone (GMT + 2 hours, or same as, for instance, Helsinki, Riga, and Tallinn).
Population: 3.43 million (May 1, 2005) or a 0.6% decrease over the last year.
Ethnic Composition: Lithuanians – 83.5%, Polish – 6.7%, Russians – 6.3%, Belarusians – 1.2%, others – 2.3%. Lithuania is home to as many as 115 ethnic groups. Based on ethnic composition, Lithuania is the most indigenous of all the Baltic countries.
Ethnic Regions: Based on cultural and dialect differences, Lithuania is divided into five ethnic regions: Aukštaitija (north-eastern and eastern Lithuania), Dzūkija (south-eastern and southern Lithuania), Suvalkija (southern and south-western Lithuania south of the Nemunas River), Žemaitija (north-western and western Lithuania), Lithuania Minor (south-western and western edge of Lithuania).
Religion: Predominantly, Roman Catholic (approximately 80% of the total population). Other confessions include Orthodox, Old Believers, Lutheran, Reformat, Judaist, Sunni, Karaite and other communities.
Language: the state language is Lithuanian. All correspondence and official communication is conducted in Lithuanian.
Capital: Vilnius. The city was officially established in 1323. But a fortified castle at the confluence of the Neris and Vilnia rivers was set up earlier. The Old Town of Vilnius is one of the largest (360 ha) and prettiest in the Eastern and Central Europe included on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The city boasts excellent public transport with trolleybus, bus and minibus routes; plenty of taxis available.
Largest Cities by population (May 1, 2005): Vilnius – 541,3 thousand; Kaunas – 364,1 thousand; Klaipėda – 188,8 thousand; Šiauliai – 130,0 thousand; Panevėžys – 116,3 thousand.
Resorts: Palanga and Neringa, seaside resorts; Druskininkai and Birštonas, inland health resorts.
Transport and Communications
Airlines: Airline connections with Lithuania are excellent. Lithuania has three international airports, i.e. Vilnius Airport (www.vilnius-airport.lt), Kaunas Airport (www.kaunasair.lt), and Palanga Airport (www.palanga-airport.lt). Scheduled flights operated by 11 different airlines connect Vilnius with all major Western and Eastern European hubs; 3 airlines service Kaunas Airport, and 5 airlines service Palanga Airport (holiday resort in close proximity to the Klaipėda seaport). Lithuania has 27 airports and aerodromes in total; the majority of them welcome private planes.
Water Transport. Ferries. Seagoing ferries connect Klaipėda seaport with 6 Baltic Sea ports in Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Poland (www.lisco.lt; www.scandlines.lt). Inland ferries connect Klaipėda with Smiltynė on the Curonian Spit (www.keltas.lt). Klaipėda has two yacht-clubs; one of them is conveniently located in the very centre of the city, next to the terminal for cruise ships (http://www.ports.lt/jacht.php?lang=LT; www.lbs.lt).
Overland Routes: Lithuania boasts well-developed roads and infrastructure of road networks; the quality of Lithuanian roads is much better when compared to that of the neighbouring countries. The total length of highways, national and regional roads exceeds 21,000 kilometres, and the total length of all the roads comes over 67,0 thousand km. There are over 400 stop and rest grounds on the roadsides, road restaurants, motels, etc. apart. An extensive system of petrol stations is in place.
The following six European highways cross Lithuania:
E67 VIA BALTICA: Helsinki-Tallinn-Riga-Pasvalys-Panevėžys-Kaunas-Marijampolė-Warsaw-Wroclaw-Prague
E28: Berlin-Gdansk-Kaliningrad-Kybartai-Marijampolė-Vilnius-Minsk-Gomel
E 77: Pskov-Riga-Joniškis-Šiauliai-Tauragė- Kaliningrad-Gdansk-Warsaw-Krakow-Budapest
E 85: Klaipėda-Kaunas-Vilnius-Lida-Chernovcy-Bucharest-Alexandropol
E 262: Ostrov-Daugavpils-Zarasai-Ukmergė-Kaunas
E 272: Klaipėda-Palanga-Šiauliai-Panevėžys-Ukmergė-Vilnius
Speed Limit for Motor Vehicles: 50 km/h in town, 90/h out of town on national roads, 110 km/h (November 1 – March 31) and 130 km/h (April 1 – October 31) on highways, unless traffic signs specify otherwise.
Towing Assistance 24 h x7 days: telephone: 1888.
Passenger transport. Cities, towns and smaller settlements are connected by interurban bus service routes (for addresses of all larger bus terminals throughout the country, visit www.vkti.lt/keleivinis03.html, or dial 118 for more information).
International Road Border Posts:
On the border with Poland: Kalvarija (road A5); Lazdijai (A135).
On the border with Latvia: Būtingė (A13); Bukaičiai (A222); Kalviai (A12); Saločiai (A10); Obeliai (A122); Smėlynė (A6).
On the border with Belarus: Lavoriškės (A103); Medininkai (A3); Šalčininkai (A104); Raigardas (A4).
On the border with the Russian Federation (Kaliningrad Region): Nida (A167); Panemunė (A12); Kybartai (A7).
Mobile GSM Networks: There are three major mobile service providers in the country: Omnitel, Bitė GSM and Tele2. Excellent connections are ensured not only in Lithuania but also throughout many other countries.
Fixed Telephone Lines. When using fixed telephone line to call to another town or district, use an appropriate area code. For area codes, see http://www.telecom.lt/lt/klientams/kodai
Internet. Cities are teeming with Internet cafes, while smaller towns and villages feature over 500 public Internet access points (in libraries, post offices, tourist information centres, etc.). Internet access points are marked with an @ sign.
National Currency and Payments: National currency is the Lithuanian Litas (LTL). It is pegged to the Euro at the exchange rate of EUR 1 = LTL 3.4528. Cash payments will be accepted only in the Litas, however many shopping centres and other service outlets take credit cards.
Banks: There are ten commercial banks, branches of two foreign banks, and representative offices of four foreign banks currently operating in Lithuania (as of June 25,2005).
Accommodation. There are over 300 internationally classified accommodation establishments throughout the country (as of June 25, 2005), including 189 hotels, 61 guesthouses, 22 motels, 11 camping sites, and 19 leisure houses (www.travel.lt - Services - Accommodation).
Rural Tourism: www.countryside.lt
Information Hotline: 118.
Emergency Telephone Number: 112. Dial this number from all public telephone networks anywhere in Lithuania. Calls to this number are free of charge at any time of the day, from any service provider, mobile or fixed line. Dial this number to report criminal offences, life-threatening conditions, health, safety or environmental hazards, and call respective emergency services.
Greeting: labas rytas (in the morning), laba diena (during the day), labas vakaras (in the evening), sveiki (informal).
Bidding Farewell: viso gero, likite sveiki, iki pasimatymo, sudie.
Expressing gratitude: ačiū
Bosnia and Herzegovina
http://worldfacts.us/Lithuania.htm