Lithuania

Mongolian tögrögLithuania is a green and flat land in the north of Europe, ashore the Baltic Sea. It is one of three Baltic countries, and it shares borders with Latvia, Belarus, Poland and Russia (Kaliningrad). The country is full of preserved natural landscapes, woods, lakes and rivers, and has a unique sea side, with Curonian split – a sandy peninsula, isolating the Curonian sea from the Baltic sea.
Lithuania is the only Baltic country with traditions of nearly eight hundred years of statehood. Its name was first mentioned almost one thousand years ago, in 1009. Wedged on the dividing line between Western and Eastern civilizations, Lithuania battled dramatically for its independence and survival. Once in the Middle Ages, Lithuania was the largest state in the entire Eastern Europe, crafts and overseas trade prospered.
As one of the latest baptized countries in Europe Lithuania preserved much of its pagan traditions and folk practices are still alive in villages.
Vilnius has always been a multinational, multilingual, and multicultural European city. Trying to position itself as an informal political leader of the Baltic countries, it shares its experience in democratic development with other countries of the post-Soviet bloc, and takes an active part in the EU renewal process.
Throughout 2018, Lithuania will be celebrating 100 years since the signing of its Act of Independence. The document, which was signed in Vilnius on 16 February 1918, laid the foundation for the Lithuanian state we know today: democratically-run, based on the principles of equality for all and connected to the rest of the world.