How Litvaks Brought Petrol Stations to Interwar Lithuania
Accelerating motorisation in interwar Lithuania increased the demand for fuel and gave rise to a new type of business – petrol stations.Continue Reading →
The Chameleon West: Lithuania as a Set for Soviet Cinema
Vilnius and Kaunas often stood in for Western cities in Soviet films. Does this still fuel misperceptions about the Baltic states in the Soviet era?Continue Reading →
The Unbuilt Soviet Metro System that Haunts Latvia’s Capital: Traces
“Every day you going down in subway, because you got no better place to go”Continue Reading →
Gaudgeniks? Gohenkis? Gojinx? Life Abroad with a Latvian Name
The rest of the world often has serious trouble with Latvian names, as these members of the diaspora can attestContinue Reading →
"Did You Eat the WHOLE Cake?" On Learning Estonian
"Estonian is popularly known as a difficult language to learn. The only other national languages it’s related to are Finnish and Hungarian."Continue Reading →
"The Forest Is in Our DNA": Lithuania's Ancient Woods
"We can be proud that we have these in Lithuania, because in Western Europe these were already gone a hundred years ago"Continue Reading →
"Nobody, Nobody Is Alone": What Singing Means to Estonians
“Singing brings Estonians joy. Singing gives Estonians courage. Singing makes Estonians free.”Continue Reading →
Twenty Speakers, But Three Poets: Writing in Livonian
Two books of poetry originally written in the Livonian language, spoken by just twenty people, have recently appeared in English translationContinue Reading →
The Unbuilt Soviet Metro System that Haunts Latvia's Capital: Struggle
“In total, these 172 letters were signed by 1,965 people. There were 1,964 votes against the construction of the metro."Continue Reading →
Jazz, Instinct and Meaning: Tomas Kutavičius and Contemporary Lithuanian Music
Claire McGinn speaks to Lithuanian composer Tomas Kutavičius, and takes the pulse of contemporary art music in VilniusContinue Reading →
The Unbuilt Soviet Metro System that Haunts Latvia's Capital: Beginnings
Riga was down for a metro – a formally and conceptually adventurous system that would have been the most expensive ever built in the Soviet UnionContinue Reading →
The Other Estonian Language: Preserving and Promoting Võro
North Estonian came to dominate in the 19th century and became the basis for modern standard Estonian, while South Estonian declinedContinue Reading →