Salvijus Kulevičius (Vilnius University)
Vilnius is a baroque city. When talking about the identity and aesthetics of old Vilnius, one can be proud of the city. However, when one starts thinking about the beauty pageants among the cities, where age and culture (giving in to the belief that the older and more cultured means more valuable and important) are the most important criteria, the joy for Vilnius fades away. One gets sad when hearing the statements that there were no brick residential buildings in Vilnius until the 17th and 18th centuries. This news does not honour the capital and the nation. This was exactly how the development of Vilnius was perceived on the eve of the 1950s and 1960s. However, the research and restoration of one house on Pilies Street changed one’s disappointment to pride: Vilnius is not a baroque but a gothic city! In 1967, historian Adolfas Raulinaitis in the article “Vilnius Old Town Is Getting Older and More Beautiful” noted that over a hundred Gothic buildings or their remains were found in Vilnius Old Town within a year and a half of excavations, and that the restorers and their hard work made those discoveries visible and tangible.
It changed city’s history and self-perception. In 1983, a dissenting voice could be heard saying: “I am worried about the fact that attempts are being made to artificially age Vilnius. … Gothic architecture that we have been constantly unearthing during the architectural-archaeological research, does it hold so much value that we should demonstrate it?” The reaction and the response provoked by one article—the condemnation of the critics of Gothic reconstruction—testified to the fact that not just an attitude and opinion but something more fundamental and principled was defended. Memory and heritage are the perspectives through which I attempt to understand those events, their causes and contexts.