The international exhibition The Pacs. Lilies in the Garden of History

President of the Republic of Lithuania Gitanas NAUSĖDA

Metropolitan Archbishop of Vilnius Gintaras GRUŠAS

Metropolitan Archbishop of Kaunas Kęstutis KĖVALAS

 

The Pacs are one of the most eminent, oldest, influential, wealthiest and most celebrated magnate families in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, who held the title of counts. They are likely to have originated from the Grodno and Lida surrounds. Like many other Lithuanian magnate families, the Pacs consistently highlighted the legend of their Roman origins. Due to their exceptional role in Lithuania’s history, this family can be compared to the Radziwill princes and the Sapieha dukes. At one point, the Pacs had even become the factual rulers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, continuing the tradition of protecting and strengthening Lithuania’s statehood. Many representatives of the Pac family held high-ranking state and church offices, were well educated and were known for their refined artistic tastes.

 

The Pacs acted with volition in many fields of Lithuania’s state and public life. They often stood out as insightful politicians and diplomats, talented commanders, diligent pastors, supporters of the Church, generous art patrons and resourceful landowners. Members of the Pac family had become senators of Poland and Lithuania on eighteen occasions, held ministerial offices in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania eleven times, were appointed as high-ranking Lithuanian state dignitories twenty-one times and five representatives were even ordained as bishops.

 

Ancestors of the Pacs emerged among the Lithuanian state’s political elite already in the first half of the 15th century. Several of this family’s representatives were Lithuanian state ministers, voivodes, castellans and members of the Council of Lords in the 15th–16th centuries. Brothers who were around in the second half of the 16th century – the Smolensk castellan Dominik and the Vilnius castellan Pawel – were the founders of the two most important Pac family lines, named after the most important offices (of chancellor and hetman) subsequent representatives of this family held. Nonetheless, for a long time the Pacs remained in the shadows of the more powerful Lithuanian magnate families.

The Pacs reached the peak of their family’s influence and glory in Lithuania only in the 17th century. The foundations for the family’s rise to prominence and glory were laid by the representative of the senior Chancellor line – the Lithuanian Grand Treasurer and Deputy Chancellor Stefan Krzysztof Pac. He received a good education, travelled around Europe and earned the trust of the ruling Vasa dynasty. In the Lithuanian capital, Stefan Krzysztof Pac saw to the construction of St Casimir’s Chapel and the reconstruction of the Palace of the Grand Dukes, thereby also enshrining his magnatorial aspirations through his exceptional foundations and patronage. The influence of the junior, or Hetman, line in Lithuania was established by the Bishop of Samogitia Mikolaj and his brother, the Lithuanian Court Treasurer and Voivode of Trakai, Piotr.

 

Two sons of Deputy Chancellor Stefan Krzysztof Pac – the Lithuanian Grand Chancellor Krzysztof Zygmunt Pac and Voivode of Trakai, and later the Bishop of Vilnius Mikolaj Stefan – and two representatives of the junior Hetman line – the Lithuanian Great Hetman and Voivode of Vilnius Michal Kazimierz and the Bishop of Samogitia Kazimierz – held the highest offices in Lithuania in the second half of the 17th century, reaching the apogee of the family’s power and considered probably the most influential statesmen in the whole of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

They became the first of Lithuania’s senators and factually ruled the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for more than two decades, defending and strengthening its state status. The Pacs earned renown as active and generous patrons. Pažaislis Monastery, the Church of the Apostles St Peter and St Paul in Vilnius, Varniai Cathedral, two palaces (the Chancellor’s and the Hetman’s) in Lithuania’s capital, liturgical attire and vessels from the Vilnius Cathedral treasury, heraldic tapestries – these are all works of immense historical and artistic value, suggesting the existence of a unique “Pac Baroque” in Lithuania in the second half of the 17th century.

 

As the “golden generation” of the Pacs did not leave successors, representatives from the other family branches had to satisfy themselves with playing a secondary role in Lithuania in the 18th century, only occassionally holding senatorial or ministerial offices. Unable to independently form the Lithuanian political agenda at that time, the Pac counts would usually align themselves with the Radziwill princes’ faction. Probably the most distinctive member of the Pac family in the 18th century in the entire Commonwealth was the Lithuanian army general, Michal Jan Pac. In the times of the Bar Confederation, he was the leader of the Lithuanian General Confederation, serving as deputy to his colleague from Poland. The insurgents considered Michal Jan Pac to be the leader of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

 

The last of the more prominent representatives of the Pac family of counts was a commander in the French Grande Armée, senator of the Congress Kingdom of Poland and one of the leaders of the Uprising of 1831, Ludwik Michal. All the family’s wealth accumulated in his hands and he earned renown as a patron and collector, establishing opulent residences in Dowspuda and Warsaw. The count was forced to emigrate on account of his involvement in the uprising against Russia, and his property was confiscated. Ludwik Michal Pac’s daughter Ludwika was the last representative of the family, she married Duke Franciszek Ksawery Sapieha and died at the end of the 19th century.

 

This exhibition dedicated to the history and legacy of the Pacs continues our tradition of presenting Lithuania’s historic magnate families who left the most memorable trace in our country. The Sapieha dukes were featured in an exhibition in 2012, followed by the Radziwill princes in late 2019 – early 2020. The exhibition dedicated to the Pac counts is different in that it presents magnates whose family line is already extinguished, who cannot manage their ancestors’ heritage nor continue to accumulate collections, nor form the historical image of the family or its separate members, nor influence society’s historical memory. Therefore, the exhibition dedicated to the Pacs becomes an even more relevant monument illustrating the significance of the family’s merits and actualising their unique legacy.

 

The exhibition has on display around 300 exhibits: paintings, graphic art works, sculptures, textiles, goldsmithery and other applied art works, drawings and projects, old photographs, authentic documents and early prints, weapons and armour, as well as other historical relics from Lithuania’s, Poland’s and Ukraine’s museums, libraries, archives, churches, monasteries and private collections (more than fifty owners in total). Relatively few portraits of the Pacs exist to this day, whereas some were stolen and are being hidden in Russia. Yet what is truly breathtaking are the grand architectural monuments created by the Pacs, also, the astounding sacred goldsmithery works presented at the exhibition, brilliant liturgical attire, impressive heraldic tapestries and valuable paintings.

 

National Museum – Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania (Vilnius)

Adam Mickiewicz Institute (Warsaw, Poland)

 

Church Heritage Museum

Vilnius University library

Vrublevskis Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences

 

Hotel „Pacai“

 

Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania

 

UAB „DOJUS agro“, draudimo bendrovė „BTA“

 

LRT, „Lietuvos rytas“, lrytas.lt, „JCDecaux“, „Legendos“