Lithuania celebrates Restoration of the State Day

VILNIUS – Lithuania marks on Tuesday 103 years since the signing of the Act of Independence of February 16, 1918, with celebrations scaled back due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

All major official Restoration of the State Day events and festive concerts will be broadcast live on television.

Some of the traditional events, such as a march from Cathedral Square to Rasos Cemetery and the lighting of bonfires in Gediminas Avenue, were cancelled this year.  

The state's leaders will traditionally pay tribute to the signatories to the Act of Independence at Vilnius' Rasos Cemetery, and a state awards ceremony will be broadcast from the Presidential Palace.

President Gitanas Nauseda will deliver a speech at a midday ceremony of hosting the flags of the three Baltic nations in Simonas Daukantas Square outside the Presidential Palace. 

A traditional commemorative event will be broadcast from the House of Signatories in the capital. 

A giant Lithuanian tricolor will be raised on the top of Vilnius' TV Tower in the morning. 

The capital's landmark Gediminas Hill and Monument of the Three Crosses will light up yellow, green and red, and a special light installation will be set up near Kaunas Castle. 

The Niagara Falls will be illuminated in the Lithuanian national colors and the Lithuanian tricolor will be hoisted in front of Ottawa's Municipal Building in the heart of the Canadian capital, and in some other cities.  

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