The 50 Litas commemorative coin dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Great Seimas of Vilnius issued

"These meaningful words which, today, sound somewhat extraordinary but are extremely urgent were uttered by Jonas Basanavičius, the patriarch of the nation and the cherisher of Lithuanianism, opening the Congress of Lithuanians a hundred years ago. We are continuing the tradition of perpetuating historical events of Lithuania in commemorative coins”, said Chairman of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania Reinoldijus ?arkinas.

He pointed out that it was already the 45^th commemorative coin issued by the Bank of Lithuania.

According to the estimate of Dr Egidijus Motieka, the author of the brochure attached to the new coin, the Great Seimas of Vilnius of 1905 (Congress of Lithuanians) was the first real political move in formulating the principles of the re-establishment of the statehood of Lithuania. The Congress set a strategic direction to re-establish the State of Lithuania on the ethnographic basis (of a modern Lithuanian nation) in the ethnographic territory of Lithuania with Vilnius as the capital city.

The Great Seimas of Vilnius (Congress of Lithuanians in Vilnius) took place on 21-22 November 1905 (according to the present calendar - 4-5 December) in the Vilnius City Hall (now - National Philharmonic). There were about 2 000 Lithuanian participants from Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, and Latvia. Of these, over 1 000 participants were delegates of Lithuanian rural areas, parishes and villages.

The particular merit of the Seimas of Vilnius (Congress of Lithuanians in Vilnius) was that Lithuanian teachers were allowed to work in the-then primary schools, the Lithuanian language was allowed to be taught as a separate discipline, press became freer, and freedom to set up various economic and cultural societies was provided.

To mark the 20^th anniversary of the Great Seimas of Vilnius (Congress of Lithuanians in Vilnius), a medal designed by the outstanding Lithuanian artist Petras Rim?a was issued in 1925.

The author of the graphic (artistic) design of the coin dedicated to the 100^th anniversary of the Great Seimas of Vilnius, which today appeared in circulation and immediately caught collectors’ attention, is Albertas Gurskas; the author of the plaster models is Rytas Jonas Belevičius.

The coin was minted at the state enterprise Lithuanian Mint.The mintage of the coin is 1 500 pieces.

The new coins can be obtained at the cash office of the Bank of Lithuania in Vilnius, also at its branches in Kaunas and Klaipėda.The price for one silver coin is 75 litas, the price for one coin in a representation box is 90 litas.