Klaipėdos universitetas

The article is devoted to the ethnological and the religious culture history research results on the cult of the Hills of Crosses in Lithuania and Poland. It is typical to have still preserved the cult of the Hill of Crosses both in Lithuania and Poland. The Hill of Crosses in Lithuania is not far from the Šiauliai city, while in Poland – it is in Grabarka localities. The research allows us to make the conclusions about the identities (geographical situation, the origin of the cult, the heritage of the religious culture, and rituals), peculiarities (Catholic and Orthodox sanctuaries) and rituals here. The hypothesis was raised that the cult of the Hill of the Crosses in Lithuania and in Poland is a Christian symbol of the fights for religion and freedom.

The article is devoted to the ethnographic and folk art research studies on sacral folk art and its decoration in Lithuania and Poland, paying attention on memorials of the roadsides, cemetery and other places. Lithuania and Poland are two neighbour countries with their landscapes decorated by sacral folk art and architectural works. The aim is to review the main attributes of the works of Lithuanian and Polish sacral folk art, to identify the similarities and differences of their decorations and methods of production. Nowadays memorials seen on the roadsides and cemeteries are the examples of folk art history, living tradition and influence of the industry and new technologies. They reflect the religious and cultural heritage of a nation. Memorials leave the first impression of the character and value system of a particular nation.

The article is devoted to the new ethnographic and social research results on the Karaitic religion’s minority in Lithuania and Poland. After the last partition of Poland in 1795 main part of Karaites lived in Russia and was given some privileges by the tsars too. When Poles regained their independence and created new Polish Republic Karaites declared full loyalty towards it. During II World War Karaites were not ex-terminated by the Nazis like Jews although they easily could be taken for Jews because in Karaitic liturgy Hebrew language is still present. Today in Lithuania there are two main Karaitic centres: in Trakai and Vilnius with two churches still open. While visiting Trakai it is worth to see Karaitic wooden houses with three windows situated next to a road being a sign of presence of Karaitic community composed of 154 persons.

Present research is based on source materials which point at the importance of education in mother tongue to Poles inhabiting Lithuania in preserving their national identity. At the same time they disprove the thesis about the polonization of Vilnius region, which allegedly took place during the Soviet period as a result of the government’s permission for the existence of schools teaching in Polish. The percentage of students receiving education in the Polish language was always lower than the percentage of Poles inhabiting Lithuania. However, the process of russification was pressed in Vilnius region, which was stopped by regaining of the independence by Lithuania. Poles, who won the right to education in mother tongue in 1950s, in independent Lithuania opted for a traditional model of school with education in mother tongue as well. More and more students were receiving education in schools teaching in Polish, also the number of school leavers continuing studies at universities was increasing.

This article aims to examine the geographical extent of Lithuania in the early 19th century. In the 19th century – from the partitions of the Republic of the Two Nations to the independence of the Republic of Lithuania – the concept of Lithuania drastically changed. Along with it the geographical extent of Lithuania also changed. Current studies of modern Lithuanian history, however, tend to consider 19th-century Lithuania from present viewpoints. The purpose of this article is to show the geographical extent of Lithuania perceived by early 19th-century intellectuals in Vilnius as an example of its geographical and spatial perceptions, which are an important element of the 19th-century understanding of Lithuania.

The article is devoted to the historical studies of a princely landownership concentration in Volhyn lands in the 16th century. This landownership was the highest in all the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. According to historical materials, in first third of the 16th century Volhynian princes owned 44% of all landed fund of Volhyn (in correlation with ‘pans’ and ‘zemiane’ landownership; the royal and church was insignificant), in the last third it slightly grew up to 45 %. In the end of century these indexes remained unchanging. In Lutsk district of the Volhynian province a level of concentration of princely landownership was a few other. In last third of the 16th century princes owned 40 % lands, and on the end of century it percent correlation diminished to 38 %. Such calculations are conducted by author on materials of Lutsk deed books, and it allowed to trace and to analyze the specificity of the landed circulation of Volhynian princes in details.