Jonas Basanavičius was born in 1851 and died in 1927. He was and activist, patriarch of the Nation. Basanavičius participated in every major event leading to the independent Lithuanian state. He was supposed to be a priest but he chose to study medicine in Moscow and to become a doctor, which he did.

Jonas Basanavičius is known for his activities in Lithuanian society. He was a publisher of illegal Lithuanian newspaper “Aušra”. It was a first newspaper in Lithuanian language and it was illegal at the time because Lithuania was occupied by TSAR.

While Lithuania was occupied by Russia, Lithuanian press was banned from 1864 to 1904. Basanavičius was the founder of the Lithuanian Scientific Society, which was responsible for culture and education. The Society conducted research on the Lithuanian language and it’s dialects along with any other historical research.

Basanavičius was an initiator of Great Seimas of Vilnius in 1905. He was signatory of the Act of Independence of Lithuania. Basanavičius was the member of Lithuanian Council.

Basanavičius collected Lithuanian folklore, such as songs, fairy – tales, and riddles, and published 14 books during his life.

In 1993-2004, folklorists Leonardas Sauka and Kostas Aleksynas organized approximately 7000 works of folklore collected by Basanavičius and published them in the 15-volume Jonas Basanavičius Folklore Library.

To put everything in a the nutshell, Jonas Basanavičius is still not forgotten till this day because of what he’s done for Lithuania and its independence. Because of him, now we celebrate our independence day on February 16th.

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