Past Exhibitions
The Star is Alight! Nativity Scenes from the Alps to the Baltic Sea
The exhibition of the Church Heritage Museum and the Diocesan Museum Freising (Bavaria, Germany) encompasses 29 items (20 from Germany and 9 from Lithuania) coming from museum collections, churches and private collectors. The exhibition presents the traditional way of depicting the birth of Jesus Christ in the Alpine region and in Lithuania. The oldest reliefs, paintings, Nativity scenes and sculptures dating back to the 14th century have symbolic iconographic accents, while the works of professional artists and modern pieces demonstrate the variety of interpretation possibilities of this theme. The gem of the exhibition is the Bavarian and Tyrolean Nativity scenes of impressive size encompassing hundreds of figures that have been supplemented and expanded throughout the decades.
The exhibition of the Church Heritage Museum and the Diocesan Museum Freising (Bavaria, Germany) encompasses 29 items (20 from Germany and 9 from Lithuania) coming from museum collections, churches and private collectors. The exhibition presents the traditional way of depicting the birth of Jesus Christ in the Alpine region and in Lithuania. The oldest reliefs, paintings, Nativity scenes and sculptures dating back to the 14th century have symbolic iconographic accents, while the works of professional artists and modern pieces demonstrate the variety of interpretation possibilities of this theme. The gem of the exhibition is the Bavarian and Tyrolean Nativity scenes of impressive size encompassing hundreds of figures that have been supplemented and expanded throughout the decades.
St Dominic and St Hyacinth in Lithuania: Eight Centuries of Memory
2021 08 17 – 2022 01 29
The content of the exhibition which opens on 17th of August reflects a memorial tradition that has been continuing for eight centuries. It originates from the saints’ life stories, which were later supplemented with reports about visions and miracles. The display stands include excerpts from the sources that inspired the portrayals of the saints, as well as presentations on various frescoes, mouldings or paintings that were not available to be borrowed for the exhibition, such as the oldest image of St Dominic in Lithuania, which has survived to this day as part of a fresco at the Bernardine Church in Vilnius, or rococo mouldings and murals at the Church and Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius.
2021 08 17 – 2022 01 29
The content of the exhibition which opens on 17th of August reflects a memorial tradition that has been continuing for eight centuries. It originates from the saints’ life stories, which were later supplemented with reports about visions and miracles. The display stands include excerpts from the sources that inspired the portrayals of the saints, as well as presentations on various frescoes, mouldings or paintings that were not available to be borrowed for the exhibition, such as the oldest image of St Dominic in Lithuania, which has survived to this day as part of a fresco at the Bernardine Church in Vilnius, or rococo mouldings and murals at the Church and Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius.
Sacred Vilnius: Pilgrimage from the Gates of Dawn to Kalvarija Way of the Cross
2021 04 20 – 2021 07 04
The Church Heritage Museum and Vilnius Picture Gallery presents the exhibition "Sacred Vilnius: Pilgrimage from the Gates of Dawn to Kalvarija Way of the Cross". The display at the Picture Gallery of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art explores the iconographic features of the temples and shrines visited by the pilgrims on their way, while the Church Heritage Museum invites to see different pieces of art connected to these temples and chapels. These two parts are linked by the extant paintings from the chapels of Vilnius Calvary, part of which were thought to have been lost in the wake of the 1963 destruction.
2021 04 20 – 2021 07 04
The Church Heritage Museum and Vilnius Picture Gallery presents the exhibition "Sacred Vilnius: Pilgrimage from the Gates of Dawn to Kalvarija Way of the Cross". The display at the Picture Gallery of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art explores the iconographic features of the temples and shrines visited by the pilgrims on their way, while the Church Heritage Museum invites to see different pieces of art connected to these temples and chapels. These two parts are linked by the extant paintings from the chapels of Vilnius Calvary, part of which were thought to have been lost in the wake of the 1963 destruction.
Preachers, Thaumaturges and an Architect. Images of Saints in Churches of the...
2020 10 22 – 2021 04 01
The exhibition displays twenty-one paintings from various churches of the Archdiocese of Vilnius. The very name of the exhibition indicates that we will see the images of famous preachers (St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Francis of Assisi) and wonder makers (St. Roch, St. Jozafat Kuncewicz, and St. Severinus). And who is the architect? It is St. Thomas the Apostle with a carpenter’s square in his hand. For the first time, the paintings of the church saints have left their altars and liturgical spaces and have been displayed in the museum hall, where visitors can inspect, analyse, compare and question them from up close. After the exhibition, they will return to their churches to fulfil their duties: to tell, to invite, and to console.
2020 10 22 – 2021 04 01
The exhibition displays twenty-one paintings from various churches of the Archdiocese of Vilnius. The very name of the exhibition indicates that we will see the images of famous preachers (St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Francis of Assisi) and wonder makers (St. Roch, St. Jozafat Kuncewicz, and St. Severinus). And who is the architect? It is St. Thomas the Apostle with a carpenter’s square in his hand. For the first time, the paintings of the church saints have left their altars and liturgical spaces and have been displayed in the museum hall, where visitors can inspect, analyse, compare and question them from up close. After the exhibition, they will return to their churches to fulfil their duties: to tell, to invite, and to console.
A Little More Sacrifice. An Exhibition of Ona Grigaitė
2020 05 21 – 2020 11 28
Ona Grigaitė (born 1963) is a Lithuanian ceramics artist who has greatly contributed to the history of Lithuanian art with her novel pieces of conceptual ceramic art born out of postmodern thought and worldview, boldly stepping across the boundaries of genres and art forms. In this exhibition the artist invites us to explore Christian values in nowadays fragile world.
2020 05 21 – 2020 11 28
Ona Grigaitė (born 1963) is a Lithuanian ceramics artist who has greatly contributed to the history of Lithuanian art with her novel pieces of conceptual ceramic art born out of postmodern thought and worldview, boldly stepping across the boundaries of genres and art forms. In this exhibition the artist invites us to explore Christian values in nowadays fragile world.
