CZESŁAW MIŁOSZ WAS AN IDEOLOGIST OF THE GRAND DUCHY OF LITHUANIA, LITHUANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS
On 27 June at the opening of the exhibition that marks the 100th birth anniversary of the poet and honorary citizen of Vilnius Czesław Miłosz in Vilnius, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis said that this writer and Nobel Prize winner was an ideologist of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, who tried to understand or maybe even to discover it.“Cz.Miłosz was one of those poets who should be identified as the last citizens of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The poet always stressed that he identified himself with the multicultural Grand Duchy of Lithuania,” the Minister said.
According to him, Miłosz’s vision of Homeland went beyond all time limits and geographical borders.“Namely such poet’s attitude in his world-famous books became a symbol and pride of the two nations: Lithuanians and the Poles,” the Minister said.
The opening of the exhibition at the Museum of Applied Arts was also attended by the Minister of Culture Arūnas Gelūnas, Ambassador of Poland to Lithuania Janusz Skolimowski, Director of the Lithuanian Art Museum Romualdas Budrys, Director of the Polish Institute in Vilnius Malgorzata Kasner, the publishing house ZNAK’s editor-in-chief Jerzy Illg who publishes the poet’s books and was Miłosz’s friend and Director of Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore Mindaugas Kvietkauskas.
The exhibition consists of two parts: “Cz.Miłosz and Lithuania” and “Cz.Miłosz and the World”. The exhibition displays photographs and documents from various museums, archives and libraries.
The co-organizers of the exhibition are the Lithuanian Art Museum and the Polish Institute in Vilnius.
On 30 June in Vilnius, Lithuanian Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Egidijus Meilūnas will be paying a visit to Krasnogruda, a town near the Lithuanian-Polish border. The Symposium “European Agora – Visions of Native Realm” will be held in this town under the auspices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) from June 30 to July 2.
The event will be attended by admirers of Cz.Miłosz, philosophers and famous people in culture from all over the world. Participants of the symposium will interpret and elaborate on the collection of essays “Native Realm” (Rodzinna Europa) by Cz.Miłosz, and they will discuss cross-border communications, people’s traditions, tolerance and conflicts.
On 30 June, the International Center of Dialogue will be officially opened in Krasnogruda, in the restored manor that was the property of the family of Cz.Miłosz.
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