The Lithuanian Art Museum welcomes you to the Vilnius
Old Arsenal to admire the exhibition Christianity
in Lithuanian Art. The exhibition, comprised of valuable works
of art representing different cultural periods and artistic
styles - Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Classicism,
Historicism and Modernism - covers the entire millennium of the Roman
Catholic Church in Lithuania - from the St Bruno Boniface mission
followed by the first mention of Lithuania’s name (Lituae) in 1009
to the establishment of the Roman Catholic Province of Lithuania in
1926.
Twelve exhibition halls feature jewellery, textiles, painting,
sculpture, folk
art as well as the documents
and books witnessing Lithuania’s path to Christianity. The
exhibition, covering 3000 sq m, introduces over a thousand works of
secular art not only of the RC Church but also of other traditional
Christian confessions in Lithuania - the Orthodox
Church, the Old Believers, the Eastern
Catholics (Uniats), the Evangelical
Reformed Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church.
The focus of the exhibition is the first display of the Vilnius
Cathedral Treasury - a unique collection of 14th-20th
century art treasures that link centuries-long honourable
history of the Church, the Nation and the State with the present day
and thus foster a historical consciousness, national identity and
civic pride.
Throughout the centuries, the Vilnius
Cathedral has accumulated masterpieces of jeweller’s art of the
highest artistic quality. They include chalices, monstrances,
reliquaries, altar cruets, crosses, portable altars and other
artefacts studded with precious stones and embellished with lacy
ornaments, as well as relief and enamel compositions. Over a hundred
liturgical vessels, church articles, and ex-votos created by famous
Lithuanian, Middle and West European goldsmiths from the famous Cathedral
Treasury have survived till our days. The rulers, high-ranking
church dignitaries, and state nobility - the Gostautas, Radvila,
Vaina, Pacas, Sapiega, Tiskevicius and other families - donated them
to the Vilnius
Cathedral, the national shrine.
Twice a year (on the eve of the National Day on the 6th of July and
just before Christmas) the renewed and enlarged exhibition presents
valuables of sacred art from all Catholic dioceses. Some of them are
on loan from the churches of other Christian confessions, from local
and foreign museums, libraries and archives. The Lithuanian
Art Museum is sincerely grateful to every institution and person
who assisted in this display. The exhibition was opened at the
beginning of the Jubilee Year 2000 on 28th December 1999, and will be
open till the end of the anniversary year of the coronation of
Mindaugas, King of Lithuania, on 30th October 2003.
We hope that the valuable works of Christian art on display will not
only evoke outstanding aesthetic impressions and serve as a stimulus
for a deeper knowledge of our native land, but will also increase the
“burning desire for eternal life” (John Paul II) resting in each
of us.
Romualdas Budrys
Director of Lithuanian Art Museum
