Cancellations of Lit.SSR - 04 Šiauliai

Шяуляй/Šiauliai 3 registered mail 1983

This post office was located at Tilžės g. 121 and today replaced by Šiauliai 15 located inside the newly built shopping center "Saulės miestas" (Tilžės g. 109)

Шяуляй/Šiauliai 4 (Zokniai) registered mail 1976

with a rare registration label error "Šauliai" instead of Šiauliai

It's a postal stationery commemorating 400 years of Vilnius University, at the time called V.Kapsukas University.

Šiauliai 4 was located at Zokniai, now closed down.

Шяуляй/Šiauliai 9 registered mail 1975

Шяуляй/Šiauliai 14 registered mail 1988

This post office was located at Medelyno g. 7, now closed down.

from left to right Шяуляй/Šiauliai 3, 4, 9 and 14

Many people think that small town's postmarks are somehow harder to collect than bigger city's ones. It is partly true. If you are looking for Soviet Lithuania's covers outside of Lithuania, most of what you would get is likely to be the ones of Vilnius. Indeed, I probably do have thousands of Vilnius postmarks in my collection. But.. unlike small towns, bigger cities tend to have branch post offices which makes the postal history of the city interesting but also complicated. Vilnius could turn into your nightmare if you are trying to complete all postmarks. Many branch post offices have been closed down, relocated, renamed or simply newly created (and recreated). Some existed only few months. Towards the end of the rule of Tsarist Russia, branch post offices had their location included in their postmarks such as: Вильна - Лукишки(Lukiškės) or Вильна - Снипишки(Šnipiškės). Unfortunately, during the Soviet rule those post offices were just numbered. This makes it extremely complicated because the post office with a same number can be located in a different place depending on which period of time you are looking for. Soviet time "Panevėžys 11" was not necessary located at the place where the modern Panevėžys 11 stands nowdays.

Anyway, here are some of the registered covers of the branch post offices of Шяуляй/Šiauliai during the Soviet time. Some of them are extremely difficult to get. According to post.lt, Šiauliai central (1), 2, 5, 8, 10, 13, 15 and 16 are officially open for operation today in Šiauliai.

P.S. Postmark of modern Lithuania, Šiauliai 15 and 16 wanted! Both located inside a shopping center, 15 in Saulės Miestas, 16 in Akropolis. If anyone can help, please write me, I would truly appreciate!