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The durability of art works largely depends on such factors as the quality of the materials used, the techniques and materials used in its creation, and storage conditions. The art works by Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis are in need of restoration firstly because of the poor paper on which the artists painted and poor storage conditions that his paintings were for a long time kept in. A meeting took place at the M. K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum 1971 during which a decision was made to immediately initiate the restoration of the artist’s works. From that time on the Pranas Gudynas Centre of Graphic Restoration of the Lithuanian Art Museum restored more than 250 art works of Čiurlionis. For the occasion of the opening of the National Art Gallery in Vilnius in 2009, Čiurlionis’ paintings The City III and Andante, the second part of the Sonata of the Pyramids, were restored. This article describes the condition of those paintings before their restoration and the results of technological investigation. It also describes the restoration processes that were carried out. After restoration, the beauty of The City and the Andante paintings revealed itself. The restoration materials used and the methods applied stabilized the aging process of the paper. Moreover, the thorough technological investigation of the work that was conducted during this process complemented the existing database of technological data of M. K. Čiurlionis’ works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on a little researched cultural aspect in the 16th-17th century Grand Duchy of Lithuania: the function of specific works of art during military triumph celebrations. The image of Michał Krzyczewski, colonel of Bogdan Chmelnicki's army, recorded during the military campaign led by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania field hetman duke Janusz Radziwiłł (Jonušas Radvila) against the rising Cossacks of the Ukraine has been chosen as a starting point. There have been attempts to prove that the portrait of colonel Krzyczewski, who was captured during the Loyev battle (present Belarus) on 31th July 1649 and died in a few days from injuries, was created by Abraham van Westervelt, an artist of Radvila's court, member of his military expedition and chronicler. Referring to formal and iconographic characteristics of the artefact an assumption has been made about the use of analogous works of art and their propagandist character during celebrations of military victories in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 16th-17th century. The paper argues that such a tradition to represent conquered and killed enemies could have formed when the pre-Christian custom to exhibit body parts of conquered enemies, which is mentioned in historical sources, merged with the Renaissance all'antica fashion in the practice of military triumphs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Referring to written and iconographical sources, this paper discusses celebrations to honour St. Casimir that took place in 1604 and 1636 in Vilnius and in 1636 in Palermo. The purpose is to reveal the particularities, similarities and differences between St. Casimir's festivities that were celebrated at the same time, but in different places, or at different times, but in the same place. St. Casimir's festivities in 1604 should be associated to celebrations characteristic to the canonisation of saints at the time. The 1636 festivities dedicated to the saint are related to the transference of his remains into a new titular chapel of the Vilnius Cathedral. The same year, in another part of Europe, St. Casimir was announced the patron saint of Palermo, and a great theatricalised celebration took place on that occasion. The paper tries to answer the following questions: do the festivities under different names (St. Casimir's Procession, St. Casimir's Triumph) that were celebrated for different purposes differ in their expression and artistic highlights? Does the character of festivities depend on the country's traditions and on the power of local foundators? Do personal pious intentions influence in any way the size, image and sound of festivities? What is the 'long-term value' of 17th century St. Casimir's festivities in Vilnius and Palermo? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The kaleidoscope of events in the European Union over the last few years has forced such rapid change that even a neophyte in this game requires a lot of knowledge, skill and effort. Our objective is to examine to what extent the internationalization of the cultural sector will aid or hinder the development and/or assimilation of Lithuanian culture at large, and the reasons why, in Lithuanian culture, there remains a certain lack of self-awareness. For Lithuanian culture policy makers, a surprisingly successful pattern of cultural co-operation is the phenomenon of the South Eastern European cultural networks. A series of completed research has provided evidence of the importance of horizontal cultural co-operation, giving vivid examples of existing culture networks all over Europe. The methodology for this paper is based on the results of the surveys completed through the joint efforts of the Department of International Economics and Management at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Lithuania, and Lithuanian Centre for the Perfection of Cultural Administrators. In the first round of surveys, done in September 2005, among the operators of the country's cultural institutions, 125 public servants of the culture departments in city and county municipalities, museums and libraries, gave their opinions on the opportunities and threats internationalization may pose to the cultural sector in Lithuania. In the following years, more respondents - artists, lecturers, students - took part in the survey, totalling 331. The results of the survey are discussed in the paper in more detail. The main finding: Along with some other important findings, our research suggests that there are certain political, economic, social and technological issues to be considered when establishing international contacts in Lithuania. The existing competences of cultural operators do not always take these environments into consideration, and life-long training becomes critical for the further internationalization of the country's sector of culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The history of the mirror has not been written in Li thuania yet. This 'multidimensional' object opens many possibilities for interpretation and interdisciplinary research. This paper aims to present a research on the mirror used as a medium to convey visual information. The mirror changed the concept of the human body and the space around the onlooker's body, i.e. the interior. Because of the looking glass, the distance between the person and his/her body disappeared. The mirror became the first 'reliable' witness of body forms - before that people used to rely on each other's perception. The body was the primary space in the mirror for an eye to discover and explore - for the first time the viewer could perceive his/her own image as a whole: including the face, the back of the body and the profile. These new discoveries in 'geography of the body' were relevant to improvements in mirror manufacturing; they also prompted the changes in the construction and form of the mirror. Another object of interest seen in the mirror from a new perspective was the interior behind the observer's back. In the 17th century the technology to produce larger-size mirrors was invented. Since then the mirror has become an integral part of the interior with several different functions. Mirrors were used to manipulate the interior space according to the principles of Baroque art. They were used to create the impression of light, space and luxury for the indoors, reflect fireworks and water cascades in the park of the manor house and create a scenery of the park in the interior. These functions made mirrors one of the indispensable household items of daily use - their popularity is witnessed by historical photography and toy imitations of real households and interiors, i.e. dolls' houses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Painterly depictions of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary embody the theological ideas that underlie the concept of the Virgin Mary as a perfect spirit, full of grace and free from Original Sin. Being a historical, real person, Mary is also considered as foreseen by God from the very beginning of the World, the Mother of the Saviour created by God's thought; she is also a personification of the entire Catholic Church. The uneasy task to create a concrete, worldly portrait of the Mother of God and to express within it a multidimensional, metaphysical image of the New Eve, the fiancée of the Holy Spirit and the Woman of the Apocalypse compelled artists to search for symbolic means of art. The paper surveys the iconography of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the 17th century art of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, focusing on an especially valuable piece from Vilnius St. Francis of Assisi (Bernardine) Church. This canvas, characterized by a rather untypical iconography, was created in the late 17th century, possibly as a commission by the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary that operated at the Church. The theological thought is conveyed via certain symbols (a palm branch, a mirror, a crown of twelve stars, a crown of roses, the dove of the Holy Spirit, etc.) and a particular visual rhetoric: the Virgin is depicted among cherubs, standing on the sphere of the Universe that hovers above the ground in a timeless space; on a cloud above one sees the Infant Jesus with a long cross-shaped spear, piercing a dragon entwined around the Universe. The painting reflects the Christocentric view of the exclusivity and chosenness of the Mother of God, which is characteristic of Mariology of Franciscan Observants. Images with similar iconography appeared in Europe after the victories against Turks, and spread in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth presumably in the 17th century. This artwork is also interesting as an illustration of the view of the Universe characteristic of that time, and the landscape in the lower part of the canvas is intriguing as a possible representation of the city of Vilnius. