50 Litų Curonian Spit

The Curonian Spit was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000, jointly nominated by Lithuania and Russia — an unusual act of cross-border cooperation for a narrow strip of land still divided between the two countries. Lithuania's half, anchored by the resort town of Nida, had been a favored retreat for German intellectuals during the interwar period, including Thomas Mann, who built a summer house there in 1930.

This issue belongs to a Lithuanian commemorative silver series that accelerated sharply after EU accession negotiations, with natural and cultural heritage sites providing much of the thematic material through the mid-2000s.