Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas explained

Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas
Type:	5 Class Order with associated medal
Eligibility:	Citizens of Lithuania and foreign nationals
Awarded For:	Outstanding performance in civil and public offices
Established:	1928 re-established 1991
Higher:	Order of the Cross of Vytis
Lower:	Order for Merits to Lithuania

The Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas is the Lithuanian Presidential Award which was re-instituted to honour the citizens of Lithuania for outstanding performance in civil and public offices. Foreign nationals may also be awarded this Order. The Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas was instituted in 1928. It features the Columns of Gediminas, one of the national symbols of Lithuania.^[1]

Classes

The Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas has five classes:

Notable recipients

The first five persons awarded the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas after the restoration of the Independent State of Lithuania in 1991 were poets Justinas Marcinkevičius, Bernardas Brazdžionis, priest Ričardas Mikutavičius, painter Vytautas Kazimieras Jonynas and mathematician Jonas Kubilius.^[1]

Other notable recipients

• Edvard Beneš, Czech politician and President of Czechoslovakia
• Elena Bonner, physician, Soviet human rights activist, writer, wife of Andrei Sakharov
• Algirdas Budrys, clarinetist
• Christopher Cox, former U.S. Representative
• Štefan Füle, Czech politician and diplomat^[2]
• James L. Jones, retired United States National Security Advisor and Commandant of the Marine Corps
• Jacek Kuroń, Polish historian and politician
• Ina Marčiulionytė, Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of the Republic of Lithuania to UNESCO
• George Robertson, Baron Robertson of Port Ellen, tenth Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization^[3]
• Mstislav Rostropovich, cellist^[1]
• Juan Antonio Samaranch, former President of the International Olympic Committee^[1]
• George Soros, philanthropist^[1]
• Antanina Vainiūnaitė-Kubertavičienė, Lithuanian actress
• Albrecht Freiherr von Boeselager, Grand Chancellor of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta
• Arvydas Každailis, Lithuanian artist

External links

• Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas

Notes and References

1. Web site: Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas. President of the Republic of Lithuania. 16 November 2012. 27 February 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130227050122/http://adamkus.president.lt/ordinai/dlkgordinas_e.phtml. dead.
2. Web site: NATO Biographies: Head of the Czech Delegation to NATO . Nato.int . 16 November 2012.
3. Web site: NATO Media Library: - NATO Secretary General, Lord Robertson was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas by the Lithuanian President, Rolandas Paksas - 4 Nov. 2003 . Nato.int . 16 November 2012.