Pro Rytų vartus: Orientas Lietuvos liturginėje tekstilėje XVI-XX amžiais

• Pauliukevičiūtė, Rita, sudarymas [com]
• Surdokaitė-Vitienė, Gabija, sudarymas [com]

LTKnygoje „Pro Rytų vartus“ norima paliesti Lietuvos ir Rytų kultūrų sąveikos temą, koncentruojantis į Oriento tekstilės paveldą katalikų liturginių drabužių ir reikmenų kontekste. Tai jau trečia Bažnytinio paveldo muziejaus knyga apie bažnytinę tekstilę. Pirmoje knygoje „Šilkas ir auksas" buvo papasakota XVI-XVIII a. Europos šilkinių audinių, iš kurių siuvami liturginiai ir pasaulietiniai drabužiai, istorija ir raida, pristatytas jų paveldas Lietuvoje. Antra knyga - „Siuvinėtas dangus“ - skirta siuvinėtai liturginei tekstilei, joje atskleista meninių stilių ir vietinių tradicijų sąveika, simbolikos kaita, pristatytos siuvinėjimo technikos. Lietuvos katalikų bažnyčių liturginės tekstilės rinkiniuose aptinkama XVI-XVIII a. audinių, kilusių iš tolimosios Osmanų imperijos, tuometinės Persijos ir Indijos. XVIII a. Lietuvoje pasireiškė to meto visoje Europoje madingas domėjimasis Kinijos menais.Dėl Abiejų Tautų Respublikos padalijimų ir valstybingumo panaikinimo, Lietuvos teritorijos prijungimo prie Rusijos imperijos XIX a. tampa svarbūs Kaukazo ir Vid. Azijos audiniai, taip pat masiškai randasi Rusijos fabrikuose išaustų audinių, kurių raštai ir technikos savo ruožtu patyrė persų, Osmanų, Vid. Azijos ir Kaukazo tekstilės tradicijų įtakas. Knygos tikslas - pristatyti iki šiol išaiškintus ir identifikuotus XVI a. II pusės - XX a. pr. iš Oriento kraštų atgabentus audinius ir siuvinius, supažindinti su tokios tekstilės paplitimu, specifinėmis LDK gyventojų estetinėmis nuostatomis, per istorinės tekstilės raidą parodyti kultūrinių mainų, meno idėjų, technologijų ir meistrų migracijos padarinius, kur skirtingų šalių techninė patirtis, tie patys dekoro elementai skirtinguose kraštuose įgavo savitų, netikėtų sąskambių. Knygoje publikuojami osmanų, persų, indų, Kaukazo, Vid. Azijos, Kinijos, Rusijos, Europos audiniai ir siuviniai, kurie mums yra tarsi langas į kitų kultūrų ir religijų pažinimą. [Iš teksto, p. 10]

ENIntroduction. The East or Orient has been a place for Europeans since Antiquity, and is associated with adventures, exotic creatures, memorable impressions, and extraordinary scenery. However, it should be remembered that the world began to divide East from West in the 5th century BC, when the ancient Greeks were at war with the Persians. Since then, the concepts of the Orient and its geographical plane have changed due to various discoveries and historical events, but as the famous American scientist Edward W. Said remarked, “The Orient was a work of European imagination, which housed all the "otherness”, everything that is distant, different, unknown, and mysterious”. "Through the Gates ofthe East” - is a book published by the Church Heritage Museum about the textile heritage of the East, otherwise known as the Orient, a subject which is rarely covered in other studies about secular and liturgical textiles. Back in those ancient times, silk fabrics were transported from the East to the Roman Empire. Along with Persian and Indian applied arts, Chinese silk also became a common occurrence. Due to the nature of the delicate, sophisticated patterns combined with luxurious materials, and their highly specialised technological quality, textiles from the Orient have become one of the most appreciated and valued applied arts in Europe. Quite early on, Orient textiles reached even the more remote regions of Europe. Liturgical vestments and their fragments, dating from the 10th to the 14th century, have been preserved in museums and churches throughout Western, Central, and Northern Europe. The fabrics were imported from Egypt, Syria, and China, but from the 15th century the fabrics of Ottoman Turkey, Safavid Iran, later Mughal India, became popular. These textiles became a commodity holding a special power, contributing to the economic prosperity oftheir countries.This kind of high-quality applied art has been widely used as a great gift to envoys and rulers, who have historically played an important role in diplomatic relations. Such gifts were often sent as a form of encrypted messages, a complicated, sophisticated means of communication, testifying to the extremely high social and political status of the donor and the recipient. In the three super states of the early modern Islamic world - Safavid Persia (Iran), the Ottoman Empire and the Mughal Empire (mostly northern India), textiles became the most important asset of their economic and political power. The fabrics originating from these powerful and strong nations spread to Europe, where they have not only been admired, but they have made a significant impact on the design and fashion of European applied arts. During the 17th and 18th centuries, when the sea trade routes were established, the popularity and fashion of Chinese products were on the rise, and many porcelains, silk fabrics, lacquers, furniture, and so on were shipped to Europe from China. However, the supply of all these goods could not meet the increased demand, leading to the mass creation of imitations in Europe. The applied arts and architecture ofthe Orient, especially China, created an opportunity for the Chinoiserie style to appear. The Oriental mood prevailing throughout Europe did not escape the Grand Duchy of Lithuania either. According to archaeological finds, during the 11th to 13th centuries, Egyptian metal, coloured glass, and snail shell accessories, Middle Eastern, Old Russian, and Byzantine fabrics were imported to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Merchants from Russia and Islamic countries came to the Grand Duchy quite often during the 15th and 16th centuries.Particularly during the second half of the 16th century, across the Grand Duchy and the neighbouring Kingdom of Poland, oriental artefacts became more and more popular as they did across all of the Europe at that time. In the 17th century, a paradoxical situation arose: despite the antipathy to the East caused by military conflicts, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (The Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland), underwent an intense process of what can be called the orientalisation of elite tastes, not only in the popularity of goods such as fabrics, carpets, leather goods, armaments, etc., but also in the clothing worn by locals, reflecting the features of the oriental style. Due to varying reasons, it has historically been the case that Oriental goods were mainly transported and traded to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by Armenian merchants. Goods from the Ottoman Empire reached the Grand Duchy of Lithuania via the Lithuanian Brastos Customs Point, and from there they travelled to Vilnius and Minsk, deep into Smolensk, Moscow, and Riga. Studies show that the people of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth did not strictly divide Turkish, Persian, Indian or Armenian goods. It is obvious that the oriental origin of various artefacts and fabrics was important to the people of the republic, but the specific country of origin did not have a special significance. In addition to the finished goods, raw silk materials and pigments for dyeing threads and fabrics were imported into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland. The Hetman of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Stanislav Konecpolski (1591-1646), was the first in the Kingdom of Poland to invite weavers from the Ottoman Empire to develop a textile manufacturing facility in Brody (now Ukraine) that weaved oriental-style rugs and to avoid the need to transport yarns from abroad. [...]. [From the publication]