Publications

This album presents a brief history of the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania in Vilnius Lower Castle – the reconstruction of this important residence of the rulers of Lithuania; highlights from its very large, varied, and valuable archaeological collections as well as some of the most significant acquisitions for its interior displays. The introduction is by the former President of the Republic of Lithuania and Chairman of the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania Restoration Coordinating Commission Algirdas Brazauskas. The Director of the National Museum – Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania Dr. Vydas Dolinskas provides an historical outline of the palace, its reconstruction, and planned exhibitions. The introductory article to the archaeological finds is by the Chief Curator of Collections Ėrika Striškienė and to the major acquisitions by the Head of the Department of Registration and Preservation Dalius Avižinis. In the album there are floor plans for planned exhibitions on three floors and in the basement  as well as a chronology of the most important dates in the history of the palace. The bulk of the album (364 pages) consists of large-format, full-page, color photographs of the most important archaeological finds and the most valuable acquisitions presented in chronological order from the pre-Gothic and Gothic periods to the Renaissance and Baroque periods.

This book by the noted scholar of Latin literature about the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and professor of classical philology at the University of Vilnius, Dr. habil. Eugenija Ulčinaitė, is devoted to a specific literary genre – ceremonial greetings (gratulationes) with which the grand dukes and nobles of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were honored on their arrival in Vilnius. The book contains four 16th-18th century facsimiles in the original Latin (with translations into Lithuanian) of greetings to the kings of Poland and the grand dukes of Lithuania Stephen Bathory, Sigismund Vasa, and Wladyslaw Vasa, and to the nobleman and bishop Krzystof Jan Szembek.

This book describes the birth of the opera as an art form in the first half of the 17th century and the first operas staged in Vilnius at the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, earlier than in Paris or London  – the Abduction of Helen, Andromeda, and Disappointed Circe. Facsimiles of the original librettos in Italian are published together with their translations into Lithuanian. The book is introduced by a lengthy article on the history of opera in early 17 th century Vilnius by the musicologist Dr. Jūratė Trilupaitienė and on court values in Virgilio Puccitelli’s librettos by the philologist Dr. Dainius Būrė.

Letters written during 1561-1562 by the diplomat of the Holy Roman Empire, Valentin Saurman [Valentinus Saurman de Jelcze, Sauermann, Zaurman], to Emperor Ferdinand I from the Vilnius court of the Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland Sigismund Augustus reveal the broad spectrum of foreign policy issues concerning the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland, which were being discussed and resolved in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius. They disclose the complex course of dynastic, territorial, and ideological conflicts as well as the nature and practice of Western diplomacy. These published letters are an important source of information not only for questions relating to Lithuanian and Polish foreign policy, but also for a better understanding of the problems of international relations in the region of Central and Eastern Europe during the mid-16th century.

Catalogue of the international exhibition, Wawel in Vilnius: From the Jagiellonians to the End of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, organized in Vilnius by the Wawel Royal Castle, the Lithuanian Art Museum, and the National Museum – Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania to commemorate the Millennial Anniversary of Lithuania. The catalogue provides a detailed description of 127 exhibition artifacts, which are of great value to Lithuania and are closely associated with the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, its rulers and their residence, and Lithuania’s nobility.

2010 desk calendar

This book contains the proceedings of an international conference held in Vilnius in 2006. There are 23 presentations by scholars (museologists, historians, architects, archaeologists, art historians and others) from Lithuania, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Russia and the United States on the history of the palace of the grand dukes of Lithuania, on the results of research undertaken to help in its reconstruction and future use, on analogous reconstruction projects in other countries, and current issues regarding its reconstruction and use. These articles help us evaluate in a broader historical and geographic context the results of the research that has been done to date relating to the reconstruction of the palace and plans for its future use.

This monograph is a catalog of the international exhibition, The Union of Lublin and its Era in the Art of Jan Matejko, marking the 440th anniversary of the Treaty of Lublin and presenting the imposing oil on canvas painting entitled Union of Lublin by the eminent romanticist Polish painter Jan Matejko (1838–1893). The exhibition discusses the history of the painting, displays a number of the preliminary sketches and important documents and maps of the era, and provides short biographies of the principal characters from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland depicted in the painting.