4/ Livonian shares no common origins with Latvian. Once spoken throughout much of the country, Soviet occupation displaced the last pocket of native speakers, who lived in a string of tiny fishing villages in western Latvia. The last surviving native speaker died in 2013, but a revival is underway.

Feed: "Deep Baltic" By: deepbaltic on Tuesday, October 7, 2025

From the Lost Canals of Vilnius, a counterfactual history #aiart #counterfactualhistory

FIE moved the 2026 European Fencing Championships to France due to Estonia's refusal to allow Russians and Belarusians to obtain visas. Ahead of the decision to relocate the event, FIE asked Estonia to sign an agreement guaranteeing entry for all participants, regardless of nationality.

What a view Tallinn 🇪🇪 -15C ❄️

The Associated Press decided in June 2023 to stop referring to the 14 countries that emerged independent of Russian occupation in 1991 countries as “former Soviet republics.” The decision was taken on the advice of our journalists working in the region, and it has been generally well-received.

#OTD 105 years ago the Allied Supreme Council supports de iure recognition of the Republic of Latvia 🇱🇻 #LVdeiure105

Got my copy of the hottest new book in Lithuanian poetry 🇱🇹

Hitler-Stalin-Pact 1939-41 Latvia partly occupied by Soviets: "there are some 1200 former Polish officers and soldiers interned in four military 'camps in Latvia, 248 civilians placed in two civilian camps, and about 150 civilians taken into private homes" The Newcastle Sun @amaragraps.bsky.social

The Cat House in #Riga. Apparently, the cat was placed there with its tail facing towards the nearby Tradesmans' Guild, with whom the house's owner had had an argument.

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekBforBooks Day 7 Rundale Palace, Latvia

13 years ago in Tallinn Incredible interest in aerial photos. This image received 519 likes, many comments, and shares. 64,135 people saw the post in just 14 days—a strong signal of how powerful the aerial perspective can be. #Estonia #Tallinn #AerialPhotography #lassetur

Underappreciated fact: The paths and positions of the cable damages around New Years 2026 were to most of Estonia's internet backbone routes. Had it fully succeeded/happened by accident (lol) Estonia would have been left with a crippled connectivity.

I was also pleased to find an excuse to publish this, about something I've been working on for quite a while - the contemporary culture (films, music, literature, memes) being made in the oft-repressed Latgalian language of Latvia's eastern borderlands deepbaltic.com/2025/02/24/t...

"If you come from a city where politeness is announced loudly – “Please move down the carriage!”, “Let the passengers off first!” – Riga’s tram etiquette can seem almost too quiet." deepbaltic.com/2025/12/17/t...

The scars of clear cutting, as opposed to selective cutting of a forest...Usma, Usma parish, Ventspils Municipality, in the Courland region of Latvia. #nature #geography #ecology #photo

Interesting piece from a couple of months ago, about something that's become increasingly apparent in recent years - that Lithuania, historically the poorest Baltic state, is on the path to economically overtaking much-vaunted Estonia news.err.ee/1609779081/t...

Classic Estonian movie 'Dead Mountaineer's Hotel' selected for Berlin Film Festival news.err.ee/1609910857/c...

Three of Latvia's Finnic languages – Courland Livonian, Salaca Livonian, Lutsi South Estonian – have developed popular written forms. Read about these orthographies, their development, and how they changed as these communities changed in my recently published article. tinyurl.com/latviaonthea...

A protest rally in Chicago in 1988 against the Soviet occupation of Lithuania (Image: Romualdas Požerskis, MO Museum Collection) deepbaltic.com/2025/12/19/a...

In 1991, the night from Jan 12 to Jan 13, these innocent Lithuanian people were killed by the Soviet troops. Teenager fatally shot in the back, young woman who was about to marry that summer crushed by a tank, fathers, newlyweds. And the Nobel peace prize winner in Moscow.

Haralds Sīmanis - Ezers (Latvia, psychedelic rock) (1980) https://redd.it/5fbb3e https://youtu.be/x3oQFfbMrUQ

Unknown photographer, Management Centre, 1985, USSR North-Western Integrated Power Grid, Riga, Latvia

My new article! "How An Estonian Fishing Boat Escaped from the Soviet Union to Sweden in 1947" (and how MGB failed to stop it) Based on my research of #MGB/#KGB files at Hoover Library & Archives. @hooverinstitution.bsky.social @socintelhist.bsky.social The link: tinyurl.com/yc6z5nmr

Visited the homeland, rode some buses & trams & trains, and walked some tiny streets.

