News

30 January - 13 February 2009. The exhibition will take place at the Bishop Challoner Catholic Collegiate School, Lukin Street, London, E1 0EB and will be open Wednesday - Friday from 5 to 8 pm and on Saturdays at 12 to 4 pm.

In the 16th c. copy of the Annals of Quedlinburg there is the following entry for the date 1009: “St Bruno, also known as Boniface, archbishop and monk, during his eleventh year after having become a monk, was killed by pagans at the border of Rus’ and Lithuania on the 9th of March with 18 of his brethren, all of whom went to heaven.” Christianity did not then become established in Lithuania. However, thanks to St Bruno’s mission the name of Lithuania appears for the first time although the creation of the Lithuanian state had begun before that.

The exhibition “Lithuania: Culture and History” provides a vivid account of the most important events in the history and culture of this country. The exhibition presents the most important periods in Lithuanian history: the old Lithuanian state (11th – 18th c.), the tsarist Russian occupation (19th c.), the independent Lithuanian Republic (1918–1940), fifty years of occupation (1940–1990), and the restoration of independent Lithuania (since 1990). The exhibition includes images of Lithuania, architectural masterpieces, portraits of important personalities, events, all of which convey Lithuania’s history and culture.

Separate exhibition stands trace the unique cultural trends of the Lithuanian State (e.g. Vasa Baroque) – trends which have left their mark and indicate Lithuania’s ties to other European cultures. Very few English people may know that King Henry IV participated in the burning of the Castle of Vilnius in 1390, and of interest to all Europeans will be the fact that in 1429 the Diet of Lutsk, organized by Vytautas the Great, is comparable to current European summits, which were very unusual during the Middle Ages.

The story about the history and culture of Lithuania, narrated by the exhibition, reaffirms that Lithuania was and continues to be an integral and inseparable part of Christian Europe and that the history of Lithuania was and continues to be a history of its encounters, links and dialogues with European peoples, states and cultures.

The exhibition is based on the concept of the art historian Dr. Irena Vaišvilaitė. The authors of the exhibition are Romualdas Budrys, Dr. Vydas Dolinskas, and Mindaugas Šapoka. It is a joint project of the Lithuanian Art Museum and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania. The iconography, images, and artefacts have been put together from many Lithuanian and international collections. The exhibition includes videos based on Marius Jovaiša’s photo album “Unseen Lithuania”, as well as the film “Flight Over Lithuania” by Arūnas Matelis and Audrius Stonys.

The exhibition in London has been prepared in collaboration with Bishop Challoner Catholic Collegiate School and the Lithuanian Embassy in London.  

For further details please contact 020 7935 9872, culture@lithuanianembassy.co.uk