Vilnius University Library’s Joachim Lelewel Hall is a former Jesuit house chapel. In 1929, when the private collection of books and atlases donated by historian Joachim Lelewel was moved to Vilnius, the hall was restored by graphic artist Jerzy Hoppen.
In 2018, during the restoration works in Joachim Lelewel Hall, an 18th-century composition in the hall’s plafond was discovered and masterfully restored. The fresco on the ceiling and the chapel’s Baroque and Rococo paintings were revived while celebrating the 450th anniversary of the Jesuit mission in Lithuania; symbolically, the hall will be reopened to the public in 2020, the year when Vilnius University Library will celebrate its 450th anniversary.
The image shows a fragment of the vault painting. Photograph taken by AidonasValkiūnas (UAB "Opus Optimum")