NATURE
Lithuania is famous not for its developed industry, but for its unique and beautiful nature: blue-eyed lakes, baltic sea, lush green forests, the sky blue rivers and old mounds including burial mounds. This is the land of ancient green forests, and blue-eyed lakes nestled between, it looks like the sky touches the earth here. The country landscape and climate have priceless healingproperties, and these, coupled with the country rich cultural heritage lend themselves to the development of tourism.
LITHUANIAN LANGUAGE
About half of the world’s population speak languages that originate from an original Proto-Indo-European language. A lot of scientists said that in its phonetics Lithuanian is the only living language closest to the Proto-Indo-European language. So while in Lithuania you have a chance to listen to what you distant ancestors could have spoken like.
HISTORY
We are proud of our history and keep telling our foreign guests about our spirits, stories which make us unique and known worldwide. Lithuania’s past is rich and marked by complexity. In the multitude of events, and their uniqueness and effect on neighboring nations, Lithuania can be compared to any large state. Perhaps, this is the reason why Lithuanians hold their history in great esteem. A Lithuanian engaged in an explanation of the present will often digress into historical comparisons and analogies. The legends, wars, battles and political events are intertwined with songs, have found their way into literary works, and have provided the inspiration for movies, plays and art works. Of course, these popular and artistic representations are sometimes hardly different from mythology. But who is to deny that mythology is a part of life?
CASTLES
Defensive fortifications rank as some of the most impressive monuments of Lithuanian cultural herit-age. Mounds and castle sites, masonry castles, and defensive town walls reflect the history of our country and the efforts of our ancestors to protect the interests of the nation and the state. Lithuania was a land of wooden castles. Those wooden castles were the residences of the dukes and the main type of defensive fortifications. The wooden castles vanished after they had performed their role, and merely the hillforts remained. There are about 450 late hillforts in Lithuania today – during the Middle Ages, most of them had castles built within their ramparts. Brick castles appeared in Lithuania in the 14th century. The medieval brick castles were concentrated in the centre of the Lithuanian state, and now are divided between Lithuania and Belarus. The brick castles were not numerous, but played an important administrative and defensive role in the Later Middle Ages.