Exposition Guides of the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, Vol. I
A brief explanation of each exposition hall or space will be given, and attention will be drawn to the most interesting and valuable exhibits.
The museum’s first exposition reveals the development of the residence of the grand dukes of Lithuania and its territory in light of the state’s historical context (from the Stone Age to our days). The most valuable part of this section of the exposition are the surviving authentic ruins and the unique archaeological finds – including pieces made of clay, metal, wood, leather, bone, glass and other works unearthed during the investigations, totaling around half a million objects. Besides the authentic walls, there is also a chronological exposition up to the mid-17th c., as well as models, diagrams and maps.
The exposition’s second route reflects the stylistic eras in the palace’s development, dating from the 15th–17th c., when common rulers reigning in Lithuania, Poland, Sweden and other countries resided here. The route also reminds us of the purpose of historic rooms and halls. This is just the place to sense the spirit of palace life and the rhythm of the state’s functioning. It is like a walk through reconstructed representational interiors from the Late Gothic, Renaissance and Early Baroque periods where we present typical applied and fine art works found in European palaces at the time, such as furniture, tapestries, sculptures, portraits, weapons and armour, maps and graphic art works, and other Lithuanian-studies related values.
Text authors and compilers Dalius Avižinis, Vydas Dolinskas, Gintautas Striška, Ėrika Striškienė
Copy editors Laima Kunickytė, Indrė Makauskaitė
Photographers Vytautas Abramauskas, Mindaugas Kaminskas, Antanas Lukšėnas
Diagrams, maps and reconstruction illustrations Rasa Abramauskienė
Design and layout Aida Valinskienė
National Museum – Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania
Vilnius, 2015
107, [1] p.
The publication sponsored by STEFA ALŠĖNAITĖ-URBAN (USA) in memory of her father STASYS V. ALŠĖNAS
Project partly funded by Lithuanian Council for Culture
For its support in releasing this publication, the publishers also sincerely thank the Royal Palace Support Committee, USA
Printed by UAB „Petro ofsetas“, 1000 copies
ISSN 2424-3574
ISBN 978-609-8061-33-8
