Other events in Baltic States

At the ceremony on the occasion of the jubilee anniversary of the Estonian National Museum on Tuesday, President Toomas Hendrik Ilves stated that throughout the century, this museum has become on of the most solid foundations of Estonia's independence, writes Postimees Online/LETA.

According to the President, people searched for support from the museum and found it during the most difficult times in Estonia's quest for independence.

"The museum that has reached its 100th milestone started from the desire to develop its own national culture. The idea grew along with our national sense of self-assertion and together with our intelligentsia and the process reached from the establishment of our own museum to the creation of our own State," said Ilves.

"Collecting the spiritual and material heritage brought an understanding that Estonia's own culture is old and valuable," said Ilves, adding that Estonians' sense of self could be based on this wealth. "Language and Culture became from an indicator of social identity to a foundation of Estonian identity," noted the President.