Vilniaus laikinoji archeologijos komisija ir universiteto atkūrimo sumanymai

ENFollowing the closure of Vilnius University in 1832, the elite of Lithuanian society fostered the hope of restoring this educational institution. This goal is reflected in the activity of the Vilnius Temporary Archaeological Commission established in 1855. The founders of the Commission and the main promoters of its activity - not only Eustachy Tyszkiewicz, but also Michał Baliński (1794-1864), Adam Honory Kirkor (1818-1886) and Adam Stanisław Krasiński (1810-1891) - sought to emphasise the fact that the new institution continued the traditions of the university. The Commission was established in the former building of the university, the museums collection contained some relics of the university, and from 1857, public lectures were organised on the premises of the Commission, and the members of the Commission held guided tours in which references to the history of the university were made. The deputy chairman of the Commission, Baliński, became the first historiographer of Vilnius University.Importantly, in the representational portrait of the founder and patron of the Commission, Tyszkiewicz, painted by the artist and photographer Aleksander Władysław Strauss (1834-1896) in 1858, he was depicted on the background of university buildings rather than the main hall of the Museum of Antiquities. Therefore, the Commission sought to perform part of the functions of a university in addition to those of an educational institution. The author of the present paper aims to substantiate the statement that the members of the Vilnius Temporary Archaeological Commission saw this institution as continuing the traditions and works of Vilnius University, and alongside, as an institution that could build the preconditions for the restoration of the school of higher education; in other words, referring to the (extremely scarce) sources, to analyse the statement if society of that time really did not have a university. [From the publication]