Lithuania

Insect in amber and amber museum on stamps and postmarks of Lithuania

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Contents:
Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in Northern Europe. One of the three Baltic states, it is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, to the east of Sweden and Denmark. It is bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and Kaliningrad Oblast (a Russian exclave) to the southwest.
Lithuania has an estimated population of 2.9 million people as of 2015, and its capital and largest city is Vilnius. Lithuanians are a Baltic people. The official language, Lithuanian, along with Latvian, are the only two living languages in the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family.

As World War I neared its end, Lithuania's Act of Independence was signed on 16 February 1918, declaring the founding of the modern Republic of Lithuania. Starting in 1940, Lithuania was occupied first by the Soviet Union and then by Nazi Germany. As World War II neared its end in 1944 and the Germans retreated, the Soviet Union reoccupied Lithuania. On 11 March 1990, a year before the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union, Lithuania became the first Soviet republic to declare itself independent, resulting in the restoration of an independent State of Lithuania. [R1]

The first Lithuanian postage stamps ("Baltukai" issue) were issued in Vilnius in 1918. The first airmail stamps were issued in 1921. After the 1940 occupation by Soviet Union, Lithuanian postage stamps were replaced by Soviet stamps.
After restoration of independence (1990), Lithuania resumed issuing its own stamps. [R2]



Official stamps of Lithuania related to Paleontology: insect in amber and amber museum

13.06.2009 "From the stocks of museums. Palanga Amber Museum" [1]
Insect in amber on stamp of Lithuania 2009

Notes:
[1] Palanga Amber Museum is a branch of the Lithuanian Art Museum and was established on the 3rd of August 1963.
The museum has about 29 thousand amber showpieces. Insects in amber are shown on some margins of the Mini-Sheet.
More details are here



Some postal stationeries of Lithuania to consider: contributors to Paleontology

08.01.2002 "200th anniversary of Ignacy Domeyko" [PSO1]
Ignacy Domeyko/Ignas Domeika on imprinted stamp of postal stationery of Lithuania 2002

Notes:
[PSO1] Ignacy Domeyko (1802 - 1889), Lithuanian: Ignas Domeika, was a famous 19th century geologist and mineralogist from the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
He occasionally sent these fossils to French Naturalists for study.
These fossils were mainly studied by Alcide Charles Victor Marie Dessalines d’Orbigny who named some of these fossils after their discoverer.
For more details, please go here



Commemorative postmarks of Lithuania to consider: amber museum

Legend is here
13.06.2009 "From the stocks of museums. Palanga Amber Museum" [1][FDC]
Insect in amber on stamp of Lithuania 2009



References:
  •   [R1] Lithuania: Wikipedia, WikiTravel, FlagCounter.
  •   [R2] Postal History and Philately of Lithuania: Wikipedia,
              Links to official website of the Post Authority, stamp catalog and a list of new stamps of Lithuania are here



Acknowledgements:
  • Many thanks to Dr. Peter Voice from Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Western Michigan University, for the draft page review and his valuable comments.
  • Many thanks to Mr. Alexander Pedchenko from Russia, for his help in finding some missing philatelic stuff of Lithunia.



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