The word "Lithuania" is first used in written texts AD 1009. The country is located in the geographical centre of the Europe. In 1989 the French National Geographical Institute named a spot on the road to Moletai, 25 km (15ml) north of Vilnius, as the centre of Europe. Lithuania is the biggest of the three Baltic States and covers an area similar to Ireland (65 300km²). It borders Latvia in the north, Belarus in the south-east, the Baltic Sea in the west and Poland and the truncated Kaliningrad Region of Russia in the south-west.

Lithuanian climate is transitional between maritime and continental, January averages about -5°C (-17°F) and July about 17°C (62°F), the humidity makes 81%. The total population is up to 3.5 million (urban residents make two-thirds of the population). Ethnic Composition: Lithuanian - 81.8%, Russians - 8.1%, Poles - 6.9%, Byelorussians - 1.4%, Ukrainians - 1%, Jews - 0.1%, others - 0.7%. Lithuania was the last pagan state in Europe to be converted to Christianity. Most Lithuanians practice the Roman Catholicism there are also long established communities of Old Believers, Evangelical Lutherans, Orthodox Christians, Reformed Evangelicals, Jews and Karaites. All enjoy equality under the Law as no state religion exists in Lithuania. Lithuanian, and its close northern relative Latvian, are very odd languages and are considered to be exceptionally antique. They belong to the Baltic group of Indo-European languages. Lithuanian language is remarkably similar in grammatical form to that old chestnut, Sanskrit. The first Lithuanian book, a catechism by M. Mazvydas, was published in Königsberg in 1547.

The surface area of Lithuania is 65.200 sq.km
Population of Lithuania is 3.7 million people.
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania with 600 000 inhabitans.
The major cities of Lithuania are Vilnius (Capital), Kaunas, Klaipėda.
Lithuanian is the official language of Lithuanian.
Lithuanian money is counted in Litas and Centas. 100 Centas = 100 Litas (Lt). The rate of exchange in January 2003 is 1 USD = 3.5 LTL & 1 Eur = 3.45 LTL
National holidays, when businesses and schools are closed: