EXHIBITION "CHRISTIANITY IN LITHUANIAN ART"
(28 December, 1999 - 31 December, 2003)

Romualdas Budrys,
Director of the Lithuanian Art Museum

Dedicated to The Anniversary of Christ’s Birth
and The 750^th Anniversary
of the Baptism and Crowning of
Mindaugas, King of Lithuanian

In this apostolic letter “Before the Dawn of the Third Millennium”, Holy Father John Paul II kindly invites everyone “within one’s power to contribute to the commemoration of the 2000th Anniversary which is really bringing exceptional grace of God to the Church and the entire humanity”. In response to this innovation, the Lithuanian Art Museum is organising a monumental exhibition “Christianity in Lithuanian Art” which seeks to express the singularity and value of Christian culture in Lithuania through the most precious works of art.

The exhibition primarily focuses on the origins of Christianity in Lithuania. It embraces the second millennium of the Church, which has travelled throughout the world, in Lithuania: from the death of the martyr St. Bruno-Boniface in 1009 in Lithuania described in the Quedlinburg annals, revealing the tragedy of the first missions, to the universal consolidation of Christianity on the earth, which is fully evidenced not only by valuable collections of church art of European significance amassed in churches and on estates but also by folk art masterpieces created by shrine makers in the 19th and the early 20th century. Surveying the thousand years of Christianity in Lithuania, the exhibition “Christianity in Lithuanian Art” seeks a versatile reflection of its key facts, phases and processes through artistic form (the missions of St. Adalbert, St. Bruno-Boniface and St. Hyacinth, the christening and coronation of Mindaugas, the missionary activities of the Franciscans and Dominicans, the christening projects of Vytenis, Gediminas and Kestutis-Algirdas, the 1387 christening of Lithuania and the deserts of King Jogaila and Vytautas the Great, the christening of Samogitia, Prince St. Kazimieras, the first written Lithuanian prayers, the Reformation with M. Mažvydas and Catholic reform with M. Daukša and Bishop M. Giedraitis, the activities of the Jesuit Order, the 1579 establishment of the Vilnius Academy and theworks of Bishop Valerijonas Protasevicius, the 1596 Lithuanian Brest Union, the annunciation of the Holy Virgin Mary in Šiluva, Archbishop St. Juozapatas Kuncevicius, Lithuanian Unitarians and Orthodox believers, the Blessed Archbishop Jurgis Matulaitis, the establishment of Lithuania’s independent church organisation, Lithuanian Church during the occupations, etc.).
The exhibition discloses the time of Christianity in Lithuania through the most valuable works of applied and fine art in the styles of Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Classicism and Historicism: painting, sculpture, jeweling, tapestry, graphic and other works and uniques of folk art on religious themes. Over 5 000 valuable works of art created by Lithuanian artists or brought to Lithuania will be displayed at the Applied Art Museum - the historical arsenal of the Vilnius Lower Castle. The exhibition will occupy the entire space of this grand building and its area of 3 000 square meters.
The focal point of exhibition is the first display of the Vilnius Cathedral treasure - a unique collection of valuable works of art of the 14 th-20th centuries and our national relic that link the several centuries old honourable history of the Church, nation and state with the present day and foster historical consciousness and civil pride. Over the centuries the treasure of Vilnius Cathedral has accumulated masterpieces of goldsmithery of the top artistic quality studded with precious stones and adorned with tracery and relief and enamel compositions. In the wars of the mid-17th century the Vilnius Cathedral treasure lost the masterpieces of art donated by Lithuanian and Polish rulers. However, about 270 chalices, monstrances, reliquaries and other liturgical articles created by the most famous Lithuanian and West European goldsmiths have been preserved until today. Those were mostly gifts to the principle temple of Lithuania from distinguished noblemen and high-ranking church dignitaries - Goštautai, Radvilos, Pacai, Sapiegos, and Tiškeviciai.
The memory of the 1387 christening of Lithuania is borne by the reliquary of martyr Bishop St. Stanislaus, the heavenly guardian of Vilnius Cathedral, and the silver stipula (ceremonial stick) of the prelate cantor renovated by Bishop Valerijonas Protasevicius, founder of Vilnius University, in 1563. A special valuable item of the treasure and a true masterpiece of applied art, comparable to St. Ann’s Church in Vilnius, is the Gothic monstrance of Count Albertas Goštautas, Vilnius palatine and chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, called the Geranainiai or the Great Monstrance (152 cm high). The Cathedral’s treasure also contains another unique gift of Goštautas, author of the First Lithuanian Statute and protector of Lithuanian statehood - a nearly one-meter-high crystal cross bound in gilded silver and adorned with large jewels.
Embellished with jewels and other precious stones is also the monstrance of Bishop Jurgis Tiškevicius in the Renaissance and Baroque styles, donated to Vilnius Cathedral before 1655. The collection of the treasure is supplemented by especially valuable and decorative Gothic and Baroque chalices. The gilded silver chalice adorned with enamel and rich hautrelief scenes that was donated to the Cathedral by Biržai Ordinator Count Mykolas Tiškevicius in 1854 is the most valuable art masterpiece in the style of Historicism in Lithuania.
The treasure of Vilnius Cathedral also includes valuable and richly decorated samples of church vestments - 16th-early 20th-century chasubles, mitres, capes and dalmatics, and 17th-18th-century tapestries created at the most famous studios in Brussels.
A part from the treasures of the Cathedral the exhibition also displays a collection of portraits of Vilnius bishops. The portrait of Bishop Duke Povilas Alšeniškis by Giovanni dalMonte stands out particular from this series by its artistic value.
The exhibition broadly presents works on religious themes not only by Lithuanian artists but also by representatives of the most famous West European - Italian and Flemish - schools of painting (Francesco Solimena, Lodovico Carracci, Salvator Rosa, Johann Boeckhorst, Maerten de Vos and others).
The exhibition features in abundance religious folk art, the most authentic part of Christian art in Lithuania testifying to the strong power of faith.
The artistic highlights of the exhibition are supplemented with information that comes from unique scripts and printed matter (parchments, incunabula, oldest publications and manuscripts), which frequently are of the greatest aesthetic value (e.g. miniatures, calligraphy, seals, etc.). this collection of the exhibits includes treasures of Lithuanian linguistics stored not only in Lithuania but also abroad (Vatican, Berlin, Dresden and Riga).
The exhibition opens at the beginning if the Holy Year 2000 - December 28, 1999 (the Catholic Church begins the Holy Year 2000 with opening the door of the Anniversary Year in Lithuania’s cathedrals and churches on December 25, 1999).
Representing unique Christian art collections in Lithuania, the exhibition will be open until 2003 - the anniversary year of coronation of King Mindaugas - and will be closed on October 30.
We hope that the most beautiful and valuable works of Christian art will not only give the visitors of the exhibition special aesthetic impressions but will also promote a more profound knowledge of their native country’s history. Most importantly, in our crossing the threshold of the third millennium they will strengthen “the unfailing yearning for etemal life” that exists in the each of us (John Paul II).

 

  © Lithuanian Art Museum, Fund of Samogitian Culture, Institute of Mathematics and Informatics 
     Comments, remarks send to:  samogit@delfi.lt
     Page updated 2006.03.29