The Manuscript Department of the Vilnius University Library has approximately 40,000 photographs dating from the mid-19th century to 1998. Of these, about 2,000 are taken before the First World War - the works of known, or thus far undisclosed authors. They capture the streets, buildings, people, and landscapes of Vilnius and other Lithuanian cities (Kaunas, Telšiai, Palanga), as well as the historical and architectural monuments, ethnographic realities, and people of historical Lithuanian territories in present-day Belarus, Ukraine, and Poland. On different occasions and in various ways, period photographs of Naples, Athens, Manila, Hong Kong, and Nagasaki ended up in the University Library, where one can also find photographs of sun spots, exhibits from world museums, and archaeological finds. This virtual exhibition is composed of selected old photographs of Vilnius from the mid-19th century to 1914 - mostly from the unique collection of views of Vilnius and environs by prominent photographer J.Czechowicz. The images they capture are living testimony to the style of building which existed at the time of various calamities, and to the unrecognizable changes in the once majestic architecture and environment of Vilnius. Photographs of the Vilnius University and its library interior by famous photographer S.F. Fleury take us back to the beginning of the 20th century, and remind us of the establishments and institutions once housed therein. The brothers M. and L.Butkowski left behind beautiful photographs of the ruins of the Upper Castle. I.Tzinovek immortalized the construction of Orthodox churches, and of a monument to Catherine II. Images captured by J.Czechowicz emerge in yet another fashion in certain of N.Ostankovich's photographs, taken twenty years later, while the authors of several of the photographs in this exhibition remain a mystery to this day. |
