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Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis says that a famous diplomat of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, a politician, the last treasurer of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and one of the leaders of the uprising in 1794, composer Mykolas Kleopas Oginskis stands for a symbol of patriotism in the society of his times.

Foreign Minister used this description of M.K.Oginskis during the evening dedicated to the 245th birth anniversary of M.K.Oginskis at the Museum of Applied Art on 6 October in Vilnius.

Born in Poland, Duke M.K.Oginskis lived, worked and composed in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. The Duke was a famous politician and a public figure, a person who united three nations.

Duke M.K.Oginskis was well-known for his diplomatic activity: in 1790 he went to Holland as a special envoy, later on a special secret diplomatic mission he travelled to London and then again to the Hague. M.K.Oginskis continued his diplomatic mission to restore the Grand Duchy of Lithuania even after the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth lost its statehood. In 1795, Duke M.K.Oginskis travelled on a secret mission to Turkey, where he attempted to drag Sultan Selim III into a military conflict with Russia. The Duke addressed General Bonaparte a few times, requesting to set Poland and Lithuania free from Russia’s yoke. After becoming a secret advisor to the Russian Tsar Alexander I on the issue of the territory of former Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Duke tried to raise the idea of Homeland’s sovereignty over and over again.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is considering a proposal that UNESCO be associated with the celebration of the 250th birth anniversary of M.K.Oginskis in 2015.