The Science and Encyclopaedia Publishing Centre (previously: ''Science and Encyclopaedia Publishing Institute'', or MELC) is a

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

n publishing house that specializes in encyclopedias, reference works, and dictionaries. The Institute, headquartered in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

, is supported by the Lithuanian Republic's Ministry of Education and Science. The publishing house was established in 1997, as a reorganisation of Science and Encyclopaedia Publishers. The latter publishing house was founded in 1992 after the merger of Mokslas Publishing with the State Encyclopaedia Publishers. Its major project is the preparation and publication of the 25-volume ''

Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija The ''Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija'' or VLE () is a 25-volume universal Lithuanian-language encyclopedia published by the Science and Encyclopaedia Publishing Institute from 2001 to 2014. VLE is the first published universal encyclopedia i ...

'' which was completed in 2015. It also publishes several specialized encyclopedias, standard and specialized dictionaries, reference books, research monographs focusing on social science, natural science, and technology, scientific works by international authors, and popular science books.

Major publications

* ''

'' (Universal Lithuanian Encyclopedia) * ''Mažosios Lietuvos enciklopedija'' (Encyclopaedia of Lithuania Minor) (4 vols.) * ''Muzikos enciklopedija'' (Encyclopaedia of Music) (3 vols.) * ''Technikos enciklopedija'' (Technical Encyclopaedia) (4 vols.) * ''Žemės ūkio enciklopedija'' (Encyclopaedia of Agriculture) (3 vols.) * ''Baltų religijos ir mitologijos šaltiniai'' (Sources for the Baltic Religions and Mythology) (4 vols.) * ''Lietuvių vardų kilmės žodynas'' (Etymological Dictionary of Lithuanian Names) * ''Senoji Europa'' (Old Europe) by

Marija Gimbutas Marija Gimbutas (, ; January 23, 1921 – February 2, 1994) was a Lithuanian archaeology, archaeologist and anthropologist known for her research into the Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures of "Old European Culture, Old Europe" and for her Kurgan ...

* ''Vokiečių – lietuvių kalbų žodynas'' (German-Lithuanian Dictionary) * ''Rusų – lietuvių kalbų žodynas'' (Russian-Lithuanian Dictionary) * ''The History of the Lithuanian language'' by Zigmas Zinkevičius

References

External links

Official website
Book publishing companies of Lithuania 1997 establishments in Lithuania Organizations based in Vilnius 20th-century encyclopedias 21st-century encyclopedias Publishing companies established in 1997 {{publish-company-stub