Letters that were lost for 50 years have finally been delivered to their intended recipients.

A letter, originally sent to a 12-year-old girl in Lithuania, has been delivered almost 51 years later, sent by her pen pal from Poland.

After receiving the letter, Genovefa Klonovska thought someone was playing a joke on her, as it contained a handmade rose and two paper dolls.

This summer, the letter—along with 17 others—was found dirty and crumbled after falling from a ventilation hole during the demolition of an old wall at a former post office near Vilnius.

"The workers suggested we throw the letters away, but I contacted the post office instead," said Jurgis Vilutis, the building owner. "I'm thrilled they took an interest."

Vilutis believes that the letters, dating back to the late 1960s and early 1970s, were likely hidden by a dishonest postal worker who searched for cash or valuables.

At the time, Lithuania was part of the Soviet Union, and the letters were sent by emigrants or pen pals from countries like Australia, Poland, and Russia.

Street names and numbers in Vilnius have since changed, and postal workers spent months tracking down the recipients, speaking with current residents and neighbors to find out where they had moved.

Only five of the intended recipients were located, and in some instances, letters were handed to the children of those who had passed away.

"It felt like a moral obligation to deliver these letters," said Deimante Zebrauskaite, head of the customer experience department at Lithuania Post.

"One woman likened the experience to finding a message in a bottle cast into the sea. It was an emotional moment for many, as some felt like they were reconnecting with a piece of their late parents' lives," Zebrauskaite explained.

In a letter sent to Klonovska from Koczary, Poland, and stamped in 1970, a girl named Ewa writes about how buses no longer service her village, forcing her to walk in minus 23 degrees Celsius (minus 9.4°F), and she requests photos of movie stars.

Now in her 60s, Klonovska doesn't recall Ewa. She likely reached out to her after seeing an ad for pen pals in a newspaper, and the correspondence ended when the letter went undelivered.

"It's fortunate that the letter didn't have a significant impact. The loss wasn't life-altering," Klonovska said. "But imagine if it had been a letter from a lover to his beloved, and it never reached her—what if their marriage never happened?"