Guest on Latvijas Radio 1 this morning compares Trump's threats to Greenland to if Latvia declared it was forcibly taking the tiny island of Ruhnu in the Gulf of Riga (which opted to join Estonia in 1919)

"They also often used the phrase in accented Lithuanian – “But in Chicago…” meaning everything was better in the US. The Amerikonkas in their 60s looked rested and wore shorts despite their far-from-ideal bodies." deepbaltic.com/2025/12/19/a...

Baltic countries on alert after series of suspicious undersea cable outages ft.trib.al/FqOJeOx

The direct train running between Riga, Latvia, and Tallinn, Estonia, is ready to begin carrying passengers with inaugural ride scheduled on January 12.

the Lithuanian Metrica, an incredibly important historical compendium of basically every recorded legal case in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, is mostly located in a cellar in St Petersburg

Custom trashbin that says “Government’s promises”. Peetri (Tallinn suburb), Anno 2026

Snowy rooftops in Tallinn, Estonia. #tallinn #estonia #oldtown #baltic #travel

One of my favorite Latvian authors Nora Ikstena passed away today. I have been fortunate read her work in English and Latvian. I also took my students to see Soviet Milk (Mātes piens) in the theaters during my last Baltic Immersion class. Ļoti skumjas ziņas...Izsaku līdzjūtību. 🇱🇻

A map of Europe's mythical creatures produced by a team from Vilnius University features exotic beasts such as the wolpertinger, bukavats and Lizun (licker), as well as the distinctively Lithuanian shape-shifter the aitvaras #DBarchives deepbaltic.com/2021/12/07/m...

As someone who ate Kalev obsessively while living in Tartu, I am happy to see Lossi 36 feature an article that explains the history of the confectionery as well as its role in 🇪🇪's identity.

“But who were they seeking protection from, exactly? As the months that followed would show, more or less everyone.”

Rima Praspaliauskienė grew up with stereotypes about the Lithuanian community in the US, but found herself beguiled after a move stateside There she found out that some American Lithuanians had stereotypes about her too (a Tarybukė - or "little Soviet") deepbaltic.com/2025/12/19/a...

Gallery: 16 years on, Tallinn's Linnahall still awaits its next chapter news.err.ee/1609887410/g...

Three Russian border guards illegally crossed into Estonian territory and stayed for about 20 minutes, Bloomberg reports. The incident was caught on video. Estonia will summon Russia’s top diplomat in Tallinn and is boosting patrols in the area. Officials from both sides are set to meet today.

Actor, long-time chairman of the Lithuanian German community Martynas Erwinas Peteraitis passed away (1939-2025). Born in Tauragė, Southwest Lithuania, the man looked more German than any German you will have ever seen.

"For newcomers from cultures where hospitality is expressed with overt enthusiasm, this can feel distant at first." Istanbul-based writer Ersun Augustinus Kayra considers the quiet forms of everyday courtesy that keep Latvia's capital running. deepbaltic.com/2025/12/17/t...

Estonia started building bunkers on its Russian border, with the first phase installing 28 bunkers including seven already delivered near Setomaa municipality, Defense Investment Center reports.

Construction of the Narva hydroelectric power station, Estonian SSR, early 1950s

At the National Library of Lithuania today and tomorrow to discuss imperial family violence in 19th & 20th centuries with @mmuravyeva.bsky.social @joannabourke.bsky.social and other colleagues and friends 📃https://blogs.helsinki.fi/fourepochsofviolence/program/

meanwhile, in estonia,

We've updated our timeline of Latvian history from the Ice Age with the most significant of 2024 and this year. Border and energy security feature front and center. Brew your morning coffee or tea and click on "Expand all +". latvians.com?en/CultureHi...

The staircase of the Riga Art Nouveau Centre in Riga, Latvia

⚡️ Lithuania declares state of emergency over smuggler balloons from Belarus. This move will allow state institutions to coordinate their response more effectively and involve the military.

Destruction and Re-Birth 📷 Manufaktuuri #tallinn #historic #industrial #urbanlandscape #documentary #photography