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For long centuries the efforts to embody the imagination and to escape to a different and controllable reality have promoted technological development and progress. Today the virtual reality equipment grants the possibilities to include corporeal experiences into increasingly virtual forms of reality. The paper employs the semiotic approach in order to reflect on the descent of virtual reality, its links to imagination, mimetic art and its techniques. The semiotic concept of the effect of reality is used in an attempt to understand how a disembodied reality might be treated as a real one. These reflections upon the efforts to grant corporeality to imagination, construct a controllable reality and find the ways of operating within it, as well as the relations of different forms of reality to corporeality are summarised in the semiotic square of the forms of reality. Since submersion and interaction are intrinsic to all forms of reality, each type is described in terms of substance, corporeal perception and the kind of space in which the body acts. The corporeal reality is the reality of presence, the experience taking place here and now and related with the dimension of the world perceived by the senses. Both the subject and the space are physical, and any activity is possible to the extent the limits and potential of a body permit. This kind of reality is self-contained, unmodelled and uncontrollable; imagination is the incorporeal dimension of this reality that can be exteriorised by material artistic means. This corporeal reality is the source, foundation and starting point for all the other forms of reality. The non-corporeal reality is a heterogeneous medium, a hybrid of physical and digital worlds, when the experiencing subject is submersed into a simulated reality and has a possibility to change it. An augmented physical or digital reality in which the subject 'acts' is modelled and controlled, situations can be started at one's free will, repeated, saved and shared. This kind of experience could be called 'now and somewhere', and the reality is the one of telepresence, where the 'avatar' of the subject is the subject itself. The reality of telepresence is the real VR, because the valid time and space of perception here is the one of the corporeal subject, but perception is taking place by bodily means, i.e. by the senses (often synaesthetically) interacting with a disembodied, digital or hybrid space. It is the exteriorised imagination with the possibilities of interaction that causes bodily reactions. When a virtual avatar acts in a virtual space, we have a case of the digital reality of avatars (homogenous, absolutely incorporeal media existing only in the mode of algorithms). The digital reality is an artificial virtual world with its own time, laws and, although modelled, no longer controllable 'life', so it would be correct to treat it as a selfcontained reality. The digital reality of avatars is recordable and can be copied; however, it is not controllable, as if it were imagination living on its own terms where participation is possible by way of multiplying oneself by avatars rather than by direct sensory experience. The non-digital reality is a heterogeneous medium, but unlike in the reality of telepresence, the body rather than the space is the altered element. The prosthetic body is a physical one, but through technologies it can 'perceive' or 'manage' a much larger space or the microlevels of substance, unreachable for a non-technological body. The prosthetic reality of telecommunication is a mediated physical presence, recordable and reproducible, but it cannot be modelled or controlled since the prosthesis is a strengthened, in a way 'augmented' corporeality with more possibilities of manipulation. In this case 'now' is the now of the corporeal experience, but 'here' is at the same time 'there' as well - somewhere out of reach of the usual experience provided by the senses. So far described in general terms, these forms of reality could provide a starting point for the further investigation of interaction between the corporeal and incorporeal media and the influence of the new modes of experience on the way bodyness and the body-related identity is perceived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between body and soul in classical metaphysics was always a problematic one. This issue was one of the major points of philosophical concern - starting with the Pythagorean treatment of the body as a prison for one's soul, the Platonic and medieval distinction of temporal and eternal, and ending with the Cartesian attempt to solve the problem of body-soul dualism. The body-soul distinction was linked to the difference of space and time. St. Augustine's presentism in his concept of time related time to the soul. The subjectivistic psychological concept of time was long based on the statement that 'the soul counts time'. Only the modern scientific revolution opened the door for different views. This situation existed almost until Newton who tried to imply an objective mathematical measurement. However, mathematics as a sphere of pure thinking or, according to Kant, synthetic a priori knowledge, is directly linked to the thinking part of the soul in classical metaphysics. Body, on the other hand, was always treated as space, and its extensity and division - as the main properties directly revealing it. While the Modern Era tried to overcome this distinction by unifying both parts, it is still deeply rooted in the Western classical metaphysical thought. The role of Euclidean geometry is important in the classical notion of the body. For ages it has been understood as the ratio of proportions of geometrical figures expressed in Euclidean space and bounded by straight lines and points as 'atoms' of such geometry. Geometrization becomes especially apparent with Renaissance linear perspective. Any attempts to break this geometrical order are fruitless until the establishment of non-Euclidean geometry. One of the last classical metaphysical thinkers, Kant tried to move space and time into the sphere of pure reason. However, he failed to resolve the problem of controversy between empirical realism and transcendental idealism. This paper deals with the analysis of body-space and soul-time structures in the classical metaphysical worldview. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term of artistic research that has dominated recent cultural debate seems to impose on the artists the task to seek the truth via rigorous methods, assess critically the discovered facts and support their statements with argument, meanwhile, admitting that the knowledge in artworks is incomplete, indefinite and too subjective, if compared to scholarly works. The methods currently used in humanities, however, also prevent researchers from constructing clear schemes founded on binary concepts and allow them to show the multiplicity and inconsistency of phenomena as well as their subjective meaning to various individuals who live in different times. Aiming to identify the links between artistic and scholarly research, the paper analyses works by Lithuanian artists of three different generations, Diaries of Death by Kęstutis Grigaliūnas (b. 1957), Museum by Dainius Liškevičius (b. 1970) and Landscape of Time by Eglė Ulčickaitė (b. 1989), that focus on the Soviet period, which is a hot topic in historical research as well. Artists, and historians alike, attempt to understand this complex period of the past. The three artworks cover and summarise three different stages of the Soviet period: the disposing of the past at the beginning (Grigaliūnas), people's efforts to live as freely as possible in the present of the totalitarian system (Liškevičius) and the inability to delete the past now, which is still affecting the present (Ulčickaitė). The artworks prove to be complex instruments to create knowledge and have links to other disciplines. On the one hand, artistic research has manifest analogies with microhistorical research carried out by young Lithuanian historians who treat the Soviet society as a horizontal network of individuals rather than the binary system of the dictators and the oppressed. This concept penetrates the structure of reading the meaning of art, because artists push their audiences to participate in the creation of meaning. On the other hand, artists who are not restricted by rigorous requirements of objectivity create Deleuzian time-images, which actualise the past in the complex process of becoming. The memory of Soviet repressions evoked by Grigaliūnas is inseparable from everyday life pulsating in found photographs and in the texts being written for his books. Exhibits emanating the style of the past in Liškevičius's Museum are being immediately transformed through his performances into entities commenting on the present. Ulčickaitė has captured anonymous reminiscences of the Soviet period in the transparent layer of paint, which seems to be fading as a temporary and alien memory. A detailed and consistent analysis of such works could reveal the deeper structures of the Soviet period and its legacy to the present time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present text is a visitor's extended guide to my solo exhibition Standing, Falling, Levitating (Vartai Gallery, 2014), in which the results of my artistic research on the topic of gravitational aesthetics were presented. The article is comprised of four individual blocks representing the exhibits in that exhibition - Euthanasia Coaster, Bárány Chair, Oneiric Hotel and Gravitation - and in their turn each of them has a brief introduction presenting the project and an accompanying text. The accompanying texts were written some time ago and are of different length, style and nature - by this I mean to demonstrate the effect of their specific features on the research. This combination of an academic paper, an essay, fictional writing and an interview is composed as an independent textual exhibition presenting different forms of writing as a model of thinking and a means of communication. Taking into account the specific character of individual form, in the introduction to each text I discuss what role that concrete text played in a certain process of research. The texts are arranged following the clockwise arrangement of the exhibits in the exhibition, but it does not mean that this particular trajectory should be followed - the texts can be read in a non-linear sequence. This episodic review of the variety of texts is an invitation for artistic researchers to experiment with the forms and platforms of writing and liberate themselves from the dogmas of conventional academic writing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade one has been able to witness the ever growing turn of artists and other participants of the contemporary art field away from the production of images to the creation of the literature narrative. This paper refers to this tendency as performative narrativity - the term that properly underlines the basic characteristics of the analysed shift, i.e. narrativity and performativity. When considering the Lithuanian contemporary art field, it is notable that the artistic practices employing the above mentioned strategy cause a turn in the art discourse: they have an influence on curatorial strategies and condition the ways art criticism is written. Curatorship becomes closer to the ways art production is functioning and 'curatorial' writing acquires a new shape and becomes performative and fictionalised. This shift towards performativity, narrativity and fictivity and thus the emerging new means of interplay between artist and curator, and artist and writer become the main focus of this article. Analysing the principles of cohabitation of contemporary art field players, the article presents the main forms and strategies of performative narrativity: the reconsideration of conceptual art tradition; the widening of the 'open work' concept into conceptual as well as formal levels of the artwork itself ('the new endless tale'); the thematisation of the narrative; artists taking an interest in the oral tradition; the use of narration as a retro media and the forming of the new performative ways of expression. Following the outlined principles, the text presents these new curatorial and art writing principles, highlighting the merge of artistic, critical and curatorial discourses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the beginning of the 1980s, two factions misunderstanding each other emerged in the field of Lithuanian art photography. The generation of photo artists, who had become famous in the Soviet Union and abroad, conceived photography as an artistic interpretation of reality and did not accept the young generation's idea of photography as a process that may be turned into a performance, become reflexive, disrupted or reconstructed. The paper investigates the reception of works by Alfonsas Budvytis, Gintaras Zinkevičius, Alvydas Lukys, Gintautas Trimakas, Remigijus Treigys, Saulius Paukštys, Vidmantas Ilčiukas and Snieguolė Michelkevičiūtė trying to answer the following question: how has the attention of Lithuanian and foreign artists and art historians helped the young photographers to strengthen their position and to become integrated into the field of contemporary art and the international context?. The analysis of documentation of group exhibitions that showcased the aforementioned photographers in 1987-1994 reveals that the discourse of recognition differed remarkably in Lithuania and abroad. In Lithuania, photographers still had to overcome the ideologically imposed Soviet view that photography was a document of reality. Thus, photographers attempted to emphasise the specific characteristics of the photographic medium, the ways it distanced the image from reality and the artificiality of art photography. The young generation of art historians to whom photography's attachment to reality was no longer a problem read this formal language learning from their experience of modernist art. Meanwhile, foreign curators were interested in the manifestations of creative freedom under the conditions of political repressions and recognised them in the works of some young Lithuanian photographers. Critics who wrote about their exhibitions saw formal experimentation as a phenomenon of the past, thus they were more impressed with impersonal evidence of historical reality without apparent means of artistic expression. The work of Vytautas V. Stanionis who appropriated his father's photos for Soviet passports seemed to conform to the method invented by Bernd and Hilla Becher, which was widespread by then as the dominating principle in photography. Thus, even though the work by Stanionis was older in terms of the time the passport photographs were taken and he did not understand the implications of his own action, it looked more up-to-date than the experiments of young photographers in the West. Yet the success of young photographers remained unnoticed in the field of art photography in Lithuania, which was still upholding the reportage method. Thus, Lithuanian photography "caught up" with the processes in the West, although it did not affect the institutionalised tradition of art photography at home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the creative practices of one of the most famous Lithuanian curators of contemporary art. Employing the definitions of contemporaneity and insights from theoretical curatorial discourse, the paper aims to define how and what notions of contemporaneity Raimundas Malašauskas constructs in his exhibitions. In the current art discourse the notion of contemporaneity is used as a historical and discursive category. As a historical category, it marks the most recent, still continuing period of art history which started in 1989. Following the collapse of communism on a global scale, the new historical period started - the age of globalisation. During this period the structure of the field of art, mechanisms of art production, dissemination and creation of value have changed beyond recognition; the role and status of exhibition have also significantly changed. Exhibition has become the primary form of representation of the most recent art and a creative media in its own right, while curating has acquired a status of independent creative practice equated to artistic activities. The new generation of curators took over the art critics' role and became nomads of the contemporary art field, striving to initiate new discussions and forces to constantly move to new places. Proponents of the discursive view on contemporaneity claim that this category should not be used solely for periodisation as that way it represents only the Western point of view and does not embrace the global variety of art. According to them, contemporaneity is discursive - it is shaped by different practices of conceptualising the present time - various understanding of the "acts of presenting the