Šiauliai is a city in northern Lithuania, the country's fourth largest city and the sixth largest city in the Baltic States, with a population of 108,000 in 2023. From 1994 to 2010 it was the capital of Šiauliai County.
Image: Šiauliai 03
Image: Auksinis berniukas
Image: Siauliai Berg der Kreuze 31
Image: Ayuntamiento de Siauliai, Lituania, 2012 08 09, DD 02
Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. It borders Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and Russia to the southwest, with a maritime border with Sweden to the west. Lithuania covers an area of 65,300 km2 (25,200 sq mi), with a population of 2.86 million. Its capital and largest city is Vilnius; other major cities are Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai and Panevėžys. Lithuanians belong to the ethnolinguistic group of the Balts and speak Lithuanian, one of only a few living members of the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family, which is also the most widely spoken language of the branch.
Lithuania's name in writing (Litua, on line 7), 1009
Baltic amber was once a valuable trade resource. It was transported from the region of modern-day Lithuania to the Roman Empire and Egypt through the Amber Road.
Trakai Island Castle, the former residence of the Grand Dukes and capital city of the medieval state
Battle of Grunwald and Vytautas the Great in the centre