Lithuanian encyclopedias
Encyclopedia
Encyclopedia
An encyclopedia is a type of reference work, a compendium holding a summary of information from either all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge....
s published in the Lithuanian language
Lithuanian language
Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...
or encyclopedias about Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
and Lithuania-related topics. The first known attempt to create a Lithuanian encyclopedia was in 1883, when Jonas Jacevičius failed to get permission from the Tsar
Tsar
Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...
ist authorities for such a publication during the Lithuanian press ban
Lithuanian press ban
The Lithuanian press ban was a ban on all Lithuanian language publications printed in the Latin alphabet within the Russian Empire, which controlled Lithuania at the time. Lithuanian-language publications that used the Cyrillic alphabet were allowed and even encouraged...
(1866–1904). Several general Lithuanian encyclopedias were published afterwards: one in independent Lithuania in the 1930s (interrupted by World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and never completed), two in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, three in the Lithuanian SSR
Lithuanian SSR
The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Lithuanian SSR, was one of the republics that made up the former Soviet Union...
, and one that has been underway since 2001 in independent Lithuania. As of summer 2010, 17 volumes of this projected 20-volume Universal Lithuanian Encyclopedia
Universal Lithuanian Encyclopedia
Universal Lithuanian Encyclopedia is a universal Lithuanian language encyclopedia being published by the Science and Encyclopaedia Publishing Institute since 2001...
(Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija or VLE) had been published.
Independent Lithuania (1918–1944)
The path to creating the first Lithuanian encyclopedia, Lietuviškoji enciklopedija, was complicated. In 1910, Antanas Olšauskas, a Lithuanian emigrant in Chicago, Illinois, started to assemble an editorial team, but financial constraints and disagreements among the editors resulted in the abandonment of the project in 1912. After the declaration of independence of Lithuania in 1918, two initiatives were born in 1924. One, by the publishing house Švyturys, sought to publish a general encyclopedia; the other, by the publishing house Kultūra, in ŠiauliaiŠiauliai
Šiauliai , is the fourth largest city in Lithuania, with a population of 133,900. It is the capital of Šiauliai County. Unofficially, the city is the capital of Northern Lithuania.-Names:...
, sought to publish an encyclopedia dedicated to Lithuania and Lithuania-related topics. However, both initiatives failed due to financial hardships. In 1929, Spaudos Fondas and Lietuvių Katalikų Mokslo Akademija separately initiated encyclopedic projects. They finally agreed to cooperate only in 1931, and the first booklet came out on October 1, 1931. Vaclovas Biržiška
Vaclovas Biržiška
Vaclovas Biržiška was a Lithuanian attorney, bibliographer, and educator.He was a member of a notable Lithuanian family; his great-grandfather Mykolas Biržiška was a representative in the Sejm when the Constitution of 3 May was accepted in 1791; his grandfather Leonardas Biržiška was an active...
was appointed editor-in-chief. Many difficulties ensued, but the booklets finally began monthly publication, and approached the status of a periodic scientific journal. Twelve booklets would eventually be combined into one volume. The first volume, containing some 5,000 articles and 700 illustrations, appeared in 1933. Nine volumes were published—up to the letter J—and the tenth was underway when in 1944, the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
reoccupied Lithuania, and its printing was halted. The encyclopedia was never completed.
Soviet Lithuania (1945–1990)
Marxism-Leninism
Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology, officially based upon the theories of Marxism and Vladimir Lenin, that promotes the development and creation of a international communist society through the leadership of a vanguard party over a revolutionary socialist state that represents a dictatorship...
and the Communist Party
Communist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
, and while many "inconvenient" topics of from the Lithuanian history, such as the Lithuanian partisans
Lithuanian partisans
The Lithuanian partisans can refer to various irregular military units in different historical periods active in Lithuania against foreign invaders and occupiers:...
, were entirely skipped. Between 1985 and 1988, the four-volume Tarybų Lietuvos enciklopedia
Encyclopedia of Soviet Lithuania
The Encyclopedia of Soviet Lithuania was an encyclopedia of Lithuanian SSR, covering topics such as archeology, history, nature, science, cultural heritage, cities, districts, biographies of famous people and politics, only about Lithuania. It was published in four volumes, between 1985-1988 in...
or TLE, dealing with only Lithuania-related topics, was published. It closely followed the lead of LTE. Its last volume displayed signs of the intellectual freedom that arose in the 1980s during the Glasnost
Glasnost
Glasnost was the policy of maximal publicity, openness, and transparency in the activities of all government institutions in the Soviet Union, together with freedom of information, introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev in the second half of the 1980s...
movement in Russia and the Sąjūdis
Sajudis
Sąjūdis initially known as the Reform Movement of Lithuania, is the political organization which led the struggle for Lithuanian independence in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was established on June 3, 1988 and was led by Vytautas Landsbergis...
movement in Lithuania.
Independent Lithuania (since 1990)
Since 2001, the Science and Encyclopaedia Publishing InstituteScience and Encyclopaedia Publishing Institute
The Science and Encyclopaedia Publishing Centre is a Lithuanian publishing house that issues encyclopedias, reference works, books, monographs, and dictionaries...
(Lithuanian: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas), based in Vilnius
Vilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
, has been publishing the Universal Lithuanian Encyclopedia
Universal Lithuanian Encyclopedia
Universal Lithuanian Encyclopedia is a universal Lithuanian language encyclopedia being published by the Science and Encyclopaedia Publishing Institute since 2001...
(Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija or VLE). The work is projected for completion between 2010 and 2012. Each of the planned twenty volumes will contain about 800 pages; there will be a total of 115,000 articles and 24,000 illustrations. About 20% to 25% of its content is devoted to Lithuanian matters. As of fall 2009, 16 volumes had been published.