present" (Boris Groys). The supporters of the opinion of contemporaneity as a discourse tend to think that contemporary art combines different temporalities, and the aim of the researchers is to reveal them and thus understand the structure of the present time. Projects constructing the exhibition history of contemporaneity are valued not only for innovative interpretations of art practices, but also for curatorial innovations: the abilities of curators to introduce and develop new ways of presenting the artistic practices, expand the notion of exhibition, experiment with its structure, perception, and the curatorial process itself. Raimundas Malašauskas' creative activities could be considered as an example of innovative curatorial practice and a typical representative of contemporaneity as historical period and discourse. In his early projects he actively searched for new forms of collaboration with artists; representative function of his exhibitions gradually shifted to the performative. In his most recent practice an exhibition acquired the status of an independent creative media and the projects indicate the possibilities and boundaries of the idea of asynchronous contemporaneity. Raimundas Malašauskas' practices shape the discursive view of contemporaneity as the act of presenting the present. Constantly travelling and working on a global scale, he initiates creative dialogues with artists, while his exhibitions offer a chance to delve into the collective fiction. He creates projects using as a springboard artistic ideas, paradox events and personalities of the past, unites the form and contents of the exhibition into an indivisible entity, questions the linear notion of time and joins together different historical time periods in a single project - thus implementing the idea of asynchronous present time. Such curatorial strategies experiment with the media of exhibition, create a context of understanding and evaluating the recent artistic production, they establish new notions of art and curatorship. However, to assess these experiments appropriately, one needs not to see them from a critical distance, but to get involved in the discourse developed by the curator, to follow the trajectories of the artist's and curator's thinking process and start the journey of acquiring subjective experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A congress was one of the principal official events of the Soviet period giving a rhythm to institutional life and declaring its guidelines in the form of reports and resolutions. Periodically held congresses of artists were not an exception. The material of these congresses reflects the institutional position of the Artists' Union of the Lithuanian SSR (hereinafter referred to as AU LSSR) of that time, its relation to other state institutions and creative unions. Alongside, it reveals much about art and culture politics, as well as the hot issues of that time and the artists' position in that respect. The article has been prepared on the basis of the material of the artists' congresses that took place between 1952 and 1987, covering the period from the end of the Stalinist era to the first signs of the perestroika. Attention is focused on the late Soviet period. The aim of the research is to discuss the dynamics of official art politics of that time and to collate it with an artist's personal experience. It was important to find out the position of the AU LSSR regarding the relevant and innovatory artistic phenomena of that time and establish if this organization representing all professional artists stimulated progressive change or acted as an inert and restraining force. The research is based on the analysis of the work of Rimtautas Vincentas Gibavičius. He was one of the most active participants in the art scene of the Soviet period, an authoritative figure in both the AU LSSR and the informal art scene. His work won recognition quite early. Its value was not called into question even after the collapse of the Soviet Union; on the contrary, it became an intrinsic part of the heritage of Lithuanian graphic art of the second half of the 20th century. Comparing the material of the artists' congresses with sources reflecting Gibavičius's creative views - his creative legacy, autobiography, memories of contemporaries and texts by art critics, a question about the relation between official art politics and an artist's personal creative stance is raised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The text focuses on the formations of the public centres and cultural objects of Klaipėda during the years of Soviet government (1945-1990). The article is a part of a broader research on the development of urban structures in Klaipėda after the Second World War. The text is comprised of three parts. In the first part the political and economic context of the urban development is discussed. The second part is based on the analysis on cultural functions. The principal structure and the list of main elements are disclosed in the paper. In the third part the main results of the analysis are introduced and the conclusions are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The secular Soviet state was well known for its elaborate 'socialist rites' instituted for life's milestones, from birth through marriage to death. Actions traditionally carried out in a sacral space were rather quickly assigned to 'consumer services', and were replaced by the civil registration of the newborn child, a secular wedding and funeral rites. Administrators of the new rituals insisted that these ceremonies were neither derived from religious rites nor were they intended to replace them. The challenge, therefore, was to create secular spaces with their own dramaturgy, designed to offer appropriate settings for weddings and funerals while avoiding any kind of religious presence. On a mass scale, most of the initiation rituals in the Soviet Union date only from the 1960s. This explains why special purpose-designed types of buildings only began to spread in many Soviet republics from the 1970s onwards. Soviet Lithuania in this context plays the role of an experimental place since the first purpose-built Wedding Palace in Vilnius (1968-1974, architect Gediminas Baravykas) and the Funeral Palace in Vilnius (1968-1975, architect Česlovas Mazūras) served as prototypes of functional type, modern aesthetics and symbols for the entire Soviet Union. The main idea of the paper is based on the fact that the new secular Soviet rituals were actually based on traditional rituals stripped of their religious content. It seems that tradition (in a very broad sense) influenced the new architectural spaces created to practice new secular socialist rituals. Therefore, from the social point of view these buildings are seen as substitutes for sacral spaces -a wedding palace substitutes for a church and a funeral palace is an interpretation of a cemetery chapel. From the architectural point of view they represent late Soviet mannerism in architecture as a certain simulacra filled with surplus meanings and decorations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, education in its broadest sense belongs to the service sector, as does healthcare, culture and sports. We apply similar rules of the management and marketing in these. Increasingly, however, there are practices that the applicability of business laws is transferred to the areas of soft activities, which are subject to the public good, and in which we are confronting contradictions. The fundamental problem that occurs regarding this topic is whether the teaching staff has a real chance to contribute to the improvement of the quality management in arts and culture management programmes. This paper discusses the procedures of arts and cultural management curriculum development and the circumstances under which the work is carried out. It is stated in the article that the lack of personnel or funding has become a major obstacle in the carrying out of a proper study programme development in higher education. It is also concluded that similar programmes in arts and culture management in Lithuania lack uniqueness, and are considerably too numerous. Finally, the author attempts to draw potential prospects on how to solve the arising problems in arts and culture management programme development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article aims to reveal the importance of social capital in the development of cultural and creative industries for a possible interaction scenario. In the Lithuanian academic world at this time there is a lack of studies and research concerning social capital and the cultural and creative industries. Currently, we only have a limited number of studies regarding social capital, cultural, and creative industries. However, in terms of the global academic world we see a growing interest for such studies. The object of this article is to investigate the link between social capital and the cultural and creative industries. The objectives of this article are as follows: 1. To analyse the modern concept of social capital. 2. To identify social capital and the cultural and creative industries in the dimensions of interaction. 