History of Lithuanian
Art Museum
Founded
in 1933 as Vilnius City Museum, the Lithuanian Art Museum is currently
the biggest national establishment which preserves, investigates and
displays pieces of art of historical and artistic value. The exhibition
halls of the museum display Lithuanian and foreign works of fine and
applied art. The museum has accumulated and displays the wealth of the
national folk art. Diverse Lithuanian and foreign artists are featured
at temporary exhibitions. The museum also conducts
various educational programmes.
With the lifting of the ban on Lithuanian press Lithuanian
intellectuals became anxious about the art. In 1907 the first exhibition was
organized, and eight of them were held before the begining of World War I.
After each exhibition some exhibits were given to Lithuanian Art
Society. More and more pieces of art were collected, so the hope to
establish an art museum was being cherished. Many concrete efforts were made in
order to accomplish the plan - means for buildings were accumulated,
pictures and carvings purchased, photos and documents collected. But the war
had hindered the whole work.
After the war intellectuals again started enlivening the life of
the art. The intellectuals in Vilnius urged certain state institutions to
take care of the valuables of art that were nationalized by Bolsheviks in 1918.
These valuables had to fall into the hands of cultural workers.
Unfortunately the history of Vilnius and Vilnius land between World War
I and World War II did not favor Lithuanian national culture.
In 1933 Vilnius Magistracy decided to establish a City Museum. The
displays were stored in various places and looked after as far as
possible, but visitors were never received.
In 1940 the Museum moved to the old Town Hall building.
In April, 1941 first exhibitions were organized in the halls of the
Museum which was already called Vilnius State Art Museum.
The Museum took over collections of Vilnius artistic and scientific
societies as well as the nationalized pieces of art. According to the later
established order, pieces of art acquired by commissions of Ministry of
Culture for state means were to be distributed among museums. This is how the
present art collection was made up. Workers of the Museum themselves
have contributed to the exposition. From post-war villages they
collected the best examples of Lithuanian folk art. Creations by artists
of emigration and their art collections are constantly added to the
storages of the Museum.