Baltic, History, Lithuania, Post Office, Transport

The souvenir sheet consisting of three stamps has been designed by the Estonian painter Indrek Ilves. The nominal value of each stamp is LTL 7 or EUR 2.03. The nominal value of the souvenir sheet is LTL 21 or EUR 6.09. The souvenir sheet has been released in the edition of 30 thousand copies.

On the day of release, postal correspondence paid by this new philatelic product will be marked by the first day cancellation at Vilnius Main Post Office. Along with the stamp, the first day cover will be released.

The Baltic Chain means a chain of 650km made of people standing arm-in-arm to join Vilnius, Riga, and Tallinn, the capitals of the Baltic states. The people linked into the Baltic Chain on 23 August 1989 when commemorating the 50^th anniversary of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact on the basis of which the Baltic states were occupied.

At 7 p.m., following radio signals, hundreds of thousands of Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians made a chain from Gediminas Castle in Vilnius to Hermann Tower in Tallinn. The chain went via Ukmergė, Panevėžys, Pasvalys, Bauska, and the Independence Monument in Riga.

The citizens of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, standing arm-in-arm, made alive chain joining the Baltic states. The chain symbolized a wish to be independent from the Soviet Union. According to estimations, approximately 2-2.5 million people, including about 1 million Lithuanians, made the Baltic Chain.

In 2009, the chain was included into the UNESCO's Memory of the World Register.