Riga-Kybartai Railway post 1928 - Postcard of Dainų šventė in Kaunas 1924

Dainų šventė in Kaunas 1924 (high resolution)

T.P.O. (Pašto vagonas) Ryga - Kybartai 1928

This is postcard send in 1928 by the railway post Ryga (Lithuanian spelling for Riga, the Latvian capital city) - Kybartai from Kėdainiai to France. It is a real picture postcard and shows the Lithuanian traditional song festival called Dainų šventė. The one on the picture is the first one held in Kaunas in 1924, the Lithuanian version of Wikipedia for the entry "Dainų šventė" shows a picture of the same event taken from a slightly different angle.

Mažeikiai-Riga Railway post 1912

Муравьево / Muravjevo (now Mažeikiai, Lithuania) - Riga

Альт-Ауц / Alt-Autz (today Auce, Latvia)

This is an Imperial Russian postal stationery with a railway post cancel of 1912, line 86 between Муравьево / Muravjevo (now Mažeikiai, Lithuania) and Riga which was also a part of Russia at that time. The destination of the card is Альт-Ауц / Alt-Autz, a German place name spelled in Russian alphabet. It sounds a bit weird but it was perfectly normal because the gubernia of Kurland was German speaking despite being part of the Russian Empire. The town  of Альт-Ауц / Alt-Autz is today simply called Auce, part of Latvia, just 5 km from the Lithuanian border and 25 km north east of Mažeikiai. I had been curious if "Neu-Autz" exists. If "Alt-" does, why not the "Neu-", and yes! it does actually. Wikipedia tells me it is Jaunauce which is literally the "New Auce", located just 4 km west of Auce.

Joniškis 1913

Hebrew text on the back

from Янишки / Yanishki to Двинск / Dvinsk

This is a postal stationery sent in 1913 from Янишки / Yanishki (now Joniškis, Lithuania), Ков (Kovno gubernia) to Двинск / Dvinsk (now Daugavpils, Latvia). Nice arrival cancel of Двинск город.  / Dvinsk city! It has again the old manuscript looking Jewish text on the back which was the major reason why I bought this card in the first place. Prewar Joniškis had a large number of Jewish people with some fine Synagogues which were very recently restored.

The 25th anniversary of the Baltic Way 2014

Issued on 23 August 2014, 30000 copies

I'm not a big fan of modern Lithuanian postage stamps but this one caught my eyes because the attractive design. It is a souvenir sheet commemorating the 25th anniversary of the 1989 Baltic Way (Baltijos Kelias in Lithuanian), also called the Baltic Chain. It was a peaceful mass demonstration involving over 2 million people forming a human chain of 670 km stretching from Tallinn, Estonia to Vilnius, Lithuania via Riga, Latvia. This has been one of the major event that drove the political atmosphere towards the independence of the three Baltic Republics.
This souvenir sheet is a joint issue with other Baltic Republics. The denomination of the stamps are in Lithuanian Litas and Euros because Lithuania has joined the Euro in 01.01.2015, 3 months after the issue of this sheet.

Daugavpils-Šiauliai Railway post 1977

ПВ Даугавпилс - Шяуляй / Daugavpils - Šiauliai

I know it's not really a beautiful looking cover but it definitely has a very attractive postmark: ПВ (Почтовый Вагон / Pochtovy Vagon) Даугавпилс - Шяуляй / Daugavpils - Šiauliai. The cover has been sent in 1977 from Rokiškis railway station to Vilnius. ПВ (Почтовый Вагон) literally means "postal wagon" which is used to designate TPO. I have posted in the past on this blog, a Soviet railway postmark of Panevėžys-Šiauliai, the one I'm posting today is the extension of the same line.

Railway map of Šiauliai to the direction of Daugavpils

Vilnius 1910

This is a beautiful postcard of Троки / Troki (now Trakai, Lithuania) sent in 1910 from the post office Вильна Вокзаль / Vilna Vokzal (Vilnius railway station) to Рига / Riga. The picture is so beautiful that it makes you think of an artistic modern photography. Trakai castle was and still is a popular day trip site for tourists and Vilnius residents as well. The postmarks are interesting, the right one is a perfin cancel of Vilnius station, the middle one is a regular cancel of the same post office and the left one is a machine arrival cancel of Riga.

Vilnius arrival cancellation 1915

This is a Russian military field post card sent in 1915 from Митава / Mitava (now Jelgava, Latvia) to Вильна / Vilna (now Vilnius). The arrival postmark is the Russian main field post-office in Вильна/Vilna. ПОЛЕВ. ГЛАВН. ПОЧТ. КОНТ. /Polev. glavn. pocht. kont. is literally "Field main post counter". This post office seemed to be operated in Vilnius from 1914 to 1915 until the German took the city during WWI. There are plenty of documents and literature available in English about WWI German military post but very few about the Russians. I wish I knew more about it.

