English: Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe and is considered to be one of the Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, to the east of Sweden and Denmark. It is bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and Kaliningrad Region (a Russian enclave) to the southwest. Lithuania has an estimated population of 2.8 million people (as of 2019), and its capital and largest city is Vilnius. Other major cities are Kaunas and Klaipėda. Lithuanians are Baltic people.

For centuries, the southeastern shores of the Baltic Sea were inhabited by various Baltic tribes. In the 1230s, the Lithuanian lands were united by Mindaugas, the King of Lithuania, and the first unified Lithuanian state, the Kingdom of Lithuania, was created on 6 July 1253. During the 14th century, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was the largest country in Europe; present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, and parts of Poland and Russia were the territories of the Grand Duchy. With the Lublin Union of 1569, Lithuania and Poland formed a voluntary two-state ’personal union’, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Commonwealth lasted more than two centuries, until neighbouring countries systematically dismantled it from 1772 to 1795, with the Russian Empire annexing most of Lithuania's territory. As World War I (WWI) neared its end, Lithuania's Act of Independence was signed on 16 February 1918, declaring the founding of the modern Republic of Lithuania. In the midst of the Second World War (WWII), Lithuania was first occupied by the Soviet Union and then by Nazi Germany. As World War II neared its end and the Germans retreated, the Soviet Union reoccupied Lithuania. On 11 March 1990, a year before the formal Dissolution of the Soviet Union, Lithuania became the first Baltic state to declare itself independent, resulting in the restoration of an independent State of Lithuania.

Panevėžys is the fifth largest city in Lithuania. Panevėžys was first mentioned in 1503, in documents signed by the Grand Duke of Lithuania Alexander I, who granted the town building rights to construct a church and other structures. Alexander is considered the founder of the city, which celebrated its 500th anniversary in 2003. The city lies on the old plain of the Nevėžis River. The city name means "along the Nevėžis." Throughout the 16th century, the city maintained a status of a Royal town. Communities of Poles, and Karaites, settled in the area as early as the 14th century. A Karaite Kenesa, and a Polish Gymnasium, existed in Panevėžys until the Second World War (the Polish version of the name of the city was Poniewież). In the 17th century, the part of the city on the left bank of the river started to develop and expand further. The town played an important role in both the November Uprising, and the January Uprising, and the fights for independence continued there in 1864.

The Scotch Mist Gallery contains many photographs of historic buildings, monuments and memorials of Poland and countries that previously comprised the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.