11 March: Day of Restoration of Independence of Lithuania
On 11 March 1990, the Supreme Council of the Republic of Lithuania adopted an Act on the Restoration of an Independent State of Lithuania. All members of the Council signed the Act of Restoration. On this day Lithuania declared Independence from the USSR.
The Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania served as a model and inspiration to other Soviet republics. However, the issue of independence was not immediately settled and recognition by other countries was not certain.
Mikhail Gorbachev called the Act of Independence illegal and the USSR demanded revocation of the Act and began applying sanctions against Lithuania including an economic blockade. In addition, on January 13, 1991 Soviet forces stormed the Parliament building in Vilnius along with the Vilnius TV Tower. Unarmed civilian Lithuanians confronted Soviet soldiers. Fourteen people were killed and seven hundred injured in what became known as January Events.
On May 31, 1990, the Supreme Soviet of Moldavian SSR voted to recognize the Restoration of the Independence of Lithuania. The Parliament of Moldavia was the first in the world to recognize Lithuania’s Independence, but Moldavia was still part of the Soviet Union.
Iceland was the first to recognize Lithuanian independence on February 11, 1991 followed by Denmark, Slovenia and Croatia (within Yugoslavia) and Latvia.
On September 17, 1991, Lithuania was welcomed as a member of the United Nations along with Estonia and Latvia.
We are happy to invite our friends to an unconventional celebration and suggest to enjoy a moment with a modern dance project
DANCE PLUS CITY
offering a glimpse of two Lithuanian cities, Klaipėda, the European Capital of Youth 2021, and Kaunas, the interwar temporary capital of Lithuania, which will host the Capital of European Culture in 2022, as well as a candidate for the UNESCO World Heritage List for its architecture of modernism:
More about restoration of independence of Lithuania on the webpage of the Lithuanian parliament.
