Landsbergis was presiding over the Supreme Council when it adopted the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania on 11 March 1990. Under his leadership, Lithuania managed to withstand the Soviet Unions' economic blockade and gained international recognition.
Landsbergis was a member of the Seimas between 1992 and 2004. He served as the Speaker of the Seimas in 1996-2000, and has been a MEP since 2004.
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė said Landsbergis led the nation when it needed courage and consolidation during the times of the Revival Movement (Sąjūdis), at the onset of independence and after the country made first important steps as an independent country.
"Who could deny that Landsbergis "is to blame" for everything. He did not fear the occupant, called the nation, was perceptive, managed to be a few steps ahead of others, built bridges to the democratic world and defended the ideals of freedom," the head of state writes.
"On the occasion of this beautiful jubilee, I thank you for your political weight, intellectual contents for the public life, for you creations enriching Lithuania. I wish you to remain a personality it's not easy to be near but it's an honor and gift for everyone who cares about our Lithuania to be near you," Grybauskaitė said.
Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius, who took the helm of the Homeland Union party from Landsbergis in 2003, stressed that Landsbergis' role at the juncture of the 1980s and 1990s was much more important than that of an ordinary leader as Landsbergis had considerable influence on the collapse of the Soviet Union and changes in the map of Europe.
"Lithuania and the Sąjūdis led by Landsbergis in fact undertook a big mission to test the boundaries of Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika. Landsbergis lead Lithuania at the forefront in the dismantling of the entire Soviet empire, which eventually resulted not only in peaceful achievement of our freedom, but also in the collapse of the entire Soviet Union," the prime minister said.
"It provoked many other global political processes that culminated in the fall of the Berlin Wall in the autumn of 1989. To a large extent, the wall fell because the Sąjūdis and Landsbergis had been consistently pushing further the boundaries of perestroika since the summer of 1988, which finally led to irreversible processes of the collapse of the USSR and its socialist camp," the prime minister said.
"I have had the honor to stand by Landsbergis' side in politics for 20 years now. And I always find things to learn from him and I never cease to wonder," Kubilius said.
Conservative Speaker of the Seimas Irena Degutienė called Landsbergis a creator of history and an uncompromising defender of truth.
"You have worked in the Sąjūdis and the Restituent Seimas, defended the real values in Lithuania's politics, and as you would sometimes receive due appreciation and undue deprecation or even insults, you have always remained an uncompromising defender of truth. No matter how unpleasant that truth for someone was and no matter how much some powers want to erase you name from the history of Lithuania or at least to reduce the significance of it," Degutienė said.
"But the Lithuania that thinks, appreciates, and defends freedom, and is committed to conscience and truth - that Lithuania knows and will always know who it should be grateful for the declared and defended 11 March, for the fact that we withstood on 13 January, for the fact that Lithuania has not become part of shady deals but was forced to follow the principles of decency, conscience, and truth," the speaker said.
Born on 18 October 1932, Landsbergis has made a significant contribution not only into Lithuania's politics but also culture. He is researching the musical culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Landsbergis has also produced important works on the oeuvre of Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, Lithuanian painter and composer.
