Love
Preili Museum of History and Applied Arts (Latvia) and Panevezys Local Lore Museum (Lithuania) joint virtual exhibition – LOVE.
We invite you to take a look at the collections of Preili and Panevėžys museums and get to know the objects that reflect the concept of love – on the one hand we see love in romantic stories and legends from manor times, on the other – the depth of love crystallizes in the fates of families broken by the occupying power in both Latvia and Lithuania. The waistbands used during the Baltic Way and a box from a camp in Siberia with the Lithuanian flag and the inscription “Faith Wins” are especially symbolic – these items testify the strong and selfless love of the Fatherhood!
Preili Museum of History and Applied Arts
1. Hill of Love in Preili park. Photos of 1984 and 1998, I. Pličs. For many Preili inhabitants, the word "love" is associated not only with a very special state of the human spirit, but also with a specific and often visited place in the park of Preiļi manor – the Hill of Love. It is the highest artificial hill in Preili, with a maximum height of 6 m. The origin of this beautiful object is associated with a very tragic legend. According to legend, under the hill the manor's forester was buried alive. He had scared to death the lord of the manor with his shot, but the harsh and mourning lord’s wife had ordered to dig a beautiful pond in the place of his beloved's death, and to burry the forester under the hill. Later, a teahouse was set up at the top of the hill, but at the foot of it there was a gazebo where the guests of the park could hide during the rain (the existence of these objects in the park has not been confirmed archeologically yet). Gradually, the unfortunate fate of the forester was forgotten in the memory of the inhabitants, as the hill became the meeting place of many Preili inhabitants, taking the name "Hill of Love".
2. Wedding photo of Paulīne Anspoka and Voiceks Vanags and 3rd degree Order of the Three Stars of V.Vanags. Photo: workshop "Ermitage" 1936. One year after the Soviet occupation – on June 14, 1941, the first deportation in the Baltic States took place – on this day, the love of the Vanagi family was broken. Paulīne Anspoka and Voiceks Vanags, the senior police officer of Preiļi police, got married in 1936. V. Vanags was a responsible and orderly man, taking care of his wife and children. June 14 was the last time the spouses last saw each other: P. Vanaga and daughters (3 and 5 years old) were deported to Krasnoyarsk region, while Voiceks Vanags was sent to Vyatlag labor camp (Kirov region), where in 1941 September he died of starvation and exhaustion. Suffering from unprecedented hunger and deprivation, Paulīne Vanaga was able to survive, raised her daughters, returned to Latvia and died at the age of 101, but she never got married again. In 2021, Pauline Vanaga's youngest daughter, Valentina, presented some of her parents' belongings to the Preili Museum, including her father's award, a 3rd-degree medal of the Order of the Three Stars, which he had used on his wedding day.
3. The Baltic Way waistbands. Made by the master of folk art Albīna Ancāne. 1989. The love of the Fatherland is another form of love, the unbreakable power of which we see these days in Ukraine.
With the beginning of the Awakening Process in the Baltic States in the 1980s, advocating for the right of nations self-determination, on August 23, 1989, one of the brightest and most massive acts of non-violent resistance in the history of the world took place – the Baltic Way.
On the 50th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the capitals of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were connected in a live chain in protest of the secret part of the criminal pact, in which the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany agreed to end the sovereignty of the Baltic states. Participation in the campaign required a lot of daring. Residents of Preili district also took part in the campaign. Although there were many participants, in some places the waistbands made by the participant of the campaign, the master of folk art Albīna Ancāne (1935–2021), were also used, not allowing the unifying human energy chain to break.
Panevėžys Local Lore museum
Love comes in many forms: romantic love for a person, self-sacrificing love for the Homeland, friendly love for a fellow, attachment love for parents or children. Panevėžys Local Lore museum preserves several dozen exhibits that reflect the theme of love. These are books, postcards, photos, various types of pottery with drawings, embroidery, souvenirs and more. We present the three most interesting exhibits reflecting different types of love.
1. The cover of the first periodical publication in Panevėžys in lithuanian language "Roads of Love" (1922. No. 2). The subtitle states that it is a newspaper to raise spiritual culture, although in terms of scope and periodicity it was closer to a magazine. The first issue appeared in March 1922, a total of four issues were published. The magazine was published by Balys Dūda, a teacher and press officer (1896–1924), edited by Pranas Vikonis (1897–1959), a Lithuanian and Latvian language student at the Folk High School and later a press officer and active politician. The editorial office was located in Panevėžys, Kristijono Donelaičio str. 11, and printed in Kaunas. The cover was illustrated by the famous sculptor Juozas Zikaras (1881–1944), who lived and taught in Panevėžys at that time. The magazine promoted the ideas of the Russian writer Lev Tolstoy – the desire to improve public morality, to condemn evil.
2. Vase 19th c. It belonged to the landowner Juozapas Končia from Lokynė manor (Ukmergė district). J. Končia presented this vase with a romantic image of a couple in love to Vitkevičienė, who served in the manor. 1963 the vase was handed over to the museum by Povilas Vitkevičius, the son of a former servant of the manor. 2020 the vase was restored at the Pranas Gudynas Restoration Center of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art.
3. A box made in a Siberian camp (1956). Jonas Čeponis (1925–2019), a participant in the Lithuanian resistance to the Soviet occupation regime and a deported member of the Lithuanian resistance to the Soviet occupation regime, glued it to his mother Onutė and his sister Emilija in a Siberian camp. Dedicated side: „Beloved and waiting for our Onutė for Emilija. Mother's Day – 1956 Siberia. Jonas“. The symbol of Lithuania – Gediminas Castle – is drawn on the lid of the box, a tassel tied with Lithuanian flag threads is attached to the key. This box is a testimony to the love for the Fatherland and our neighbor.
This publication was produced with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of Preili County council and Panevėžys Local Lore Museum and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.
About the project ENI-LLB-1-244 “Promotion of historical and culture cross border through museums innovations”
The project aims to build a cross border cooperation platform creating preconditions for ensuring the increasing interest of tourists and visitors about the cultural and historical heritage in the border area of Latvia and Lithuania.
This project is funded by the European Union
Project budget: 367 864.64 EUR, EU funding 331 078.17 EUR
Project implementation period: 1st of June 2020 – 31st of May 2022
European Neighbourhood Instrument Cross-border Cooperation Programme Latvia-Lithuania 2014-2020
https://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/belarus_be
Information prepared by:
Preili Museum of History and Applied Arts: https://preili.lv/nozares/kultura/muzeji/preilu-vestures-un-lietiskas-makslas-muzejs/
Panevėžys Local Lore Museum: http://www.paneveziomuziejus.lt/