Muzeum Starożytności i Tymczasowa Komisja Archeologiczna Wileńska w walce o litewską tożsamość i dziedzictwo kulturowe

ENIn the 19th century, in the former lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which included the territory of today’s Lithuania, Russian influence grew and increasingly spread from the political sphere into the field of culture. However, the implementation of the policy of Russification met resistance, which manifested itself in the efforts to build a fully-fledged cultural identity. Collecting and museology became one of the forms of identity building, and this activity increasingly acquired the national character (accumulation of national memorabilia and relics of the nations heroes). In their activity, the members of the Vilnius Museum of Antiquities and the Vilnius Temporary Archaeological Commission not only sought to build a collection of national, i.e. Lithuanian (in their understanding of that time) heritage. Researchers from Vilnius renewed the efforts of former historians to establish the origin of Lithuanians and redefine the concept of a Lithuanian (Litwin) and Lithuania (Litwa). The prospect of creating a national myth naturally raised another important question of distinguishing the locations important for the history of Lithuania (both before and after the union with Poland), and alongside, asserting cultural vitality and independence. The members of the Vilnius Temporary Archaeological Commission were looking for such locations above all in the city of Vilnius (Vilnius Cathedral - the myth of the capital modelled after the Valley of the Kings).Locations related with the national myth were spread in the entire territory of Lithuania: Kernavė, Trakai, Biržai etc. Outstanding Lithuanian figures - Dukes Vytautas and Kęstutis, Barbora Radvilaitė and Bogusław Radziwiłł - were brought into the cultural circulation of the history of Lithuania (which was also called dzieje at that time). The publications of the Vilnius Museum of Antiquities and the Vilnius Temporary Archaeological Commission popularised history, historic locations and the figures of the Lithuanian national pantheon. Like collecting, ethnographic, historical and archaeological research that was carried out sought to prove that Lithuanian culture was not secondary or replicated and, above all, that it was not formed in the environment of Slavic culture. The aim of Eustachy Tyszkiewicz (1814-1873), Józef Ignacy Kraszewski (1812-1887), Adam Honory Kirkor (1818-1886) and other members of the Vilnius Temporary Archaeological Commission was to establish the points of cultural reference that would be attractive to the Baltic nations; firstly, it was Scandinavia. Detailed comparative research of archaeological finds in Lithuania and Scandinavia (Sweden, Denmark) created the conditions for the appearance of a strong opposition against the Lithuanian-Slavic model propagated by Russia. In other words, it showed that it was not so easy to oppress the nation and make it part of the Slavic monarchic state ruled by tsars. [From the publication]