Graphic artists and painters were the ones to capture images of the city before the mid-19th century. But in approximately 1850, photography - one of the greatest discoveries of the 19th century - appeared and gained a stronghold in Lithuania. Vilnius resident Abdon Korzon, and the German Albert Swieykowski took the first photographs of Vilnius in 1861-1862. Shachno Privalski and Herman Rathke, as well as Valerijonas Daumantas and Kayeton Huletski opened the first photo pavilions in the city. Ivan Petrov, a graduate of the Academy of Art in St. Petersburg, arrived here in 1864 and established "Russian Photography" at the Museum of Antiquities for the purpose of photographing museum collections. Employed as photographers at the Vilnius University Observatory, Vilhelm Zacharczik (1866-1870) and Ivan Suvorov (1872-1878) developed and made heliographs. Photography eventually improved, and studio equipment underwent rapid changes. By the end of the 19th century, there were more than 80 photo pavilions operating in Vilnius and in other towns throughout the province. Photographers working in the city included Alexander Wladislaw Strauss, Tiburciy Chodzka, Bronislaw Miedzionis, Jonas Hermanavičius, Jaroslav Bzozowski, the brothers Waclaw, Eduard, and Henrik Czyz, Adam Dauksza, Isaac Tzinovek (Aizik Cinovec), B.Brunner, Icik Serebrin, Icik Chonovič, Shliom Perelman, and other professionals and amateurs. They were forced to follow regulations passed by the Czar in 1865, as well as later circulars which limited and restricted their work. By proclamation of the Governor-General of Vilnius, photographers were obliged to acquire permits approved by the Ministry of the Interior, in order to open pavilions and to photograph people, buildings, locations, and landscapes. V.Zacharczik, and J.Czechowicz, who came to Vilnius in 1865, had such permits. Important changes in the history of photography in Vilnius are in fact connected with J.Czechowicz; his professional series of images of Vilnius and its environs stand out from the works of other photographers in their artistry, composition, and non-traditional form.

With time, photographers became less restricted. Augustinas Gorbačius, Vladislovas Grinevičius, I.Tzinovek and others were allowed to take photographs of locations and groups throughout the province. At the turn of the century, professional photographers S.F.Fleury and the brothers M. and L.Boutkowski became known for their portraits, vignettes, architectural monuments, building interiors, and landscapes. Moscow photographer N.Ostankovich, who lived and worked in Vilnius ca. 1904-1905, photographed and wrote about it and other cities. Aleksandras Jurašaitis (1859-1915), a prominent figure in the history of Lithuanian photography, settled in Vilnius in 1902. He took an active part in the cultural life of Vilnius Lithuanians, photographed events and exhibits, and took an interest in the theory of photography.

Various photographers left behind works of varying artistic levels: some sought to indulge the public, while others tried to achieve an individualistic artistic expression; certain works found their way into library or museum depositories or private collections, while others were scattered about, and are only now being gathered together by careful researchers collecting individual facts for a presently non-existent comprehensive history of Lithuanian photography.

Photography is the visual memory of a nation. After studying the images of Vilnius in the photographs taken at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, one should be able to feel the lovely - and at that time even eternal - spirit of the city. We can take great pleasure in these astoundingly beautiful pictures, which give us an opportunity to know the old Vilnius better, and to compare it with its, and thereby our, present.