LET US GET ACQUAINTED

Dear readers

LET US MAKE OUR ACQUAINTANCE WITH LITHUANIA

Lithuania

Museum of the Centre of Europe

"Europos Parkas"

Lithuanian Farm

Women's Association

Agrotouristic activity

in Lithuania

POLISH-LITHUANIAN

COOPERATION

Polish-Lithuanian

Chamber of Tourism

Cooperation between Polish

and Lithuanian communes

Pirklys-Kupiec-Merchant

INITIATIVE

Tourist qualities of Puñsk-Sejny region

They deserved to be rewarded

Èenakai, cepelinai, blynai _

Lithuanian cuisine delicacies

CULTURAL HERITAGE

The museum of

Ethnography in Puñsk

TOURIST ROUTES

The green rue route

IMPORTANT FIGURES

Boýena Bobin, the editor-in-chief of "Tourist" is studying marketing and management at Administration Faculty of Suwaùki-Mazury Higher School. For four years she has been working at "Auðra" (Lithuanian minority in Poland monthly magazine) publishing house in Puñsk. Recently she has also been the editor-in chief of magazine for children "Auðrelë" (published for Lithuanian minority, as well).

Boýena thinks that in our reality agrotourism has a big chance to be developed and suggests supporting those people who want to be involved in it. In "Tourist" some of them, especially those who are more successful, will be presented.

The magazine is also going to show us some aspects of cooperation between Poland and Lithuania. It will present cultural heritage, cultivating of traditions, rites or Lithuanian cuisine and its specifity which is preserved not only in Lithuania but also on Polish-Lithuanian borderland.

Here is a brief summary of some articles presented in our magazine.

The President of Board of the Agency for Promotion of Development "Dzûkija" Romuald Witkowski introduces Puñsk as a small town with its population about 1200 people where ideas comparable to those of unifying Europe have been born.

In 1991 the first international fair "in the east of the Vistula river" called "The First Economic Meetings in Puñsk" took place.

In 1992 the Promotion Centre "Punia" in Puñsk organized The First Baltic Economic Forum in Suwaùki. In 1991 during The Second Economic Meetings in Puñsk Mr R. Witkowski in cooperation with one of the most energetic businessmen in north-east of Poland decided to organize The Polish-Lithuanian Economic Chamber in Suwaùki.

In 1991-93 PC "Punia" was publishing economic periodical "Pirklys-Kupiec" (English: "merchant") which presented initiative and economic law in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to Polish reader.

In 1997 the idea of organizing Polish-Lithuanian Chamber of Tourism was born. Until the end of this year the first Founder's Convention is going to take place. We will inform you about some aspects of its activity in next issues of our magazine. You can also get the information from the Internet: www.punskas.pl/tourist

In article "Lithuania" you can find some very basic information about Lithuania. It is a small European country situated on the east coast of the Baltic Sea. People of Baltic origin live there. In the past the land was being occupied and colonized, christianized and socialized. The population of Lithuania amounts to 3.7 million of which 82 per cent are Lithuanians, 8,2 per cent are Russians, 6,9 per cent Poles and there are above 100 other nationalities. From ethnographic point of view Lithuanians are divided into two basic groups: Highlanders, in Lithuanian called "Aukstaiciai", and Samogitians called "Zemaiciai". Lithuania occupies an area of 65,200 square kilometres. Its nearest neighbours are Latvia, Belarus, Poland and Russia.

Lowlands, which predominate in the area, are separated by hilly uplands (the highest point is 293m). There are numerous lakes, rivers (the Nemunas is Lithuania's largest river). Forests cover about 30 per cent of the area of Lithuania. There are a lot of reserves, nature preserves and 5 national parks.

About 300 firms in Lithuania work in tourism area. The quality of their service is getting higher. There are numerous interesting places worthy to visit in this country such as: Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipeda and many others. At present Lithuania is ready to admit about one million visitors per year.

One of the most recommended places to visit is the Museum of the Centre of Europe. It is the leading open-air contemporary art museum which is situated 19 kilometres from the centre of Vilnius. While enjoying the treasured landscape of the park we will at the same time discover the world of art. This place is proved as the geographic centre of the European continent. The main goal of this museum is to give it an artistic significance by displaying works by famous contemporary artists.

For more details about our magazine search our page on Internet (see above).