3. Empirically research the links between social capital, cultural, and creative industries. This paper analyses the theoretical social capital and the cultural and creative industries, the related concepts, operating principles, and various other aspects. It was noted in the article that social capital is formed and acts as a sort of social network. The development of the cultural and creative industries is considered the basis of the cluster (in the same social networking terms of its operating principles). It also provides empirical evidence from which to assert that social capital can be a focus of cultural and creative industries support. The study shows that social capital and the cultural and creative sectors in Lithuania lack scientific research, especially in terms of the development possibilities of the links between social capital dimensions and the cultural and creative industries. This can be emphasised by the fact that there has been an increased concentration of cultural and creative industry support activities. At the same time, social capital through trust, joint activities and cooperation has strengthened the cultural and creative industries. It is argued that social capital and the cultural and creative industries maintain a close interaction that further study can contribute to as the social capital of focus increases in the development of the cultural and creative industries (through the dimensions of social capital). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with the major urbanization processes and the related interpretations of urbanistics in Lithuania over the last 50 years. The first three decades saw a jump in the level of urbanization, inspired by the advanced idea of the equal development of country and city system. This was an exception as urbanistics in the command economy did not exist, its place was occupied by norms and regulations. The trends of urbanization are ambivalent in the later years with the general level decreasing, however, the attractiveness of three (out of five) city regions in the suburban zone saw an increase. The nominal freedom of urbanistic principles does not correlate with the problems of urbanistics or with the problems emerging in the market. Urbanistics as a concept, as an aggregate of principles and methods De Jure does not exist. It lies in the contradictory concept of territorial planning. The three laws on territorial planning lack a logical sequence, each one is leading in a different direction. Therefore, no base for urban planning has been created during the last two decades. The article suggests some fundamental steps that could lead to the creation of a modern urban planning system. However, the major obstacle to this lies with political ignorance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary folk artists sculptors and wood carvers do not avoid portraying historic themes and historical personalities in their creations. Images of the rulers of Lithuania comprise a significant amount of it. Most frequently the only one sacred ruler of Lithuania is portrayed - St. Casimir. Also, sculptures of grand dukes have been created, especially those of Mindaugas and Vytautas the Great. Important events related to rulers, or their family members have been carved quite rarely. In the paper the iconography of the rulers of Lithuania in the works of folk artists is discussed for the first time. The images of the sacred ruler St. Casimir and the grand dukes of Lithuania (Vytautas, Mindaugas, Gediminas, Kęstutis, Jogaila, Algirdas), which were created from the beginning of the Rebirth (9th decade of the 20th century) until now, are examined. When creating St. Casimir's sculptures folk artists refer to the established iconography, using the canonical pose, gestures and attributes. However, at present, unlike the traditional folk sculpture, a greater emphasis is paid not on St. Casimir's piety, but to reveal his image as a patron of Lithuania. Lithuanian grand dukes are often depicted by one composite scheme, inherited from the interwar monuments to Vytautas the Great - a standing armoured knight with a sword in one hand and a shield in the other. Often these attributes are accompanied by one or more signs of a ruler (the crown, scepter, and the reign's apple). Therefore, the sculptures of dukes are characterized by the uniting of two images - hero and king. Although, sometimes only the image of the ruler is highlighted in the sculptures of dukes. Vytautas and Mindaugas are depicted in this way. And only one king - Jogaila is never depicted as heroi. Folk artists seek to give portrait likeness to each of the duke's images. For this reason they introduce some attributes, signs, and symbols specific only to one or another ruler, and sometimes use records. Certain signs characterizing the epoch or residence of the duke are found in almost all depictions of certain rulers, such as, the legend of the founding of Vilnius (wolf and Gediminas' Castle Tower) for Grand Duke Gediminas; monogram, date of baptism or the coronation, the royal crown, scepter, reign's apple - for Mindaugas; ducal crown, royal robe, the coat of arms of Lithuanian Grand Duke for Vytautas; royal crown, the reign's apple - for Jogaila. Only Kęstutis and Algirdas images are lacking customized attributes. Trying to get portrait likeness wood carvers, as a visual basic source, use the reproductions, duplications or under them redrawn illustrations of portraits of the dukes in various popular publications and on the Internet. Usually they follow illustrations of the A. Guagnini chronicle A Description of Sarmatian Europe (1578) and their remakes; they also use reproductions of Vytautas portraits from the 17th-18th centuries and reproductions of portraits by J. Matejko and A. Penkowski. Acknowledgements The Fellowship is being funded by the European Union Structural Funds project "Postdoctoral Fellowship Implementation in Lithuania" within the framework of the Measure for Enhancing Mobility of Scholars and Other Researchers and the Promotion of Student Research (VP1-3.1-ŠMM-01) of the Program of Human Resources Development Action Plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the most important principles of planning advertising in the press. Advertising campaigns of cultural and entertainment events that were organized in Lithuania are analysed following the above-mentioned principles. The paper presents a thorough analysis of the following aspects of advertising planning: reach and frequency of advertising, application of advertising reach and concentration, quantitative and qualitative motives for choosing a particular publication in the context of cultural and entertainment events, influence of particular publication for perception and awareness of the message. These problems are also discussed at theoretical level, i.e., through insights of marketing and culture management experts, and at practical level, i.e., through overview and evaluation of advertising campaigns of cultural and entertainment events held in Lithuania (October - November 2007). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the necessity for market research, that is, on the issue, which is popular in the arts market nowadays. The authors of the article examine several cases of the latest market researches recently conducted in the art organizations in Lithuania. The drawbacks of the completed research and possible reasons for certain insufficiency of cultural operators to conduct research in the field of culture are discussed in this article. Theoretical insights by Madden, Schuster, kotler and Scheff and others are provided as a methodological basis for further discussion. A variety of international and national research institutions and their activities are presented in the article as a potential support for art organizations carrying out research. The issue of cultural indicators is raised in the paper as well. Conclusions and recommendations on how to improve the quality of research in arts organizations are provided in the final part of the article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article searches for the answer to the question, which is formulated in the title: if active trade unions of artists are possible in Lithuania (and in other countries) or not. This phenomenon is not widely studied in Lithuania. There are some general monographs discussing problems of trade unions, where some references to artist trade unions are observed. After bigger protests, actions or other problems, short reports appear in media. Despite this, the sphere is problematic and interesting enough for a more comprehensive scientific study. This article is written using the material, which was collected conducting researches or analyzing theoretical material in the master paper 'Perspectives of Artists' Trade Unions in Lithuania'. The article also employed sociological qualitative research methods (ten interviews with the leaders of Lithuanian artist trade unions and other persons related to this sphere in one way or another). The article briefly reviews the history of trade unions in Lithuania and the world, the emergence of the artists' unions; it also makes an attempt to identify