Jonas Basanavičius EN

February 16 is a national holiday in Lithuania in commemoration of the signing of the Act of Independence of Lithuania on February 16, 1918 which proclaimed the restoration of the independent state of Lithuania.

Lithuania's former president Valdas Adamkus has emphasized the importance of continuity in public life and unity of the nation, inviting youth to take active interest in history. Speaking on the country's centennial anniversary, he urged politicians to act in a way to make sure that the youth is not...

Lithuania's residents and historians believe that the three figures with the main contribution to the country's statehood over the past century include Jonas Basanavičius, the father of national rebirth, Supreme Council Chairman Vytautas Landsbergis and interwar president Antanas Smetona.

The foreign ministers of Lithuania and Germany will Thursday sign an agreement on handover of the February 16, 1918 Independence Act to Lithuania for five years.

Seven Lithuanian climbers who conquered nameless peaks in the Tian Shan mountain range in Kyrgyzstan in August have named the peaks after Jonas Basanavičius and Algimantas Vidugiris, hoping to get official recognition of the new names as geographical names.

The president of the German Federal Archives says that Germany could lend Lithuania the original copy of its 1918 declaration of independence recently found in Berlin for a year, but it should not hand the document over to the country.

Lithuania's ambassador to Berlin, Deividas Matulionis, on Thursday will visit the German Foreign Ministry's archives to see what is believed to be an original copy of the country's Act of Independence of 1918.

The long-sought original document of the Lithuanian Independence Act signed on February 16 1918 was discovered in Germany's diplomatic archives in Berlin on Wednesday, professor Liudas Mažylis of the Vytautas Magnus University behind the discovery confirmed to BNS.

Vilnius' local authority has selected the best concept for a monument to Jonas Basanavičius, one of the most prominent pioneers of the Lithuanian national revival movement of the late 19th century, that is planned to be erected in the capital's Old Town.

MG Baltic, a concern controlled by businessman Darius Mockus, on Wednesday offered one million euros for the original of the Independence Act of February 16 1918.