Project value – 2027 Eur
The project is financed by the Lithuanian Council for Culture (1622) and UAB “Baltijos arsenalas” (400).
Project duration – 30 April 2015 to 15 December 2015.
In 2015, the Lithuanian Council for Culture provided funds for the implementation of the project “Restoration of Rare Publications”, which resulted in the restoration of three extremely rare museum objects reflecting the cultural situation in Lithuania in the historical context of the second half of the 19th century. The restoration of these unique publications and the improvement of their condition will enable them to be included in the digital system of museum values and to complement the exhibition “From the depths of the ages to us”, which presents the history of education in Lithuania from the earliest times until 1990.
Virginija Ligeikienė, a Category III bookbinding restorer, restored three publications:
VARPAS, 1890, No. 1.
VARPAS, a monthly newspaper of literature, politics and science, is a publication of the Varpininkai Towarzystwo Varpininkai (Varpininkai Society), published in Tilžė and Ragainiai (Prussia) in 1889-1905. It was one of the most prominent of the first liberal Lithuanian periodicals
It was the first example of the first liberal liberal Lithuanian society, which brought Lithuanians together, fostered their national consciousness, and stimulated their resistance to Russification. The museum preserves the 1st (January) issue of 1890, edited by Martynas Jankus (1858-1946), a cultural activist and publicist, in Bitėnai and printed in Ragainiai. This rare 19th century periodical was exhibited for a long time in the main exposition of the museum. As its condition deteriorated, the original, a symbol of resistance to Tsarist Russia, had to be replaced by a copy. In order to preserve and exhibit this rare artefact of Lithuanian culture, it needs to be professionally restored and prepared for the scanning procedure (in order to include this unique publication in the digital information system of museum treasures).
ЕВАНГЕЛІЕСЪ АНТЪ НЕДЂЛІОСЪ ДЕНУНЪ ИРЪ КИТУНЪ ШВЕНЧЮ. 1865 m.
The use of the Russian alphabet, the Cyrillic alphabet, in Lithuania is a unique phenomenon in the history of the Lithuanian printed word. In 1864-1904, printing in Latin characters was banned in Lithuania. The Maldives was the first choice for the Russification of the religious Lithuanian nation. Religious Lithuanian texts were written in Russian script. The artifact of such a unique cultural experience is the so-called kantička. This rare publication is in poor condition and professional restoration is necessary in order to scan it and include it in the digital information system for museum treasures and to display it in the exhibition.
ŹIWATAS JEZAUS KRISTAUS WIESPATIES MUSU. 1853 m.
Third decade of the 20th century. The book ŹIWATAS JESUS CHRISTAUS WIESPATIES MUSU.[…] was one of the first exhibits of the Museum. It is an interpretation of the New Testament with a PRACTICE, prepared by the Bishop of Samogitia, Motiejus Valančius.
The book contains the first inventory stamps of the Pedagogical Museum (founded in 1922). The illustrated centenary edition is also unique in that it has Cyrillic inscriptions by the reader on the pre-pages. The book also reflects the cultural situation in Lithuania in the historical context of the second half of the 19th century (censorship marks of Russian officials). The rare publication is in poor condition, so professional restoration is necessary in order to scan the book and include it in the digital information system for museum objects and to display it in the exposition.
Expected results:
The restoration of publications of historical and cultural value will help preserve them for future generations. The restoration of the exhibits will allow museum visitors to see how books damaged by time and with torn and worn covers are transformed into exhibits in excellent condition after restoration.
After the restoration of these publications, the intention is to further restore other publications in the collections and present them to the public as part of Lithuania’s cultural-historical heritage of the first half of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and at the same time to protect the publications from physical deterioration.
The objectives of the project are to preserve the exhibits for future generations and to promote Lithuania’s educational heritage by meeting the educational and cultural needs of the public and by displaying the restored museum treasures.
Key challenges:
– Perform restoration procedures.
– To prepare the texts (labels) of the publications to be restored for the exposition in Lithuanian and English.
– To display the restored publications in the exhibition.
– To present the restored publications to the visitors of the Museum, in addition to the exhibition “From the depths of the ages to us”, which presents the history of education in Lithuania from the earliest times until 1990.
Project manager – Rasa Vaikutytė, Culture Project Manager.
The creative group of the project – Virginija Ligeikienė, book binding restorer of III category; Mindaugas Vytautas Birbilas, deputy director of the Lithuanian Museum of History of Education and chief custodian of funds, Ieva Brazauskaitė, organiser of cultural events.
