DS & LT-420413 The Republic of Lithuania

The Republic of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos Respublika) is a country in Northern Europe and it is the largest of the three Baltic states. Lithuania has an estimated population of 3 million as of 2013, and its capital and largest city is Vilnius. Lithuanians are a Baltic people, and the official language, Lithuanian, is one of only two living languages (together with Latvian) in the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family.  Lithuania is a member of the European Union, the Council of Europe, a full member of the Schengen Agreement and NATO.

Lithuania declared the restoration of its independence on 11 March 1990.  Before this, it was the Lithuanian SSR, part of the Soviet Union.

This postcard was sent by Vidas (February 2014) Direct Swap Postcrossing. The main picture is that of Kernavė which was a medieval capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and today is a tourist attraction and an archeological site (population more than 300). It is located in southeast Lithuania. The top right panel shows the Gediminas Tower  located in Vilnius.

The left upper panel shows the old early Gothic church (built between 1530 and 1578) located in Zapyškis, a small town in Kaunas County in central Lithuania on the right bank of the Neman River.  

The left bottom panel shows Vytautas' the Great Church of the Assumption of The Holy Virgin Mary (Lithuanian: Vytauto Didžiojo bažnyčia) which is a Roman Catholic church in the Old Town of Kaunas.

 

The small panel in the centre shows Trakai Island Castle.  Trakai is a historic city and lake resort. It lies only 28 kilometres (17 miles) west of Vilnius.

The bottom right panel shows buildings in Klaipėda which is the third largest city in Lithuania situated at the mouth of the Danė River where it flows into the Baltic Sea.

This postcard is not from Vilnius but was posted in Rokiskis, a city in northeastern Lithuania with a population of about 16,000.

This second postcard shows the administrative divisions in Lithuania and it came from Agata (11 September 2015) Postcrossing.