The Vincas Kudirka Museum invites visitors to a new exhibition titled “Their Eyes Look into Conscience,” which will open on January 24th. The exhibition features examples of Ukrainian sacred art – forty icons from the collection of Radomyshl Castle in Ukraine, which escaped destruction and found temporary haven in Lithuania. Additionally, on February 1st, there will be a meeting at the museum with Gintaras Sungaila, a priest of the recently restored Orthodox Church in Lithuania subordinate to the Patriarch of Constantinople. 

The artworks that have arrived in Lithuania represent only a small part of the vast Ukrainian cultural heritage. Some icons would primarily require the hands of restorers rather than display, but their significance in exhibition is immense: during these difficult times for Ukraine, they become ambassadors of creative power and serve a unique mission – providing spiritual refuge, primarily for Ukrainians temporarily living in Lithuania. 

Jurgita Kristina Pačkauskienė, Chairwoman of the Lithuanian Art Historians Society and head of the icon painting studio “Ut unum sint” at the Vilnius Dominican Monastery, who has acquainted herself with the exhibited works, stated that the spirit of both Orthodox and Catholic traditions is very visible in the artworks. Both in terms of visual representation and narrative content, home and church icons seem to narrate the universal history of Christianity. 

The idea born during wartime to transfer part of Ukraine’s artistic treasures to Lithuania was realized by the collection’s owner – Olga Bogomolec, founder of the Ukrainian House of Icons and Antiques Museum “Spirit of Ukraine,” and the museum’s director, Yuri Rudnytsky, together with Virginijus Strolia, Ambassador of Honor of Anykščiai Region in Ukraine. This exhibition is a continuation of the tradition of exchanging exhibitions between Anykščiai and Radomyshl museums, which began in 2019. However, it is happening under extraordinary circumstances, as Ukraine fights for its independence, thus the exhibition “Their Eyes Look into Conscience” expresses the solidarity between Ukraine and Lithuania. 

The exhibition was first displayed in the exhibition hall of the Antanas Baranauskas and Antanas Vienuolis-Žukauskas Memorial Museum in Anykščiai at the beginning of 2023. Now, this exhibition is traveling through the exhibition halls of Lithuanian memory institutions: visitors of Lazdijai Region, Prienai Region, Zanavykai, and Žemaičiai “Alka” Museums have already seen it. 

The exhibition at the Vincas Kudirka Museum will run from January 24 to April 30, 2024. On February 1st, there will be a meeting with Gintaras Sungaila, a priest of the recently restored Orthodox Church in Lithuania subordinate to the Patriarch of Constantinople, during which they will discuss icons as works of art, their religious meanings, symbols, as well as the unique phenomenon of icons in Orthodox worship.