Acta Historica Universitatis Klaipedensis

Works of art that visualise historical events are very specific. The artists who create them are constantly faced with the dilemma of how far they can move from a realistic image in the work, and how to interpret a historical event so that it will be recognisable to the viewer, but at the same time maintain the innovativeness of the form and the pulse of the times. Artists were pushed into this dilemma by the era of Modernism and its principled desire to deny the importance of the storyline and the illustrative image. They had the choice of staying within the framework of conservative realism, or finding a way out. Therefore, this article seeks to reveal the solutions discovered by Modernist artists visualising events in Lithuanian history. The wide period (the 1930s and the 1990s) chosen for the study obliges us to single out the most outstanding examples, which do not adhere to a realistic view and the illustrative presentation of the event.

The article is devoted to the research of activities of illegal Polish culture organizations in Vilnius during the turn of the 19th and 20th Centuries. The author reminds that Vilnius city and the whole Vilnius land belonged to so-called North-West district of Russian Empire at the beginning of 20th Century. From the time of suppression of January Uprising (1863-1864) the Russian government introduced in this land a severe regime of ruling. They attempted in the same time to suppress the spirit of enslaved nations by means of destruction of their culture. In a consequence the Polish society in Vilnius hasn’t a possibility to act legally in the field of culture and science, therefore it begun to create illegal structures. As the first such attempt was the Committee for building of Adam Mickiewicz monument organised in 1897. It was a manifestation of patriotic stand and aspirations for a liberty of Polish people.

In the last decades of the 19th century in several Warsaw journals were published (in reviews, chronicles and letters) critical opinions about lifestyle and hierarchy of values represented by rich Lithuanian gentry, spending winter months and carnival in the capital of the Kingdom of Poland. In the whole journal critics especially visible was argument concerning the absurdity of the system of value well-known by Lithuanian gentry. My article does not decide veracity and first of all facts concerning mocked and ridiculed by journalists style of behaviour of created by Lithuanian gentry system of value. Accepting however negative image as possible for some part of gentry, I raise a question (for the long time interesting for the social historians) about mechanisms of modernization of the social structures.

The article is devoted to the studies of the birth of the Lithuanian myth in Polish Culture. Author points the importance of Lithuania in Polish intellectual life increased since the beginning of the 19th century. The role of Vilnius as one of the most influential research and artistic centers particularly improved. Vilnius University (Uniwersytet Wileński 1803-1832), which influence and achievements spread beyond Lithuanian border for a long time after it had been closed down, played an especially significant role. A lot of interest in Lithuanian history and culture, its languages and folklore developed among Vilnius intellectuals. The tendency was steady: in next decades numerous musical works, scientific research and literary works were created. They were inspired by widely understood Lithuanian culture. Vilnius started living its own life of a legendary capital of romanticism and a town of glorious but tragic history. Owing to a romantic tradition Lithuanian issues became one of the typical features of Polish culture.