Lithuania trivia: 48 questions and answers

Vilnius. Vilnius is the capital and largest city, where the Vilnia river flows into the Neris in the south-east.

True. True. The euro replaced the litas on 1 January 2015, making Lithuania the last of the three Baltic states to adopt it.

Estonia. Estonia lies further north, beyond Latvia. Lithuania borders Latvia, Belarus, Poland and Russia's Kaliningrad region.

Aukštojas Hill. Aukštojas Hill, south-east of Vilnius, is the highest point at 293.84 metres.

The Nemunas. The Nemunas is 937 km long in total, and 359 km of it flows through Lithuania on its way to the Curonian Lagoon.

Mindaugas. Mindaugas was crowned in 1253. He is the only king Lithuania ever had, and his coronation is remembered on Statehood Day, 6 July.

About two million. About two million people formed a human chain 675 km long across Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

Lithuania. Lithuania declared its independence restored on 11 March 1990, the first of the 15 Soviet republics to do so.

True. True. The battle of 1410, in which Poland and Lithuania defeated the Teutonic Order, is known in Lithuania as the Battle of Žalgiris.

False. False. The ban forbade Lithuanian printed in the Latin alphabet. Cyrillic printing was allowed and even encouraged, and book smugglers brought Latin-letter books in from abroad.

13 January. On 13 January 1991 Soviet troops attacked the Radio and Television Building and the TV Tower in Vilnius, and 14 civilians were killed.

Zeppelin airships. Cepelinai are named after Zeppelin airships: they were renamed after Count Zeppelin, because their shape looks like his airships.

Beetroot. Cooked beetroot mixed with cold kefir turns the soup pink. It is served with hot boiled potatoes.

The Karaites. Kibinai are a Karaite dish. The Karaites came from Crimea, brought to Lithuania by Vytautas the Great.

Lazy man. Tinginys means lazy man, because it is so quick to make. Little doves are balandėliai, hundred sheets is šimtalapis and the tree cake is šakotis.

True. True. Batter is painted onto a turning spit layer by layer, which gives the cake its spiky branches and tree-ring slices.

True. True. On Kūčios, Christmas Eve, twelve dishes are served, without meat or dairy, and small poppy seed biscuits called kūčiukai are eaten.

Kaunas. Kaunas was the temporary capital while Vilnius was held by Poland, and it filled with modernist buildings in those years.

True. True. Nida lies on the Curonian Spit between the lagoon and the sea, close to the border with Russia's Kaliningrad region.

Trakai. Trakai, a medieval capital of Lithuania, is surrounded by lakes, and its island castle stands in Lake Galvė.

Druskininkai. Druskininkai, on the Nemunas in the far south, has been a spa town since the 19th century and has the Snow Arena indoor slope.

5. As of 2026 Lithuania has 5: Vilnius Historic Centre, the Curonian Spit, Kernavė, the Struve Geodetic Arc and Modernist Kaunas.

Modernist Kaunas. Modernist Kaunas, the interwar buildings of the temporary capital, joined the list in 2023. The others joined earlier: Vilnius in 1994, the Curonian Spit in 2000 and Kernavė in 2004.

True. True. It is about 12 km north of Šiauliai, and about 100,000 crosses had been placed there by 2006.

True. True. Vytautas finished the castle around 1409 and died there in 1430.

A giant stone sundial. A giant stone sundial, a granite pillar 13.8 metres high, stands on the dune, which rises to 52 metres above the sea.

True. True. This chain of survey points from Norway to the Black Sea was measured between 1816 and 1855, and three of its points are in Lithuania.

About 28,000. The museum holds about 28,000 pieces of amber, about 15,000 of them with insects, spiders or plants inside.

Basketball. Basketball is the national sport. The men's team won the European championship in 1937, 1939 and 2003.

Užupis. Užupis, an artists' district across the Vilnia river, has a playful constitution that gives people the right to be happy and the right to be unhappy.

True. True. A scientist at France's National Geographic Institute placed it about 26 km north of Vilnius, though other places make similar claims.

Vincas Kudirka. Vincas Kudirka wrote the words and music of Tautiška giesmė in 1898.

Yellow, green and red. The flag is a yellow, green and red tricolour, adopted in 1918 and restored in 1988.

False. False. Aukštojas Hill, the highest point, is only 293.84 metres high.

False. False. Lithuanian is a Baltic language. Its closest relative is Latvian, and it keeps many very old Indo-European features.

Bread. Duona means bread. Dark rye bread is on the Lithuanian table at every meal.

Amber. Gintaras means amber, the fossil resin that washes up on the Baltic shore.

True. True. Ačiū, said AH-choo, is thank you.

False. False. Ne means no. Yes is taip.

Skanaus. Skanaus is said before eating, like bon appétit. Labanaktis is good night, atsiprašau is excuse me and nesuprantu is I don't understand.

Į sveikatą. Į sveikatą means to your health. It is also said after someone sneezes.

True. True. Prašau is used to ask for something and also to answer when someone says ačiū.

Laba diena. Laba diena means good day. Labanaktis is good night, iki pasimatymo is goodbye and gelbėkite means help.

True. True. 112 is the emergency number, and 113 gives non-urgent medical advice.

False. False. Headlights must be on at all times, day and night.

15:00. As of September 2026 shops may sell alcohol from 10:00 to 20:00, and only until 15:00 on Sundays.

70 to 90 minutes. Trains between Vilnius and Kaunas run about every hour and take 70 to 90 minutes.

True. True. It exchanges them at a fixed rate of 3.4528 litas to 1 euro.