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HISTORYOFARTHISTORY
INCENTRAL,EASTERNANDSOUTH-EASTERNEUROPE
JerzyMalinowski
NicolausCopernicusUniversity,Torun
TheArtHistoryattheAncientVilna/Wilno/Vilnius
UniversityanditsTradition
OnSeptember15,1810,professorof“etchingand
theliteratureoffinearts”Joseph(Józef)Saunders
(London1773-Krzemieniec/KremenetsonVol-
hynia1854)deliveredthefirstlectureonthehis-
toryofartattheFacultyofLiteratureandArtof
VilnaUniversity,entitledDiscourssurl’influenceou
l’utilitédesartsimitatifs”,publishedinPolishunder
thetitleOwpływieiużytkusztuknaśladowniczych
in“PamiętnikMagnetycznyWileński”(“Vilna
MagneticDiary”)in18161.Thebicentenaryofthe
firstuniversitylectureonthehistoryofartatthe
VilnaUniversityissimultaneouslythebicentenary
ofresearchintoartinCentral-EasternEurope.
ThetraditionoftheVilnaUniversitywasinher-
itedinPolandbytheNicolausCopernicusUniver-
sityinTorunandtheLublinCatholicUniversity,
whileinLithuaniabytheVilniusUniversity,the
VytautasMagnusUniversityinKaunasandthe
AcademyofFineArtsinVilnius.
Thisimportantanniversaryevokesreflection
bothonthecomplicatedpastofthehistoryofart
andonitspresentstateinthispartofEurope,the
regionwhichaftertheOctoberRevolutionand
thenWorldWarTwowasseparatedfromtheother
partofthecontinentbyawall.
1Saunders(2010).
After1989,theofficial,politicallyrationed
linksamongthecountriesoftheformerEastern
BlocandtherepublicsoftheSovietUnionwhich
hadgainedtheirindependence,wereweakened.
Thecommunitiesofarthistoriansresearchingtheir
owntradition,nolongersubjectedtothepressure
ofcensorship,oftenshutthemselvesoffwithinthe
boundariesoftheirownnationalcultures.
Inourwishtomeetthedemandforbreaking
barriers,makingcontacts,andstartinginternational
cooperation,togetherwithcolleaguesfromLithua-
nia,historicallysoclosetoPoland,wedecidedto
organizeaconferenceandpreparethisvolume
whichcanhelptopavethewayforcooperation
andunderstandingacrossthebordersthatarefi-
nallyopening.
Thevolumeisdevotedtothepastofarthis-
toryasascientificdisciplineanditscontribution
tocreatingthenationalandaestheticidentityof
thecountriesofCentral,EasternandSouth-East-
ernEurope,themajorityofwhichweredeprivedof
independenceandsubordinatedtothepartitioning
nationsinthe19thcentury,andinthe20thcentury
subjectedtothepressureoftotalitarianstates.In
the19thcentury,thesenationswereoftenunitedin
theirfightforindependenceanddemocraticcivic
rights.Research,aswellasprovidingpatronageto
artisticheritage,becameanimportantelementof
