To mark the birth centenary of the world-renowned archaeologist Marija Gimbutas, the Wroblewski Library assembled an exhibition aiming to display her documents and photographs from the Library’s holdings.  Due to the pandemic restrictions, the exhibition had to be changed to a virtual format only.  Told in a few words, the life story of Marija Gimbutas is as follows. She completed studies in archaeology at Vilnius University and escaped to the West with her family during World War II, finally settling in the United States.  Excellent academic preparation in Lithuanian universities, fluency in numerous languages and outstanding personal achievements brought to Marija Gimbutas recognition as one of the most prominent researchers in the archaeology and mythology of Europe. She developed an original theory of the origin of Indo-Europeans, including the Balts.  Owing to her works, materials on the archaeology and mythology of the Balts became part of global archaeological knowledge.  The present exhibition will highlight contributions made by Marija Gimbutas to a number of research fields. Even though Marija Gimbutas is remembered as neither a pagan nor a feminist, her works served as an inspiration for Lithuanian pagan movements such as the Romuvians, for devotees of Lithuanian ethnic culture, and for the feminist movement in the United States.  The present exhibition will be less focused on Marija Gimbutas’ personal life. In this way, more intrigue will be left in store for those who take interest in this exceptional personality. The Wroblewski Library is a perfect place to learn more about her.  The Library’s Manuscript Department holds large collections of documents related to Marija Gimbutas herself (F339), her husband Jurgis Gimbutas (F351), cousin Meilė Lukšienė (F391) and uncle Augustinas Janulaitis (F267); the Rare Books Department, too, holds the Marija Gimbutas Collection. Numerous photos of the celebrated researcher can be found in our photograph collection.  This exhibition will feature unique documents unveiling the life and work of Marija Gimbutas and will trace her connections with Lithuania.
You are cordially invited to visit our virtual exhibition.

We are delighted to present you our new virtual exhibition space, entitled Virtual Tales and created with funding from the Lithuanian Council for Culture. It will host virtual exhibitions dedicated to various subjects and individuals, as well as events and phenomena in the history of art and culture.

At present, the Virtual Tales space features the exhibition “On St. Jerome and His Followers” put together to mark the 1600^th anniversary of the Saint’s death.  The authors of the exhibition are Agnė Zemkajutė, bibliographer of the Old Periodicals Unit at the Rare Books Department of the Wroblewski Library and Dr. Skirmantė Smilingytė-Žeimienė, Senior Researcher of Department of Sacral Art Heritage of the Lithuanian Culture Research Institute.  The exhibition presents unique documents reflecting the life of St. Jerome and kept in the Wroblewski Library and other memory institutions.  The exhibition is greatly enhanced by the images of St. Jerome from Lithuanian Churches selected and described by Dr. Smilingytė-Žeimienė.

The visitors are welcome to explore two more virtual exhibitions.  The first,  “The Gardens of Mnemosyne. UNESCO’s “Memory of the World” in the Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences”, features 12 documents and part of a collection from the holdings of the Wroblewski Library that are included in the UNESCO “Memory of the World” national register. The author of the exhibition is Dr. Daiva Narbutienė, the descriptions of manuscript documents are by Dr. Rima Cicėnienė and Erika Kuliešienė.  The other currently featured exhibition, “The 100th Anniversary of the Restored Armed Forces of Lithuania”, presents the history of the restored Lithuanian Army as told by the documents held by the Wroblewski Library. The author of the exhibition is Rasa Sperskienė.

New exhibitions showcasing cultural heritage from the holdings of the Wroblewski Library will be regularly added to the space.

To mark the 100^th birth anniversary of Marija Gimbutas, the Library presents a virtual exhibition entitled “The Life and Research of Marija Narbutas in Sixteen Pages”, which will soon be opened to the public. The exhibition will unveil the acclaimed archeologist’s documents and photographs from the holdings of the Library. The design and texts are by Rasa Sperskienė.

You are cordially invited to explore the virtual exhibitions hosted at the Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences: Virtual Tales.