Priekulė 1907

Prökuls (now Priekulė) postmark 1907

Heydekrug (now Šilutė) arrival cancellation

Not an envelope but a folded letter itself

This is cover sent in 1907 from Prökuls (now Priekulė, Lithuania) to Heydekrug (now Šilutė, Lithuania). Both Prökuls and Heydekrug are part of Memel region which was itself part of Germany at that time. When I first got this cover, I was pretty surprised by the finesse and softness of the paper quality of the envelope but... I was wrong actually. It wasn't an envelope, this he or she, used the letter itself as an envelope, thus explains the high quality of the paper material.
Priekulė is another source of "mix up", sometime mistaken with a Latvian town: Priekule, which is unconveniently located not only to the Lithuanian border but near Klaipėda district. This Latvian town was called Preekuln in German so philatelically (or philatelicly?? I'm always not sure..) speaking it should not cause a problem but for postcard collectors it can be a problem.

German Field post (Feldpost) card sent in 1919 from Preekuln Bahnhof (railway station), now Priekule, Latvia

Zemgale-Vilnius Railway post 1939

Zemgale - Wilno, to some people it might seem strange to see "Zemgale" on a Polish postmark. Indeed, Zemgale is a name of a Latvian region. But according to the train time table (link to the time table is HERE) from that time, there are twice daily train that departs from Warsaw to Turmont (Zemgale) via Wilno/Vilnius. Turmont (now Turmantas, Lithuania) is a border town with a railway station and not part of Latvia. Then why would they add "(Zemgale)" to it?

Zemgale station (upper) and Turmont station (lower)

The answer is quit simple when you look further to the time table. Zemgale was a Latvian border station just 2km north of Turmont/Turmantas station and was the real final destination of the train. According to Wikipedia, Zemgale station does not exist anymore and the station building serves as a Catholic church today (Russian Wikipedia LINK, as it has not been translated to english yet). Zemgale served as a border custom and also as a connecting station to further direction towards Daugavpils. The express train from Warsaw was officially named "Gwiazda Północy", the Northern Star, but most of the people called it "Latający Wilnianin". Latający meaning flying and Wilnianin designates the people of Wilno (if I would be forced to translate it, I would say "Flying Wilnians". HERE is the Wikipedia link). Funny name.. The sender of this cover seems to have posted in Ignalino/Ignalina, a town between Wilno and Zemgale with also a railway station which explains the use of this postmark. 

Panevėžys 1913

ПоневѢж / Ponevezh (now Panevėžys, Lithuania)

This is a registered cover sent in 1913 from ПоневѢж / Ponevezh (now Panevėžys, Lithuania) in Ков (Kovna/Kaunas Gubernia) to Riga, Latvia, at the time both places part of the Russian empire.

Daugavpils-Radviliškis Railway post 1913

Railway post Двинcк / Dvinsk (now Daugavpils, Latvia) - Радзивилишки / Radzivilishki (now Radviliškis, Lithuania)

This is a postal stationery sent in 1913 with a railway post cancellation of the line Двинcк / Dvinsk (now Daugavpils, Latvia) - Радзивилишки / Radzivilishki (now Radviliškis, Lithuania).

Panevėžys 1907

ПоневѢж / Ponevezh (now Panevėžys, Lithuania)

It's a postal stationery sent in 1907 from ПоневѢж / Ponevezh (now Panevėžys, Lithuania) to Виндава/Vindava (now Ventspils, Latvia. Better known in the german name Windau). The letter "Ѣ" in ПоневѢж is not in use anymore in modern russian and mostly replaced by a simple "e". Cancellation of both "Поневеж" and "ПоневѢж" exists.

Kuršėnai 1888

Куршаны / Kurshany (now Kuršėnai, Lithuania)

A cover sent in 1888 from Куршаны / Kurshany (now Kuršėnai, Lithuania), Ковенск. г./Kovenskaya Guberniya (Kovna Gubernia) to Latvia during the Imperial Russian rule.

Šiauliai arrival cancellation 1911

Шавли / Shavli  (now Šiauliai, Lithuania)

This is a registered from Митава (Mitava)/Mitau in Imperial Russia, now Jelgava in Latvia to Шавли (Shavli), now Šiauliai, Lithuania in 1911. It has an arrival cancellation on the back. Registered on december 10th in Jelgava, sent on the 11th, arrived in Šiauliai on the 14th.