Lithuania celebrates 99th anniversary of restoration of state

VILNIUS - Lithuania celebrates on Thursday the 99th anniversary of the Act of Independence of Feb. 16, 1918.

President Dalia Grybauskaite will present state decorations in the morning and will deliver a speech at a midday ceremony of hoisting the flags of the three Baltic nations in Simonas Daukantas Square outside the Presidential Palace in Vilnius.

A traditional commemorative event will take place in front of the House of Signatories in Vilnius in the afternoon. Sixteen symbolic bonfires will be lit in Gediminas Avenue and a concert will be held in Cathedral Square in the evening.

In Kaunas, schoolchildren and public organizations will march from Christ's Resurrection Basilica to the garden of the Vytautas the Great War Museum, where a carillon concert will be performed and a solemn commemoration will be held.

In Klaipeda, a solemn line-up and a state flag hoisting ceremony will take place in Atgimimo (Independence) Square.

Other Lithuanian cities and towns will also hold festive events and concerts.

The Council of Lithuania on Feb. 16, 1918, proclaimed the restoration of an independent state of Lithuania, founded on democratic principles, with Vilnius as its capital.