At the House of Signatories

This Tuesday, on February 23rd, during the Lithuanian language class grade 7 went to a very important place for Lithuanian history. We went to the House of Signatories on Pilies St. 26. This is the house where Lithuania signed its first ever Declaration of Independence on February 16, 1918. The declaration was signed by twenty members of the Council, including first Lithuanian President  Antanas Smetona, and the famous activist Jonas Basanavičius.

Jonas Basanavičius is often called the “Patriarch of the Nation” because of his huge, important contributions to Lithuanian independence. We learned that he is known for many great things. He is the founder of the Lithuanian Scientific Society, dedicated to Lithuanian language and culture. He also founded the first newspaper in Lithuanian language Aušra. He died, strangely enough, on the Lithuanian Independence day in 1927.

We walked around the whole house and saw a lot of old furniture that is still there after about one hundred years. We also saw other fascinating things about Lithuania’s first independence. Can you believe that we were in the very room where these twenty members of the council signed the Declaration of Independence?!

Johannes R. gr.7