Užupis Everywhere

Matterhorn and Dent d’Hérens on the border between Switzerland and Italy.

Ambassador H. E. Lukas Handschin, working for Grün Stadt Zürich, the city of Zurich’s Office of Parks and Open Spaces.

A total of 17 Swiss people were living in Lithuania by the end of the year 2012. Out of the actually 1.864.699 foreigners living in Switzerland [by August 2013] approximately 1000 are Lithuanians.

Switzerland is a mountainous, landlocked country in Central Europe. Officially it is named Swiss Confederation (Latin: Confoederatio Helvetica, hence the abbreviation CH). You may have noticed this somehow strange country symbol on a sticker placed next to the number plate of cars. Get some useful travel information.

As a federal parliamentary republic Switzerland is currently consisting of 26 independent cantons, with no capital town. Bern, often considered to be the capital of Switzerland even by Swiss native people, is only the seat of the federal authorities and some – but by no means all – of the federal offices and institutions.

Switzerland has four official national languages, German, French, Italian, and Romansh (Rhaeto-Romanic), and a great variety of local dialects which may give you a hint about the manifold cultural regions and traditions. The Swiss, therefore, do not form a nation in the sense of a common ethnic or linguistic identity. The strong sense of belonging to the country is founded on the common historical background and shared values like federalism, direct democracy, independence, and neutrality. The establishment of the Swiss Confederation is traditionally dated to early August 1291 when a Letter of Alliance (or Federal Charter) was signed [there is no precise date given], documenting the Eternal League of the Three Forest Cantons, the union of three cantons (Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden) forming the nucleus of the country in what is now part of central Switzerland. Hence Swiss National Day is celebrated on 1 August.

Switzerland is famous for its public transportation system, the federal railways as well as many others privately or publicly run companies. Have a look at this tv-spot.

Hereinafter you will find some examples of cultural ties between Switzerland and Lithuania in general, Vilnius and Užupis in particular.

Troughout the centuries the beauty of  Swiss landscapes inspired many artists from all over Europe.

Ferdinand Hodler, Thunersee von Leissigen aus.

Switzerland did not only inspire painters but also quite a lot of Lithuanian authors and poets, among them e.g. Maironis at the beginning of the 20^th century. This book which is leading you to the trails of Lithuanian authors in Switzerland was published in a bilingual Lithuanian-German edition  in 2009 by Šveicarijos lietuvių bendruomenė.

On the trails of Lithuanian authors in Switzerland.

Ambassador H.E. Andrei Slavuckyj

(also Ambassador to Sudan, Ethiopia and Somali)

On May 24, 2018  H.E. A.Slavuckij will be honoured with the highest award of Uzhupis Foreign Affairs – the order of the Silver Garlic bullet.

24 мая 2018 г. Его Превосходительству А. Славуцкому будет вручена высшая награда МинИнДел Ужуписа, орден Пули Серебряного чеснока.

The territory of Crimea was conquered and controlled many times throughout its history. The Cimmerians, Greeks, Scythians, Goths, Huns, Bulgars, Khazars, the state of Kievan Rus’, Byzantine Greeks, Kipchaks, Ottoman Turks, Golden Horde Tatars and the Mongols all controlled Crimea in its earlier history. In the 13th century, it was partly controlled by the Venetians and by the Genovese; they were followed by the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire in the 15th to 18th centuries, the Russian Empire in the 18th to 20th centuries, Germany during World War II and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and later the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, within the Soviet Union during the rest of the 20th century.

Crimea is now an autonomous parliamentary republic, within Ukraine, which is governed by the Constitution of Crimea in accordance with the laws of Ukraine. The capital and administrative seat of the republic’s government is the city of Simferopol, located in the center of the peninsula. Crimea’s area is 26,200 square kilometres (10,100 sq mi) and its population was 1,973,185 as of 2007. Crimean Tatars, an ethnic minority who in 2001 made up 12.1% of the population, formed in Crimea in the late Middle Ages, after the Crimean Khanate had come into existence. The Crimean Tatars were forcibly expelled to Central Asia by Joseph Stalin’s government. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Crimean Tatars began to return to the region. According to the 2001 Ukrainian population census 58.5% of the population of Crimea were ethnic Russians and 24.4% were ethnic Ukrainians.[From Wikipedia]

——————–

It is worth mentioning that there are districts in the cities of the world, named after Crimea (and, according to Uzhupis law, having invisible connections and spirit of it). Such is picturesque Crimea in Torino, Italy, on the other bank of the Po river, with a monument for the heroes of the Crimean war(October 1853 – February 1856). – added by Minister of Foreign Affairs