the main types of artists' trade unions that are acting in Lithuania and to analyse their main features. Later, the example of foreign organization, i.e., performing artists' trade union 'Equity' in the United kingdom, is introduced. Certain aspects of the English model may be used in Lithuanian organizations. The article states that despite the fact that there are some organizations in Lithuania, which follow the Western examples and represent the creators in pro-active ways (e.g. the Union of journalists), the majority of artist trade unions still have to intensify efforts to better respond to the needs of contemporary artists , to use the opportunities offered by the Internet, and to actualize the range of the provided services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an overview of creation of three graphic artists of one generation and graduates from one and the same artistic school, colleagues and close friends Irena Daukšaitė, Elvyra Katalina Kriaučiūnaitė and Nijolė Šaltenytė, which was carried out on the basis of examples of printmaking, which is their main artistic activity. The beginning of their creative path coincides with the so-called 'female' generation, which made a push into Lithuanian graphics in the beginning of 80s. It introduced more emotionality, sensitivity into Lithuanian graphics. Plastic expression in Lithuanian graphics of that period became more metaphorical and complicated. Then the popular linocut was gradually replaced by classical metal techniques, which enabled artists to convey more chamber intonations, more subtle tonal gradations and quiver of delicate lines of tracery. Artists of young generation were united by their wish to maintain internal independence, to philosophise on ethic categories and issues of existence. They were not interested in folk styling Lithuanian graphics. Their works contain Lithuanian identity, which is encoded in nostalgic lyrical emotion and in expressive character of the form. The creative works of all the three artists consistently acquired post-modernist character concurrently following general trends in European graphics. Experience accumulated while participating in republican and international art exhibitions expanded their outlook, enabled the artists to perceive latest trends in contemporary graphics, which resulted in changes in their individual artistic style. Significant awards received in republican and international exhibitions of graphics evidence the ability of these artists to express own ideas through universal art images. Close friendship of the three artists and their everlasting communication inevitably conditioned certain similarities of artistic expression in their creation. Lyricism and romantic elevation were most vividly revealed in the early works by Irena Daukšaitė. The early Nijolė Šaltenytė's and Elvyra Katalina Kriaučiūnaitė's creation developed towards similar post-modernist trend. All the three artists purposefully used more complex and metaphorical plastic language, only Šaltenytė searched for creative impulses in surrealistic manner, whereas the creation of Daukšaitė and Kriaučiūnaitė to bigger and bigger extent approached esthetisized, perfectly composed abstraction in terms of artistic forms used. Their engravings pregnantly enrich positions of contemporary Lithuanian graphics, which is oriented towards decorative abstraction. Enjoyment of colours, emotional pictorial features are characteristic of both Daukšaitė and Kriaučiūnaitė, but hand-made paper is the distinctive sign in the creative works by the latter artist. The only Nijolė Šaltenytė remained faithful to the figurative. Colour in her works is always minimal and it is usually applied only to highlight the emphasised elements of the work. More radical changes in the style were not observed in the works by Šaltenytė: there was a gradual transition from landscape compositions of chamber, fragile nature and full of elements of romantic flight to generalised monumental form and multi-meaningful expression. The three artists are not indifferent to artistic life in Lithuania and to development of contemporary graphics: they are active participants in republican and thematic exhibitions of engravings, the artists are also organisers, curators of exhibitions and compilers of exhibition catalogues. For many years Nijolė Šaltenytė has been chairperson of Graphics Unit within the Lithuanian Artists' Association. The artists are stimulated by huge spiritual potential, a continuous striving for improvisation. They do not avoid mixing and combining expression means characteristic of post-modernist art. They expand the limits of the concept of graphics, free of technological limitations, employing digital print and creating spatial objects. In the panorama of contemporary graphics, the artists are distinguished not only by their productivity but also by their ability to renew, change and surprise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the history of Lithuanian culture and literature, the didactic prose of the Samogitian Bishop Motiejus Vaalančius (1801-1875, bish. 1850-1875) - the dominant figure of the religious, public and cultural life in the mid-19th century Lithuania - is rightly considered to be both pioneering and instrumental in the formation of Lithuanian fiction. As is the case in a number of other writing genres, Motiejus Valančius is thought to be the pioneer of hagiographic literature in Lithuanian language (which began to be written and translated during the mid-19th century). Thereby the hagiographic works of Valančius are distinguished in their role as a bridging element between early didactic and fictional Lithuanian literature. It was hitherto known that Motiejus Valančius had written and published two hagiographic works - Žyvatai šventųjų (The Lives of the Saints, 1858) and Gyvenimai šventųjų Dievo (The Lives of the Saints of God, 1868) - pioneering works and representatives of Lithuanian hagiographic literature which are characterised by their original style. However, the corpus of Lithuanian hagiographic literature has been recently complemented by two so far unknown manuscript works - The Life of the Saints Part II (Žyvatai šventųjų, d. II, 1864) and The Works of the Saints (Darbai šventųjų, 1874-1875), and a copy of the latter. The manuscript of The Life of the Saints Part II - is not a copy made by Motiejus Valančius' hand, it is a fair copy prepared for the press; the manuscript of The Works of the Saints - bears the autograph of Motiejus Valančius; while the copy of The Works of the Saints is a fair copy prepared for the press not by Motiejus Valančius' hand. Moreover, the history of the texts and manuscripts are affected by the social-political circumstances of the time. The new hagiographic works significantly complement the earliest corpus of Lithuanian hagiographic literature, enrich the creative biography of the author and extend the history of Lithuanian literature, particularly the period of literary fiction's appearance. Valančius' manuscript of The Life of the Saints Part II has not yet been recorded or researched in the historiography of Lithuanian literature related to Valančius and the lives of the saints described by him. The article presents the manuscript of The Life of the Saints Part II; the results of research carried out on its history are presented: its dating, spiritual approbation, censorship, information about the manuscript, owners of the manuscript, and its place of storage are presented. A description of the manuscript is also presented: its signature, format, binding, sheets, flyleaves, pagination, paper, inscriptions and corrections are presented. As can be seen from the text itself and from other inscriptions in this manuscript, Motiejus Valančius had The Life of the Saints Part II completely prepared for the press - a copy of the text was made by a so far unknown person, i.e. the fair copy that was intended for publishing. Valančius himself re-read the manuscript and made minimal corrections to it. The manuscript was given to publisher Adam Zawadzki; later on it appeared in the possession of Viktoras Julijonas Aramavičius, a member of Vilnius Censorship committee. The censor did not censor the manuscript nor read it carefully, as it does not contain an aprobatum inscribed by the censor or other marks characteristic of censored manuscripts. Although the censor, following the policy of the spread of Orthodoxy and the instructions of tsarist censorship (and negative attitudes towards the Uniates), removed the life of the Blessed Josaphat of Polotsk (Josaphat Kuntsevych, 1580-1623). Perhaps it was because of the removal of this part of the text that the manuscript was returned to its author. Motiejus Valančius did not make any corrections to the text; in the later selections of the lives of saints he did not include the description of the Blessed Josaphat's life. This publication presents an account from the lives of saints - the life of the Blessed Josaphat of Polotsk which relates to the other texts devoted to this Blessed in this volume of Acta Academiae Artium Vilnensis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most interesting questions