Vilnius 1906

A postcard sent in 1906 from Вильна/Vilna (now Vilnius) to Paris, France. The statue shown is the monument of the Russian ruler Catherine the Great. It was erected in 1905 at the cathedral square and removed during the WWI German occupation.

Alytus 2011

This is a FDC of the commemorative stamps of Alytaus kraštotyros muziejus (Alytus regional museum) cancelled in Alytus on 04/06 2011. The first day cancellation depicts the wooden statue of saint John of Nepomuk which the museum owns. John of Nepomuk was a Czech saint (called Jan Nepomucký in Czech) popular in Lithuania during the Catholic counter-reformation period, depicted in numerous places throughout the country including the coat of arms of Anykščiai.

Pandėlys 1922

This a registered cover sent in 1922 from Pandėlys to Germany. Unfortunately, there is 1 stamp missing but since it is not so easy to find a registered cover from the inflation period of a village in Lithuania, I just went ahead and bought it. Pandėlys is a village with a population of less than a thousand, not far from Rokiškis. The violet cachet of Postüberwachungsstelle on the back is the Post control office cachet of Berlin.

Jieznas 1972

This another illustrated Soviet stationery sent in 1972 from Езнас/Jieznas. A tourist facility of Бирштонас/Birštonas is illustrated on the envelope. Jieznas is a small town with a population of approximately 1500. This town has been mentioned in historical records for the magnificent palace of the Pac family but unfortunately, it has been burnt down by a fire in 19th century. Only a white baroque church remains today from that period.

Daugailiai 1970

This is one of the series of illustrated Soviet stationery sent in 1970 from Даугайляй/Daugailiai, a village in Utena county with a population of 350. The illustration depicts a sanatorium in Друскининкай/Druskininkai. I like those illustration series of the Soviet stationery, especially the ones in the 60's and 70's.

Anykščiai Railway post line No. 201. 1902

Very rare railway postmark line No. 201 Švenčionėliai-Panevėžys

Arrival cancellation of Уцяны / Utsyany (Utena)

This is a very nice registered cover sent in 1902 from  Оникшты / Onikshty (now Anykščiai, Lithuania), Ковен. г./Kovenskaya Guberniya (Kaunas Gubernia) to Уцяны/Utsyany (now Utena, Lithuania) also in the same Kaunas Gubernia. There is also a railway postmark (Почтовыи вагон/Pochtovyi vagon) of the line No.201 running from Ново-Свенцяны / Novo-Sventsyany (Švenčionėliai) to ПоневѢж / Ponevezh (Panevėžys), which stopped at both, Anykščiai an Utena. 

Kapčiamiestis 1912

Копцıово/Koptsiovo (now Kapčiamiestis, Lithuania)

This is a Christmas card sent in 1912 from Копцıово / Koptsiovo (spelled Kopciowo in Polish, now Kapčiamiestis, Lithuania), Сув/Suv (Suvalki Gubernia). Копцıово can also be spelled Копциово in modern Russian. It is interesting that this card is written by a French woman to her relative in Cracovie, French name for Kraków, Poland. I do not know if it is a French woman who married a Polish man or the family itself is all French. Her husband seems to be a director in a bank in Łomża, Poland.

Vilnius 1936

Special cancellation "Witaj Gwiazdo Złota" from 1936. "Witaj Gwiazdo Złota" is the name of a very popular Christmas song in Poland. From the very cute looking of this postmark, it doesn't seem but actually it is a pretty rare postmark.

Vilnius 1938

Special cancellation "Wesołych Świąt". The post office Wilno 1 has issued a variety of illustrated postmarks and it is worth collecting! This one is from 1938. "Wesołych Świąt" is a polish expression to celebrate holidays usually sacred ones such as Easter or Christmas.

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. 

Vilnius ATM stamp 1995

This is a FDC of an ATM stamp canceled in Vilnius in 1995 and the stamp itself. It is the first and the only of it's kind ever issued in Lithuania. Minimum value is 1.40 Litas and maximum is 4.00 Litas.

Vilnius 1939

This is a detached answer part of a double postal stationery sent from the post office Wilno 1 (now Vilnius, Lithuania) by the Kurja Metropolitalna Wileńska (Archdiocese of Wilno. "Kurja" is spelled Kuria in modern polish language) to Łódź, Poland. It looks like a certain Mr. Adam Holaczewski in Łódź requested a record of his father to the Archdiocese of Wilno - Wydział Metryczny (department of civil registration). I'm surprised that the archdiocese kept such civil registration document including birth certificates, but according to the website of several present  Polish archdioceses, they actually do have a special archive for this and it's open to the public upon request. I have noticed that not only philatelists but people who are trying to trace back their genealogy often visit this blog, and I just wanted to tell those people that the old archdioceses archives could be an option to retrieve your family's traces. Unfortunately, the old Polish Archdiocese of Wilno is gone and lots of those documents concerning the church have been confiscated (some destroyed) by the Soviet authority that took over.

Here is a link to the list of towns and villages under the jurisdiction of the former Archdiocese of Wilno for your convenience: link