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History of Vilnius

More secrets revealed about the surviving ceremonial attire of the first rector of Vilnius University

Made in Vilnius
in 2025 April 06 08:15 a.m
1 1
7 min. reading
Photo: Ugnius Bagdonavičius
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Vilnius University The ceremonial academic robes of the first rector of Vilnius University, Petras Skarga, from the second half of the 16th century, were displayed in the Pranciškus Smuglevičius Hall of the library. In the 19th–first half of the 20th century, they were protected from destruction together with other historical treasures in the Vilnius Cathedral. The National Museum of the Palace of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania contributes to the history of the academic robes of the first rector, newly discovered, identified and displayed on the occasion of the inauguration of Prof. Rimvydas Petrauskas as the rector of Vilnius University at the National Museum of Lithuania and the Lithuanian National Museum of Art – in fact, there are more secrets worth revealing.

Many mysteries have already been solved by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Miglė Lebednykaitė, an employee of the National Museum of Lithuania and the Vilnius Academy of Arts, who identified elements of the clothing in different museums and answered many historical questions. However, one of the mysteries of the history of the ceremonial academic clothing of Rector P. Skarga – toga, cape and biretta – that has not yet been fully revealed is when, under what circumstances and by whose care these luxurious clothes, which in a certain sense can be compared to the coronation robes of rulers, which from the end of the 16th century to the beginning of the 19th century were adorned with on the occasion of ceremonies by almost all rectors of Vilnius University, ended up in Vilnius Cathedral.

One document, stored in the Vrublevski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, in the Vilnius Cathedral Chapter Fund, helped to reveal how these relics of Vilnius University ended up in Vilnius Cathedral, and later in the museum. This is a letter written on November 1844, 28, most likely in Vilnius, by the then prelate cantor of the Vilnius Cathedral Chapter and assessor of the spiritual college, Antanas Fialkovskis, to the honorary canon and chaplain of the same chapter, Jokūbas Karolevičius. Prelate A. Fialkovskis informs in the letter that he is transferring the toga and biretta of Vilnius University rector P. Skarga to the Vilnius Cathedral treasury, asking to preserve these relics “as signs of the memory of the history of the region.”

Thus, the ceremonial academic robes of the first rector of Vilnius University, P. Skarga, which became the transitional attire for the ceremonial ceremonies of rectors, were stored in the treasury of Vilnius Cathedral since 1844, together with other greatest historical and artistic treasures that reminded of the destroyed statehood of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and were protected from the plundering and destruction of the Russian Empire. In the XNUMXth century, after the uprisings and repressions of the occupiers, many church treasures and other historical relics, transferred from Catholic and Uniate sanctuaries and monasteries that had been closed and seized by the Nazis, entered Vilnius Cathedral and its treasury. Vilnius Cathedral and its treasury became a place of storage of relics important to the historical memory of the nation. It was hoped that the occupying authorities would not dare to close Vilnius Cathedral.

The fact that P. Skarga's toga and biretta ended up in the possession of the then canon of the Vilnius Cathedral Chapter, A. Fialkovskis, is not surprising. A. Fialkovskis was born into the family of a Unitarian priest, later became a Roman Catholic, graduated from the Vilnius Seminary, became a doctor of theology and law, and a professor. He taught both at the seminary and at the Vilnius Theological Academy. The Vilnius Theological Academy was founded in 1832, when after the suppression of the uprising, the Maskolis brutally closed Vilnius University. The Academy, which continued the university tradition, also received the regalia, relics, and other property of the former university. Canon prof. A. Fialkovskis was the second rector of the Vilnius Theological Academy in 1839–1842, who was likely able to use or at least keep P. Skarga's toga and biretta.

In 1842, the Russian occupation authorities decided to move the Vilnius Theological Academy from the former capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to the imperial capital of Saint Petersburg. Canon prof. A. Fialkovskis remained in Vilnius and, apparently, did not want the ceremonial robes of the first rector of Vilnius University, P. Skarga, to leave Lithuania. He transferred the regalia of Vilnius University – the toga and biretta of the first rector of P. Skarga – to the treasury of Vilnius Cathedral for safekeeping in 1844, upon his return from treatment abroad.

In 1846, Canon Prof. A. Fialkovskis was briefly appointed administrator (capitular vicar) of the Vilnius diocese, and in 1852 he became prelate cantor of the Vilnius Cathedral chapter. Later, he was the metropolitan administrator of the Archdiocese of Mogilev, Bishop of Kamenets-Podilskyi, and finally became the head of the Catholic Church of the entire Russian Empire – Archbishop Metropolitan of Mogilev (1872–1883).

Thus, the personality and activities of Archbishop Prof. A. Fialkovskis clearly deserve closer attention from researchers. It was very important to him that these rector's vestments, which participated in many historical events and had a great symbolic meaning, would be preserved for the future. The clergyman thought and acted in the categories of the importance of preserving historical memory, bearing in mind the threats of the destruction of Lithuanian and Polish statehood, Russian occupation, repressions and exterminations.

It is interesting that P. Skarga's toga and biretta are not the only relics important for historical memory and Church tradition, preserved through the care of Prof. A. Fialkovskis. In 1859, the painting of the Holy Virgin Mary with the Infant Jesus from the Old Trakai Benedictine Church was transferred to Vilnius Cathedral. This painting, after the Tsarist administration closed the Old Trakai Benedictine Monastery in 1845, was taken by the monks to Nesvižiai. The history of the painting's origin has traditionally been associated with the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus, who supposedly gifted the painting to the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas on the occasion of his baptism. Therefore, Prof. A. Fialkovskis believed that such a painting must decorate the monument to Vytautas, restored in Vilnius Cathedral in 1853 through the efforts of Count Eustachius Tiškevičius.

Such actions of Archbishop Prof. A. Fialkovskis, Count E. Tiškevičius were very important during the captivity, and there were many more patriotic deeds related to Vilnius Cathedral in the 1864th century. Vilnius Bishop Andrius Benediktas Klongevičius sent the relics of St. Casimir to the most distant lands of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which were to symbolize and support the spiritual unity of this region. Another Vilnius Bishop, who later became the Metropolitan Archbishop of Mogilev, Vaclovas Kazimieras Žilinskis (his successor on the archbishop's throne was A. Fialkovskis), not only donated many various valuables to Vilnius Cathedral, but in XNUMX. returned the portrait gallery of Vilnius bishops by train from St. Petersburg. It has been preserved to this day.

With this historical recollection of an episode in the history of the newly discovered ceremonial academic robes of the first rector of Vilnius University, Petras Skarga, the community of the Palace Museum congratulates the prominent Lithuanian historian, His Magnificence, the 87th rector of Vilnius University, Professor Dr. Rimvydas Petrauskas, on the occasion of his inauguration for his second term.

General Director of the Palace Museum, Associate Professor at the Faculty of History, Vilnius University Dr. Vydas Dolinskas

Photo: Ugnius Bagdonavičius
Photo: Ugnius Bagdonavičius
Photo: Ugnius Bagdonavičius
Photo: Ugnius Bagdonavičius
Photo: Ugnius Bagdonavičius
Photo: Ugnius Bagdonavičius
Photo: Ugnius Bagdonavičius
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