regarding Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis and his links with his contemporaries in the West is his invitation to the Neue Kunstlervereinigung Munchen exhibition in 1910 (which he could not participate in due to illness). This association of German Expressionists (which led to the development of the famous Der Blaue Reiter group) was comprised of different nationalities, including Germans and Austrians, with its founders being Russian artists residing in Munich – Wassily Kandinsky, Alexej von Jawlensky and Marianne von Werefkin. It was precisely they who learned of Čiurlionis and his work from the Russian art world, and invited him to their exhibition in Germany. However where, when and how they become acquainted with his work has never been explained in art history. The article discusses biographical connections between Čiurlionis and two members of Neue Kunstlervereinigung Munchen –Wassily Kandinsky and Marianne von Werefkin. This research is devoted to what could be labelled their first “meeting”, which took place in 1909 at an exhibition held in St. Petersburg, the participants of which included Kandinsky, Jawlensky, Werefkin and Čiurlionis. The paper discusses the figure of Sergey Makovsky, the organisor of the exhibition, his salon, its participants and their work. Special consideration is focused on the negative reaction of critics to the works of Kandinsky, Jawlensky, Werefkin, as well as to the works of Čiurlionis. These negative reviews must have payed the attention of Munich artists to Lithuanian Čiurlionis and thus he became acknowledged in the circle of Neue Kunstlervereinigung Munchen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reminiscences (1975-1985), a series by the famous Lithuanian photographer Algimantas Kunčius (b. 1939), stands out in the context of the humanist photography that dominated in Lithuania during the Soviet period. Rather than photographing people, Kunčius focused on things and the everyday urban as well as rural environment. The series marked the beginning of a new aesthetic tendency, which was later developed in the 1980s by younger photographers. It also reflected processes that had been taking place in Lithuanian painting, which was then moving towards the observation of everyday life. After the restoration of independence in 1990, Reminiscences gained significance and came to represent Lithuanian photography in the international context; separate images were used to illustrate poetry and texts on the ethnic roots of Lithuania, displaying the images' capacity to touch upon universal sensibilities. Therefore, this paper explores how the photographic rendering of "things" in Reminiscences was used to express identity and reflect on ideas that were current during the late Soviet period as well as investigating how personal memories are associated with wider cultural phenomena. The discourse of memory is read by linking visual analysis with the photographer's memories and interpretations of this series that were made at the time of its creation. The discourse of memory in Reminiscences by Kunčius follows two main directions. The first leads towards a phenomenological reduction of the opposition between the observing subject and the object that is being observed. This effect is achieved through the use of various codes of photographic language, which supports the interpretation that the things being photographed were signs whose purpose was to carry the memories of a past that was able to both influence and form the present of the self. The second direction of the interpretation takes a turn towards reading cultural values in the structure of the series. Thus, every photograph becomes a step in the process of discovering national identity. The latter meaning is related to the significance of Reminiscences in Lithuanian culture, as the reading of common meanings in everyday things allows the audience to appropriate identity constructed by the photographs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the creative processes that took place during the years after the totalitarian regime in the field of photography. Those creative processes were responsible for the development of two artistic tendencies that were in opposition to each other. The Lithuanian school of photography that emerged in late 1960s formulated a conception of photography that was based on the documentary approach. In the meantime, the works of the new generation that debuted in early 1980s manifested an alternative expression that abandoned the values of the established tradition. This historical analysis focuses on how the principles of a stylistic vocabulary were constructed during the period and establishes the relationship that existed between the institution and the creative individual when culture underwent Sovietization. One of the most important objectives of the Sovietization of photography was related to the creation of a new ideological reality. With the aim of presenting the precise characteristics of this reality, the paper introduces a new term alt-reality. This term not only points to the nature of the phenomenon (as, for example, hyper-) or to its scale (as, for example, total-), but also provides grounds for its ideological goal to represent an idealized Soviet reality, i.e. to visualize it in qualitative categories. Documentary photographers who developed the traditions of the school usurped the concept in terms of the basic principles of the photographic art. Therefore, this new wave can be called "a movement for devisualization" (with some reservations) due to its main creative strategy isolation from the significance of the visual content. It remained peripheral for a whole decade, not only during the Soviet period, but also during the first years of independence. The first chapter discusses the construction of a Soviet alt-reality in photography during the Thaw period, when the emerging diachronic function of photography raised the modern aesthetics of photography to a position equivalent to social realism. The new documentary photographers announced their break from photojournalism publicly in 1969 by founding the Society of Art Photographers of Lithuanian SSR and creating a new aesthetic programme based on the synthesis of the documentary and psychologism; consolidating documentary photography as an art. The recognition that the status of the photo artist subsequently gained and the strengthened position of the Society itself prompted the development of a more diverse artistic expression in the Soviet Union. However, those Lithuanian photographers acquired such favourable conditions only because of the strategic implementation of political projects and the maintenance of good relationships with the nomenclature of the party and the government. They gained a strong ideological and theoretical rearguard in Moscow and most importantly created a trustworthy alt-reality that was widely spread not only within the Soviet Union, but also abroad, thus expressing not an individual point of view, but a common Soviet world outlook. During the last decades of the Soviet occupation documentary photographers interpreted reality much more critically. They searched for connections with the past and observed the unfriendly social environment. Their creative variations of the documentary medium, however, impeded experimentation and limited the use of formal aesthetics as a means to reveal the artistic potential of photography. The second chapter analyses the contradictions that were manifest from early 1980s between the traditional and alternative expression. The new generation of artists broke away from the canon of documentary reflection, maintaining that photography itself was a new artistic reality. Thus, the cornerstone of contention became not only the different perceptions of reality that were available in photography, or through photography, but also the definition of the limits of photography as an artistic object. Still, the pragmatic policy of public relations that was observed by the Society of Lithuanian Art Photographers was orientated towards the integrity of the medium in Soviet culture. This was pursued in a complex fashion by consistently reacting to party directives, implementing ideological engagements, suppressing inner controversies and by limiting the spread of alternative expression. Such a situation demonstrates that the alt-reality that was created during the Soviet period according to the conception of the traditional school of photography remained quite united in the public space; while the split took place on the level of the professional community's discourse and ideas. In the case of the school, photography was consolidated as a modern, yet "demonstrative" art, whereas the creators of alternative expression, who had a critical approach towards the traditional representation of reality, implanted the practices of devisualization. They were the first to inspire the use of postmodern tendencies in Lithuanian art photography under the circumstances of a weakened, although still ideological, restricted culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The everyday history of the individual and "the image of sex" often remain outside the frame of