Acta Historica Universitatis Klaipedensis

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.

The article is devoted to the researches into ‘the texts – books – libraries’ resources in the men’s orders in Vilnius from the 17th–18th C. The analysis of the source database helps us to reconstruct the picture of the intellectual output of the monasteries in Vilnius. Grand Duchy of Lithuania for many years was the place of working many various monasteries. Vilnius was the most important centre of the monastic life in the Nobles’ Commonwealth in the 18th century. In Vilnius there were orders engaged in education, management of schools, scientific and other publication, and charitable works. In this work great importance was always attached to a book, it helped to cultivate the intellectual traditions of the community. They had an important influence on the spiritual life of the monks.

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.

Maria Znamierowska-Prufferowa was born in 1898 in Kybartai, Lithuania. In 1924 she became an assistant lecturer at the Faculty of Ethnography and Ethnology of the Stefan Batory University in Vilnius. It was at her initiative that the Ethnographic Museum here embarked upon the quest to research and to present the culture of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania. She had managed to complete a number of field research projects which focused primarily on fishing (tools and methods used by fishermen, as well as their witchcraft and beliefs) and handicraft. This article identifies the theoretical and social contexts of the research, as well as the scope and availability of materials gathered by the scholar. It also discusses the value of the above materials as a source of knowledge for the contemporary ethnologist.

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.

The beginning of the 20th century was very interesting time: political, cultural, literary life changed impossible rapidly. New modernistic searches became very attractive for new generation. Young European people were open to modern ideas. Two almanacs, prepared in Vilnius by Lithuanians and Poles, show, that our biggest town was also one of cultural centre, were flourished modern art.

The article is devoted to the research of village and its culture in the global world, investigating the parallels of Lithuania and Poland. The process of globalisation greatly affects Lithuanian and Polish village. Only relatively small the well-off and better-off groups emerge, while the number of poor steadily increases. Moreover, there is a threat that big farms will push out family farms from the agrarian business. The implication is that being left without family farms village will change not only in the sense of social life but in the cultural plane as well. Village deagrarisation has deep economic, social, psychological and cultural consequences. In consequence of the deagrarisation decreases the potential of traditional rural culture. There are lots of threats for cultural heritage – it can gradually decline or transform into front culture. This threat is increased with growth residential steadings in village.

The article is devoted to the investigations on the links between Lithuanian and Polish music from the 2nd half of the 20th C. The years of Soviet occupation that plunged a major part of authors into the grip of social realism formed, however, Lithuanian modernism although one of its branches (with a slighter loss and carrying on the trends of modernism of the interwar period of independence) was developed in the emigration (Bacevičius, Kačinskas, Gaidelis). The ideological inspirations of modernism and principles of compositional technique were borrowed from the neighbours (the Polish composers) by many authors. The ties between Lithuanian and Polish musicologists are worth a separate study: they began with music literature and later visits of Polish musicologists to Lithuania and vice versa made useful personal contacts. Besides, joint events were organised (9 Lithuanian–Polish conferences have been held so far). In the new open world situation Poland remains a significant partner of music and musicological ties for Lithuania.