Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who is a descendant of the Vilna Gaon Elijahu ben Solomon Zalman, was the first to visit the exhibition. At the opening, Minister V.Ušackas reminded about the most important dates of Lithuania’s history and noted that the Day of Genocide of Lithuanian Jews was commemorated on 23 September. The head of Lithuania’s diplomacy invited Israeli Prime Minister to visit Lithuania.

On the first day, the exhibition was visited by many diplomats participating in the UN General Assembly. Currently, the United Nations Organization has 192 member states.

The exhibition “Lithuania: Culture and History” tells an exhaustive story about the Millennium of Lithuania and highlights the key political facts. The exhibition introduces the most important events of the Lithuanian history, cultural processes, and different periods of its history. One of the main objectives of this exhibition is to present the history of Lithuania's state, its culture, and to spread information abroad regarding the millennium anniversary of the first mention of Lithuania's name.

The exhibition was prepared by the Lithuanian Art Museum, in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania. The opening was organized by the Permanent Mission of Lithuania to the United Nations and the Consulate General of Lithuania in New York.

In 2008-2009, the English version of the exhibition “Lithuania: Culture and History” was already exhibited in Finland, Estonia, the United Kingdom, the headquarters of the European Commission in Brussels, the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, the Czech Republic. This year it will be exhibited in the United States (Washington, New York, Chicago). Canada, Japan and Israel are in the schedule of exhibition for 2010.

The exhibition will be open in the UN headquarters until 1 October.