political history. Life is, however, diverse and miscellaneous. Man not only ploughed, fought, sold, but also drank, prepared food, loved, worried or was ill. The historian L. N. Chernova justly observes that "a full image of the past of a nation can not exist without knowing the customs and traditions of everyday life and socio-ethical norms".The subject of this paper is the image of man and woman, the relationship between them and their role and status in private and public life. The main source of this research is the life of Moldova, the traditions and matters of everyday life described by foreign missionaries in many witness statements. The latter witnesses have a few distinctive features. Firstly, all the authors are male clergy and consequently their attitude towards everyday life has its own peculiarities. Secondly, the missionaries were from different countries of unequal development, and this naturally made an impact on their mental understanding of ways of living. Thirdly, they compared the life they saw to the realities of their own country, thus giving an invaluable colouring to research of the period. Particular interest in the aforementioned descriptions has led to the discovery of information about the wedding's ceremonies, family life, marriage, divorce and the education of children. In all reports the beauty of the women, their tidiness and conditional freedom is emphasized. For example, the foreigners were surprised by the women's right to divorce. Attention is also paid to religious traditions, feasts and relations with the church. This is explained by the fact that a quite large number of Catholics (from 5 to 40%) lived in Moldova (especially in the city's environment). A separate subject is the legal aspect of the family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper sets out to analyse the influence of the clothing ceremony of Vilnius Benedictine nuns as well as profession and consecration ceremonies on the décor and iconography of St. Catherine's Church. It will attempt to reveal how a specific art object illustrates and supports the ritual, and how a religious 'event' determines the contents and form of the object. The mystical engagement with the divine fiancée is a metaphor of the eternal vows of nuns. After having expressed their sacred will to follow Christ particularly closely, future nuns are dedicated to God, mystically engaged with Christ, the Son of God, and ordered to serve the Church by the bishop of their diocese through an appropriate liturgical ceremony. During the Baroque epoch the symbols of engagement acquired a wider expression and included not only the profession, but also clothing and consecration in Benedictine nunneries of Chełmno congregation; thus the act of mystical pledge took place even three times in a nun's life. It would be worth emphasising that in the 17th century Benedictines of the Chełmno congregation started to perform the clothing ceremony in the same solemn and public manner as the profession and consecration ceremony: first in Benedictine nunneries of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and later the tradition of solemn clothing spread also among the Benedictines of Poland. This was influenced by the text of Rule, which was renewed on the initiative of Vilnius bishop Eustachy Wołłowicz, which particularly emphasised preparations for noviciate and the beginning of noviciate. This Rule was delivered to Benedictine nunneries in the territory of Vilnius diocese in 1629. Solemn ceremonies of mystical engagement that used to take place in the Vilnius Benedictine nunnery - clothing, profession and consecration - inspired the iconography of three altars - St. Gertrude, St. Mechtilda and St. Catherine - in St. Catherine's Church. These altars used to be incorporated into the structure of celebrations and also fulfilled the function of a setting to the ceremony, which used to add ideas and meanings to the action of the mystical union. The altars were dedicated to those blessed virgins who embodied best the idea and purpose of mystical engagement and, through the example of their lives, showed how to follow this road of love to Christ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Funeral ceremonies and their traditions are a significant part of everyday life that reflects important aspects of a certain society's views. On the other hand, pompous funerals of noblemen and other famous people in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania often turned into extraordinary events and impressive celebrations; their décor also shows the particularities of the artistic culture of the time. The Bernardine Church in Vilnius and its churchyard was the favourite place of burials among townspeople from the very beginning. Unfortunately, only fragmented and very laconic data concerning funeral ceremonies before the 17th century have survived; the 17th-19th century left more information. Funerary traditions in this church partially illustrate more general traditions in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It is important that representatives of various classes of society used to be buried in the Bernardine churchyard: magnates, noblemen, craftsmen and merchants used to choose their eternal resting places here. The walls of this church, the churchyard and the Bernardine cemetery established in early 19th century have sheltered bodies of the friars themselves, Bernardine sisters, and many impoverished people of the city. There are various sources concerning funerals at the Bernardine Church, although they are quite fragmentary. These are the monuments that have survived in the church until our days and inscriptions of former monuments recorded in written sources; various messages in the convent's diaries and other documents about people buried in the church or in the churchyard; more extensive information on some funerals in written sources; funerary sermons; descriptions of hearses in church inventories and scarce iconographic sources. The paper attempts to systematise the information gathered from various sources on funeral ceremonies in this church, to reveal its character and discuss the features of artistic décor of such funerary ceremonies. It also tries to show how funeral ceremonies and the very place of burials were related to the social status of the buried person and other facts of social status and wealth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the restored portable altar of the Five Holy Wounds of Christ that was presented in the exhibition, "Christianity in Lithuanian Art" and restored at the P. Gudynas Center for Restoration. This altar reflects the artistic heritage of the Vilnius fraternities and is distinguished by its plastic and painted qualities and is of special interest because of its patrons. This article covers the activity of the Fraternity of the Five Holy Wounds of Christ, the attributes of the fraternity including its clothing, the inventory owned and used by this church and the altar and its paintings (which were looked after by the fraternity). The paper uses the inventories of the Vilnius Church of St Peter and Paul the Apostles and the books of the fraternity as its references. The discussed portable double-sided altar of the Five Holy Wounds of Christ is distinguished by its artistic value. This altar has two paintings of the Wounds of Christ and Our Lady of Sorrow on both sides of which the kneeling figures of a man and woman are depicted. Making reference to the records of the books of the fraternity, the assessment is made that the members of the fraternity of the Five Holy Wounds of Christ are depicted in these paintings: in particular the image of Casimir Kieyc, who was the head of the fraternity at that time, and the image of his wife Kristina. They purchased this portable altar with their own resources for the procession to Trakai. The altar was gilded and contained two paintings and was carried for the first time to Trakai during the procession of the feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary, i.e. on the 7th of September in 1666. Later on, from 1668, the paintings of this altar were decorated with a silver setting. A record in the book of the fraternity is witness to the fact that on the 4th of June in 1733, just before the celebration of the Body of Christ, the portable altar painting of Our Lady of Sorrows was decorated with a new precious silver setting made by a professional Vilnius goldsmith. In 1750 a new wooden housing was created for this altar; consequently the images of the donators of the altar's paintings were damaged during the process of trimming the edges of the canvas (by about 4 cm) to adjust them to fit the newly made frames. This object of art had one more major restoration in 1799. This original portable altar, ordered by the Vilnius Fraternity of the F ive Holy Wounds of Christ and used in their devotional practice, is a reminder of the history of this fraternity. Moreover, it depicts the canvas's patrons and reflects the form of devotion and iconography that were specific to the Baroque culture of the 17th - 18th centuries and spread throughout its fraternities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]