TheVisuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija orVLE (transl. Universal Lithuanian Encyclopedia) is a 25-volume universalLithuanian-language encyclopedia published by theScience and Encyclopaedia Publishing Institute from 2001 to 2014. VLE is the first published universal encyclopedia in post-SovietLithuania (it replaces the formerLietuviškoji Tarybinė Enciklopedija which was published in thirteen volumes from 1976 to 1985). The last volume, XXV, was published in July 2014.[1] An additional volume of updates, error corrections, and indexes was published in 2015.[2] The encyclopedia's twenty-five volumes contain nearly 122,000 articles and about 25,000 illustrations. Since June 2017, VLE is published as anonline encyclopedia being updated to present day.[3]
VLE is an encyclopedia published in Lithuanian; therefore, it focuses onLithuania,Lithuanians and Lithuanian topics (Lithuanian personalities, organizations, language, culture, national activities). These articles make up about 20–25% of all articles and illustrations (about 6,000 articles are intended to describe personalities alone).
Separate thematic articles contain articles on Lithuanian studies - about Lithuania and Lithuanians. Much space in the VLE is devoted to topics banned or ignored during theSoviet era: Lithuanian statehood, the history of the Catholic Church,the army, Lithuania's resistance to Nazi and Soviet occupation,the history of the Lithuanian state,Lithuania Minor.[4]Juozapas Girdzijauskas stated that VLE "will objectively acquaint the society with the world's culture, capture the modern level of science, promote the humanistic values of humanity, and help the Lithuanian people to overcome the Soviet ideology".
Coordination and editing ofVisuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija is carried by prominent Lithuanian scholars:
Additionally, editorial-scientific boards of 23–25 scholars were established for the main science branches. In total, there were 2,957 authors.[5]
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