International Exhibition “Martynas Liudvikas Rėza”
To commemorate the 250th anniversary of the birth of the distinguished Evangelical Lutheran pastor, theologian and promoter of Lithuanian literature Martynas Liudvikas Rėza, the State Archives of Olsztyn, together with the Lithuanian State Historical Archives, have prepared a travelling exhibition entitled “Martynas Liudvikas Rėza.” During the academic conference “Rėza’s Baltic Dialogues: 250 Years of Martynas Liudvikas Rėza,” held on 28–30 September, the exhibition was on display at the Agila Cultural and Tourism Information Centre in Nida. From today until 30 October, it can be visited at the Vilnius University Library Gallery (3 Universiteto St., 3rd floor).
Although in Lithuania M. L. Rėza is well known as a cultural figure of Lithuania Minor, a researcher of folklore and the editor of Kristijonas Donelaitis’s works, his creative and scholarly legacy has not yet been widely presented to the public in Poland. The joint exhibition seeks to help fill this gap and to highlight M. L. Rėza’s achievements on an international scale. The significance of his work in Lithuania has been documented for decades by extensive scholarly research and by the ongoing multi-volume academic series “Martynas Liudvikas Rėza: Writings,” published by the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore.
The fourteen exhibition panels trace M. L. Rėza’s academic career – from a curious student at the University of Königsberg to his becoming a professor, vice-rector and head of the Lithuanian Language Seminar. The archival documents on display shed light not only on the most significant stages of his scholarly and public activities, but also introduce visitors to a copy of M. L. Rėza’s will and documents relating to the student support fund established in his name.
It is particularly interesting that the majority of the documents presented in the exhibition are preserved in Poland, at the State Archives of Olsztyn, and their survival is a story reminiscent of a true post-war drama. After the Second World War, the archival holdings of the University of Königsberg were dispersed: part of them was transferred to the Secret State Archives of Prussian Cultural Heritage in Berlin, while another part unexpectedly ended up in Olsztyn. At the end of the war, a railway carriage carrying files from the Königsberg Royal Archives, which were being evacuated deeper into Germany, became stranded in Olsztyn. Today, these documents preserved in Olsztyn make it possible to reconstruct important stages of M. L. Rėza’s life and academic career, as well as to shed light on the history of the Lithuanian Language Seminar.
Although no personal documents of M. L. Rėza have entered the holdings of the Lithuanian State Historical Archives, other unique testimonies from the period have been discovered in its collections. The exhibition features several travel passports belonging to students of the Vilnius Evangelical Reformed Synod. These young men travelled to the University of Königsberg to study and attended the Lithuanian Language Seminar headed by M. L. Rėza. Even today, the yellowed pages of their passports reveal detailed descriptions of their physical appearance.
The exhibition also reveals an entire cultural bridge between Lithuania Minor and Lithuania Major. This is reflected in letters written by M. L. Rėza’s renowned student Friedrich Kurschat to the Governor-General of Vilnius and the Bishop of Samogitia, Motiejus Valančius, as well as in several issues of the newspaper “Keleivis,” edited by Fr. Kurschat himself. These documents help reconstruct the cultural environment in which M. L. Rėza’s ideas and the activities of his students developed and spread.
We invite you to visit the exhibition dedicated to M. L. Rėza and discover previously little-known pages of his biography. Through their joint efforts, the organisers of the exhibition have sought to recreate a coherent and vivid portrait of this remarkable historical figure.
Exhibition organisers – State Archives of Poland, Lithuanian State Historical Archives.
Exhibition curators – Cezary Rzepczyński, Ewelina Gołębiowska (State Archives of Olsztyn), Dr Violeta Pansevič (Lithuanian State Historical Archives).
Exhibition partners – Wróblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, Liudvikas Rėza Cultural Centre, Vilnius University Library, Museum of the Battle of Grunwald, Polish-Lithuanian Cooperation and Dialogue Forum.