Politiniai ir meniniai Lietuvių koplyčios Šv. Petro bazilikoje Vatikane aspektai

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Koplyčios; Vatikanas; Lietuvių diaspora; Bažnytinis menas; Tautinis identitetas; 20 amžius; Lithuanian diaspora; Sacral art; Chapels; 20th century; National identity.

ENBased on the previously unstudied material kept at the Lithuanian Pontifical College of St Casimir in Rome and the Lithuanian Research and Studies Centre in Lemont, the article reconstructs the genesis of the conception and implementation of the Lithuanian chapel of Our Lady of Mercy in St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City consecrated in 1970 and highlights the most important participants in the process and the circumstances that led to the final result. The chapel was built as a memorial to the martyrs of the Lithuanian nation and was originally intended to be called the Chapel of Lithuanian Martyrs. The authors of its iconographic programme sought to depict Lithuanian martyrs of various epochs, from Josaphat Kuntsevych to the 20th-century martyrs, with a special focus on the victims of Communism and Nazism. This concept of the chapel was widely supported by the Lithuanian diaspora, although there were some critical voices suggesting it should not be a national chapel but a place of prayer open to all nations and expressing the cult of Divine Mercy. The focus on the universality of the Church in the context of the Cold War contrasted with the attitudes of the diaspora that was preoccupied with nurturing national identity. The visionary nature of the proposal became apparent only a few decades later, when Lithuania had already regained its independence, the doctrine of the Church had begun to develop the teaching of Divine Mercy and the liturgical celebration of the Divine Mercy had been introduced.During the Cold War, the Vatican was an authoritative player in international politics, so the founding of the Lithuanian Chapel in the world’s main Catholic sanctuary had a significant political function in reminding the world of the liberation of occupied Lithuania and in boosting the dignity and self-esteem of the Lithuanians themselves. The novelty of research results from the fact that the chapel is primarily seen as an object of ecclesiastical art that had been used for political purposes during the Cold War. The article presents the context of post-war European and United States ecclesiastical art and the modernity of the Lithuanian chapel unfolding within it; it points to the continuation of the interwar processes of artistic and cultural change during the Cold War. [From the publication]

• Menotyra / Arts
• Istorija / History