Acta Historica Universitatis Klaipedensis

Principles of State Protection of Ethnic Culture defines the ethnographic region as a historically formed part of the country in which a distinctive dialect, traditions and customs have been preserved, and the heritage of the Baltic tribes has been integrated, it is difficult to coordinate the data and attitudes of linguists, historians and ethnologists. The article shows the difference between ethnographic maps (which are based on the values of traditional culture), most of which attribute Vilnius to the ethnographic region of Dzūkija, and the view of the people living in these areas that the Vilnius area belongs to the ethnographic region of Aukštaitija.

The first written mention in historical sources of the name of Žemaitija (or Samogitia), the west Lithuanian region, is well-known. In 1219, the Hypatian Codex described how Žemaitijan dukes, along with Lithuanian dukes, made peace with Volhynia. Much less is known about the emergence of the name of Žemaitija on ancient maps, despite the fact that old cartography often provides the first records of various geographical, socio-cultural and socio-economic phenomena. The article not only tries to trace the first appearance of the name Samogitia on maps, but also discusses its various forms and transformations, explaining the motives behind choices of particular forms of the name. The author examines nearly all the maps created before the early 19th century as cartographic sources. For the classification of this volume of material, she uses the concept of the three-stage cartographic depiction of Lithuania proposed by Vaclovas Chomskis. More than 200 maps of different scales and representing different areas, including Lithuania, Lithuania and neighbouring countries, Lithuania and Poland, Europe, Prussia, etc, were researched in order to track the use of different names for Žemaitija.

The aim of our article is to discuss a rather well-known artefact from the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania in Vilnius. Although the bracelet has been somewhat widely published and exhibited, the information that usually accompanies it is little more than modest. Although it is generally pointed out that the bracelet is adorned with an Arabic inscription, there is still a question mark present. In this article, we will offer a transcription and a translation of the inscription on the bracelet, along with some parallels, which will allow us to determine the origin of this unique find in Lithuanian archaeological material.

The article is devoted to the new results on literary research about the power of memory in “Roadside Doggy” by Czesław Miłosz (1911-2004). Cz. Miłosz remembers episodes from his life in Vilnius, which is a proof of his special point of view. Miłosz’s journey, which started at the beginning of the previous century, has no limits in “Roadside Doggy”. “Two horses driven carriage” goes without obstructions, penetrates deeply into the mind, and reaches the farthest neighbourhoods. It is a kind of account with one’s past according to the idea that “man without memory is nearly dead and represents the inferior part of humanity.”

The article concentrates on the role and importance of the intellectual culture of contemplative female orders in the societies of the onetime Vilnius. The article depicts the use of normative liturgical texts and the preaching creativity in the religious activity of the order. What was emphasized were the books functioning in the characterised environment as well as the individual and collective religious reading matter and the organisation and contents of the monasterial libraries.