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Did you know ...

• the Jewish community dates its presence in Eišiškės, Lithuania, back to the year 1097 or 1171?
• the name of Lithuania was mentioned for the first time in the Annals of Quedlinburg?
• the Soviet Union considered occupying its ally Lithuania soon after signing the Soviet-Lithuanian Treaty of 1920, but the Red Army's defeat at the Battle of Warsaw rendered such plans obsolete?
• the Council of Lithuania declared the independence of Lithuania by signing an Act of Independence on February 16, 1918?
• groundbreaking on Christ's Resurrection Church in Kaunas, Lithuania, in 1934 was marked by the placement of a symbolic stone brought from Jerusalem's Mount of Olives?
• during the Lithuanian press ban from 1864 to 1904, it was illegal in Lithuania to print, import, distribute, or possess any publications that were written in the Lithuanian language using the Latin alphabet?
• after being auctioned at Christie's for over £100,000, the 16th-century Sapieha beaker was presented as a gift to Lithuania by the Ortiz brothers?
• after living in the U.S. for 50 years, painter Kazys Varnelis returned to Lithuania in 1998 at the age of 81?
• after the restoration of independence in 1990, the Lithuanian society debated whether to remove a monument to writer Petras Cvirka due to his pro-Soviet attitudes?
• despite running for only 3 years, Aušra (pictured), the first national Lithuanian newspaper, gave its name to the period between 1883 and 1904 in the history of Lithuania?
• the Presidential Palace in Kaunas was used as a movie theater during the Soviet rule of Lithuania?
• the House of Gediminas ruled Lithuania from 1285 to 1572?
• the popular Lithuanian fairy tale hero Eglė the Queen of Serpents transformed herself and her children into trees as a punishment?
• the representatives at the Vilnius Conference in 1917 elected a 20-member Council of Lithuania to negotiate with the Germans for the independence of Lithuania?
• the second redaction of Lithuanian Chronicles started the myth of Lithuanian Roman origin?
• upon completion, the thirteen-volume History of Lithuania will be the largest and the most comprehensive academic publication covering Lithuania’s history ever released?
• the largest Lithuanian encyclopedia was published in the United States by the immigrant community when Lithuania was part of the Soviet Union?
• the first coach of Lithuanian chess International Master Viktorija Čmilytė (pictured) was her father?
• the Klaipėda Geothermal Demonstration Plant in Klaipėda, Lithuania, constructed during the late 1990s and early 2000s, is the first geothermal heating plant in the Baltic Sea region?
• the Palanga Amber Museum (pictured) in Lithuania holds a collection of about 28,000 items of amber, including about 15,000 pieces that contain insects, spiders, and plants?
• the existence of Aitvaras, now a squadron of the Lithuanian Special Operations Force, was revealed after the capture of Lithuanian sailors in Guinea in 2000?
• the final results of the 1940 elections to the People's Parliaments in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were published in London before the voting booths closed?
• a regional park established to protect Nevėžis River ecosystem in Lithuania also breeds wisents?
• a Catholic church in the Lithuanian town of Valkininkai claims to have the body of Saint Boniface of Tarsus, a 4th-century martyr?
• Lithuanian writer and educator Gabrielė Petkevičaitė-Bitė, as the oldest representative, chaired the first session of the Constituent Assembly of Lithuania in 1920?
• Lithuanian-born Aldona Gustas co-founded an artistic forum in West Berlin, the "Berliner Malerpoeten", intended to attract individuals who both wrote and illustrated their works?
• Uruguayan footballer Vladas Douksas' father was a Lithuanian shopkeeper?
• Daumantas of Pskov, a Lithuanian dynast involved in the assassination of the first Lithuanian king, was later canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church and became a patron saint of Pskov?
• Lithuanian supermarkets offered cheaper beer, chocolate and soap to those who voted in the 2003 Lithuanian European Union membership referendum?
• Lithuanian poet Liudas Gira was a member of the delegation sent to petition the Soviet Union to accept the newly proclaimed Lithuanian SSR into the union?
• Iceland was the first country to recognize Lithuania's re-established independence in 1991?
• Lithuanian Chief of Defence Arvydas Pocius was freestyle wrestling champion of Lithuania in junior, youth and adult groups?
• Lithuanian art historian Paulius Galaunė studied psychoneurology at the University of St. Petersburg?
• Lithuanian artist Vytautas Kazimieras Jonynas designed interiors for over sixty churches in the United States, Europe and Australia?
• Jonas Kubilius is one of the principal contributors to the Turán–Kubilius inequality theorem and organizer of the first mathematical olympiad in Lithuania?
• Jonas Vileišis was a member of the Council which proclaimed Lithuania's independence in 1918?
• Protmušis is a quizbowl competition that has been taking place in Vilnius, Lithuania since 1997?
• St. Michael the Archangel Church (pictured) in Kaunas, Lithuania was a military church, built for the Kaunas Fortress garrison?
• Unė Babickaitė, a Lithuanian actress who appeared in American silent films, was sentenced to five years in a Soviet gulag?
• King Sigismund I the Old built a castle for his Italian wife Bona Sforza in the Lithuanian town Maišiagala during the Jagiellon dynasty?
• Martynas Jankus, Lithuanian journalist and "Patriarch of Lithuania Minor", was penalized around forty times by Prussian authorities for his public activities?
• LT United's Eurovision Song Contest 2006 entry "We Are The Winners" was so well-received by the Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus, that the group were invited to his Presidential Office to perform the song live for him?
• Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas, one of the founders of the Party of National Progress, was accused of book smuggling during the Lithuanian press ban?
• Kaunas University Hospital, the largest medical institution in Lithuania, was designated a cultural monument in 2008?
• Krzysztof Zygmunt Pac sponsored the construction of Pažaislis monastery, one of the finest examples of baroque architecture in Lithuania?
• football champion Romualdas Marcinkus (pictured) was the only Lithuanian pilot to serve in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War?