Published: 20250925
#pažinkmus – Laima Kunickytė, Copy editor at the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania. Having worked at the Museum since the early days of the Palace’s reconstruction, Laima shares her most memorable encounters with authors and a curious incident in Italy.
It seems that an copy editor is a person who never lifts their head from texts. Is that what your workday looks like?
Essentially yes, editing work “grounds” you – it inevitably requires withdrawing from the outside world and immersing yourself in the realm of texts. From the outside, this kind of work may appear calm, but in reality, it is not always so. Texts or projects that are needed here and now demand a lot of tension and concentration.
That said, I have also done different kinds of work at the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania – administrative duties, publishing coordination. This involved plenty of live communication and correspondence with book authors, translators, and layout designers. Compared to those responsibilities, text editing is much calmer and less dynamic.
You have been working at the Museum for ten years?
I have been here since the times when much of the palace was still unfinished. For example, because of ongoing construction, we had to escort visitors into palace spaces wearing safety helmets. I had the opportunity to witness how the Museum expanded, transformed, and was eventually opened to the public.
The historical building, which initially received quite a lot of controversy, has now become a widely recognized, multifaceted cultural site. What I particularly like is that the Palace of the Grand Dukes fulfills many functions – from being a Museum to serving as a representational and entertainment space.
You also collaborate with publication authors. Which personalities have left the greatest impression on you?
Naturally, the people around you have a major impact on your work. Among them, first and foremost, I must mention the director of the Palace of the Grand Dukes Museum, Dr. Vydas Dolinskas, who is exceptionally devoted to his work. He put immense effort into making the Palace what it is today.
Over these long years working at the Museum, I have had the honor of meeting many remarkable personalities who left a profound mark on my life. In truth, such people impress not so much through their titles, achievements, or works, but above all through their charisma, their inner culture, and the light they radiate to those around them. Immediately, I recall the renowned Lithuanian art historian and talented art critic Habil. Dr. Gražina Marija Martinaitienė. At the Museum, she published books about the fabrics and colors used by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania’s society, as well as about the cannon and bell founder Jonas Breitelis. I would meet with this woman of subtle humor to discuss her book publishing matters. She loved to share memories about her work and her husband, the famous poet Marcelijus Martinaitis, whose student I once was. She was deeply committed to ensuring that all her husband’s works were published, even those she had found tucked away in their countryside home. My meetings with her were a true joy.
I also fondly remember interactions with the late, renowned archaeologist, head of the Lower Castle Palace research, Habil. Dr. Vytautas Urbanavičius. He was a very warm person. One of his final works was the Museum-published book “The Pantheon of the Rulers and Nobles of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in Vilnius.” The scholar was in a hurry to publish it, as if eager to thank everyone who had contributed, even in the smallest way, to his research.
While excavating the Lower Castle territory of Vilnius, archaeologists discovered many historical game pieces, such as chess figures and dice. Have you tried playing any historical game?
Although I am fond of games, especially board games, I have never played historical ones. Still, I have always been curious about which games were popular in earlier times. For example, it was fascinating to learn that a 15th-century wooden barrel lid found at the Palace site had a board for the game of Quirkle carved into it. This was a prototype of checkers, which fondly reminds me of my childhood.
Speaking of board games in general, I have tried many. I enjoy playing them with my relatives, especially my sister’s children. In our leisure time, we “harness” simple UNO cards, Monopoly, and themed dice games.
You are an avid traveler and a fan of detective stories. Has there ever been a combination of both – a detective story on a trip?
Yes, traveling and detective stories refresh me. Travel gives me wings, while detective stories (both books and films) provide a break from serious scholarly texts. Fortunately, I have avoided detective stories in real life while traveling so far. But I have indeed found myself in comical situations more than once. For example, last year in Turin, we essentially could not get into our rented apartment for more than half a day. My friend and I had planned to visit a more distant site. It turned out that public transport drivers were on strike, so after waiting an hour at the stop, we trudged back home. After catching our breath, we set off again, closing the door behind us. Within a minute we realized – the keys were left inside, in the lock… It was Sunday, the Italians immersed in their family siestas. After a long while, we managed to call the apartment owner, but to our disappointment, she was out of town. We agreed to wait for her landlady with a locksmith, so we remained in the corridor of the old building. I felt like a character in Alfred Hitchcock’s film “Rear Window” – we could observe the residents coming and going, hear their voices, even sense their smells, see their moods, study their characters. Time went by, but our rescuer and her helper did not appear. In short, life in the stairwell lasted five hours – finally, the angry landlady arrived with her sister carrying a huge toolbox. Cursing in Italian, after furious efforts, the locksmith sister finally let us in. So, Turin I will never forget (laughs).
Thank you for your time!
