Senoji liaudies skulptūra Utenos kraštotyros muziejuje

LTUtenos kraštotyros muziejuje skulptūros renkamos nuo 1929 m., šiandien muziejuje jų sukaupta daugiau kaip 120 egzempliorių. Jų nuotraukos bei metrikos pateiktos šiame kataloge kartu su archyvinėmis fotografijomis, darytomis Adomo Varno, Balio Buračo ir kitų etnografų. Jose užfiksuoti išnykę koplytstulpiai, kuriuose šios skulptūros stovėjo, arba panašūs paminklai.Reikšminiai žodžiai: Utenos muziejus; Lietuvių liaudies menas; Liaudies skulptūra; Kryždirbystė; Paveldas; Museum of Utena; Lithuanian Folk Art; Folk Sculpture; Cross-crafting; Heritage.

ENA branch of Lithuanian folk art - cross-crafting - is an inseparable part of the country's landscape. The tradition of cross building is common in all Catholic countries, but only in Lithuania can one find such a diversity and richness of the forms. Various types of crosses, traditional cross-shaped and pillar-type ones, as well as miniature chapels were erected in the country, and they were embellished with ornamental carvings. Both the crosses and miniature chapels were richly decorated with wooden statues of saints. Their sculptural forms were very expressive because the features of primitive art were peculiar to them - the proportions of the bodies were boldly transformed, and they were painted in bright colors that faded in the course of time. The originality and artistic variety of this form of folk art were recognized by UNESCO in 2001 by including Lithuanian cross-crafting into the world cultural heritage. The Museum of Utena has a collection of over 120 sculptures from the region of Aukštaitija (eastern Lithuania). It comprises sculptures of the crosses and miniature chapels, and some of them are from local churches. The earliest statues date from the end of the eighteenth century; the latest ones are from the first half of the twentieth century. In the middle of the twentieth century the Soviet regime, fighting against religion, prohibited the building of crosses and destroyed the old ones. Therefore only few of those, built in great numbers in the first half of the twentieth century in the villages, homesteads, towns, at the roads, beside rivers, lakes and in the cemeteries survived in the landscape of Lithuania. In the nineties, after Lithuania regained its independence, cross-crafting was resumed and many impressive crosses with their statues were rebuilt.The names of the authors of old wooden sculptures are unknown, though there is some information about the most famous wood carvers Antanas Deveikis, Adolfas and Jonas Ivanauskas, and Silvestras Toleikis. They came from poor peasant families and were self-taught, although otherwise they were very interesting and creative personalities. The themes of old sculptures were taken from Christian iconography, the most popular among them were the Crucifixion and Mater Dolorosa. Two topics were especially typical of this region of Lithuania: the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River and St. John Nepomuk, a Bohemian priest, who was allegedly drowned in the Vltava River for refusing to reveal to the king the confessions of his wife; it was believed that he protects people from drowning. There are many rivers and lakes in the environs of Utena, therefore the sculptures, related to the symbolism of water, are very common. [Extract, p. 138]