„Holy and blameless“ (Col 1, 22). Paintings from the collections of Vilnius Archdiocese Church Heritage Museum

Church Heritage Museum of Vilnius Archdiocese has partnered with Hugo Scheu Museum in Šilutė on an exhibition of paintings from Eastern Lithuanian churches.
The paintings depict the most popular and beloved saint figures in Lithuania, such as the Virgin Mary, St Anthony, St Jude the Apostle, St Vincent Ferrer, St Dominic, and St Francis of Assisi. For example, St Anthony and St Jude the Apostle are popular patron saints, usually found in almost every Lithuanian church.
These paintings introduce visitors to a group of well-beloved Lithuanian saints but also to two different modes of their representation. The narrative mode portrays scenes from the earthly or heavenly life of a saint (such as "The Meeting of St Dominic and St Francis"). The symbolic method employs traditional attributes signifying characteristic virtues or hagiographic details to represent each saint.
One of the paintings depicts the Virgin with a Scapular, but the scene unusually refers to the Vision of St Simon Stock. The Virgin, surrounded by clouds, holding the Child Jesus (sitting with his head supported by his hand like the 'Pensive Christ') and offering the scapular to the faithful as the sign of her protection against all evil and eternal flames.

The exhibition is located at Hugo Scheu Museum in Šilutė.

Organisers of the exhibition: Church Heritage Museum, Hugo Scheu Museum in Šilutė

Creative team: Vidmantė Narvidaitė, Sandra Stonytė, Rita Pauliukevičiūtė

Funding for the museum is provided by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and Vilnius Archdiocese.

For more information: email muziejus@bpmuziejus.lt; phone +37052697800