ENThe Faculty of Fine Arts of the Stefan Batory University in Wilno played an exceptionally significant role in the years 1919-1939, not only in the field of artistic education in the north-eastern borderlands of the Polish Second Republic, but also to a meaningful extent in advancing the cultural development of this region. It is important to remember that, at the time, this was the only university department which educated visual artists and professional custodians of monuments, architects as well as teachers of drawing in primary and secondary schools. The establishment of the department, its character and curriculum and, what is more important, its subsequent fruitful development, were all solely the result of the efforts of Ferdynand Ruszczyć, the celebrated painter and animator of cultural life in Wilno.2 The successful activities of the department, which, together with the Stefan Batory University as a whole, would now be celebrating the centenary of its restoration, were sadly terminated by political developments on 15 December 1939. The transfer of ownership of the city of Wilno shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War led to the decision of the part of the Lithuanian authorities to close the Stefan Batory University in Wilno. This also marked the end of the existence and the activities of the Faculty of Fine Arts. [Extract, p. 13]