Lithuanian National Anthem - Tautiška giesmė - Anthem of Lithuanian Republic (1918-1940) (1990-)

Tautiška giesmė (The National Hymn) is the national anthem of Lithuania, also known by its opening words “Lietuva, Tėvyne mūsų“ (official translation of the lyrics “Lithuania, Our Homeland“literally “Lithuania, Our Fatherland“) and as “Lietuvos himnas“ (Hymn of Lithuania). The music and lyrics were written in 1898 by Vincas Kudirka, when Lithuania was still part of the Russian Empire. The fifty-word poem was a condensation of Kudirka’s conceptions of the Lithuanian state, the Lithuanian people, and their past. Shortly before his death in 1899, the anthem was performed for Lithuanians living in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The first public Lithuanian performance of the anthem took place in Vilnius in 1905, and it became the official national anthem in 1919, a year after Lithuania declared its independence. Following the occupation and annexation of Lithuania by the Soviet Union in 1940, the anthem was forbidden to be played or sung in public. “Tautiška giesmė“ was reinstated in 1989 shortly before the reestablish