Medals

Plaquette commemorating the death of Duchess Maria Eleonora Radziwiłł (1671–1756). 1756. Unsigned

Silver, engraving, 36,1 × 37 mm, p – 12,21 g. From Edmundas Armoška’s collection

Medal commemorating the fosterer of the Lithuanian language, philologist and Evangelical Lutheran pastor Gottfried Ostermeyer (1716–1800). 2011

Designer Petras Baronas. One-sided. Copper, galvanoplastic, Ø 103 mm

Medal commemorating the coronation of Stanisław Leszczyński (1704–1709, 1733–1736). 1705

Unsigned. Silver, Ø 48 mm, p – 31,17 g. From Edmundas Armoška’s collection

Medal of the Temperance Society. 2nd half 19th c.

Copper alloy with zinc and pewter (bronze), 17,2 × 14,5 mm, p – 1,258 g

Medal commemorating the 250th anniversary of establishment and 25th anniversary of reestablishment of Vilnius University. 1828

Designer Fyodor Tolstoy. Gold, Ø 66 mm, p – 255 g. From Edmundas Armoška’s collection

The collection consists of memorial medals and badges of Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Germany from the 16th to early 21st century, as well as religious medals (more than 1,000 items) from collections transferred from other museums, acquired from private collections, random finds and finds from excavations.

The earliest exhibit in this collection that is related to the history of the GDL is a silver medal of Stephen Báthory, slightly damaged in fire, commemorating the recapture of Polotsk and Livonia (1582), found during excavations in Vilnius. Among the medals related to Lithuania from the 17th–19th centuries, a gold medal commemorating the 250th anniversary of founding and the 25th anniversary of re-establishment of Vilnius University should be distinguished (1828, artist Fyodor Tolstoy). The most valuable exhibits from the 20th century are medals that belonged to the diplomats Stasys Lozoraitis and Stasys Lozoraitis Jr., and prof. Vytautas Landsbergis, as well as medals received as gifts by President Valdas Adamkus in the period of his presidency (1998–2003). The collection is constantly supplemented with works by contemporary medallists on historical themes; it includes the medals commemorating the anniversaries of January 13, the millennium of the name of Lithuania, the Battle of Grunwald and the Christianisation of Samogitia, and the 300th anniversary of the birth of poet Kristijonas Donelaitis.