Lithuania in the News
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7th January 2018
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The 2017 Vilnius Christmas Festivities Astound the World |
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The Vilnius Christmas Tree in the Cathedral Square.
Photo courtesy vilnius.lt Internationally the Vilnius Christmas tree has received extensive media coverage in print, internet, radio & TV, and social media - described variously as the most beautiful in Europe, inimitable etc. “Now that really is a Christmas tree”, according to the British website www.mirror.co.uk. The popular German magazine “Bild” also points out that the Vilnius Christmas tree is set off by the city of Vilnius, strikingly beautiful itself. With more than 50 churches in Vilnius, it compares Vilnius to Rome. The designer of the Christmas tree was Dominykas Koncevičius. On the other extreme end of size magnitude, that at the level of nanotechnology, Vilnius again astounds. Vilnius scientists have made a very small three-dimensional exact copy of the traditional Nativity Scene in the Cathedral Square, on scale 10,000 times smaller, making it the smallest in the world and smaller than a human cell, visible only through a microscope. ![]()
The microscopic scale Vilnius Nativity Scene.
Photo courtesy nanojesus.com It took three months to execute this project. It involved a team from Vilnius Gediminas Technical University and the University’s “LinkMenų Factory” Innovation Centre, together with the Vilnius University Laser Research Centre and the industrial companies “Femtika” and “Idea 3D.” The project was supported by the Vilnius Archdiocese, “Go Vilnius” and “Invest Lithuania”. In total, five copies of the nano-Nativity Scene were made. One copy was presented to Pope Francis by Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė as a gift from Lithuanian people, who eagerly await his visit to Lithuania in 2018. Other copies will remain with the Lithuanian Presidential Palace, the Vilnius Archdiocese, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University and Vilnius Municipality. In passing it is also interesting to note that the Archbishop of Vilnius, Gintaras Grušas, is no stranger to high technology. Earlier in his life he had worked as a computer scientist with IBM. Further information: http://www.vilnius.lt/kalbos/?p=6738&lang=en http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/one-europes-brightest-christmas-trees-11624243 http://www.bild.de/reise/europa/lettland/advent-baltikum-54251758.bild.html http://www.vilnius.lt/kalbos/?p=6773&lang=en https://www.nanojesus.com/ |