THE FIRST LITHUANIAN MANUSCRIPT PRESENTED IN GERMANY
On 27 June in the Herzog August Bibliothek of Wolfenbütte (Germany), Undersecretary of Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Laimonas Talat-Kelpša took part at the presentation of the new edition of the Postil of Wolfenbüttel. In his welcome address to the participants of the event, L.Talat-Kelpša indicated that this important manuscript - one of the most archaic monuments of Lithuanian writings – carried us to the historical past of our ancestors. ‘By traversing this manuscript we can learn a lot about the manner our ancestors spoke, wrote, and prayed. By reading the manuscript we can both admire the beauty of the Lithuanian language and discover, quite unexpectedly, that the most archaic language in Europe used to have even more archaic forms in the past,’ said L.Talat-Kelpša.
According to L.Talat-Kelpša, this Postil is an important milestone in the building of Lithuania’s European identity. The Postil includes the first Lithuanian translations of the Antique and Medieval texts in this way connecting Lithuania with the legacy of European history.
‘The Postil of Wolfenbüttel is a symbol of the Lithuanian culture that existed in the Eastern Prussia, also known by many as Lithuania Minor. It also reminds us that Lithuania and Germany used to be close neighbours in the past,’ stated the Undersecretary of the Ministry, stressing that in today’s Europe this kind of memory, linking nations and countries, is especially important, so we need to protect it.
The Postil of Wolfenbüttel is a Lithuanian manuscript, written by an unknown author in 1573. It is a selection of homilies titled ‘Išguldymas Evangelijų per visus metus’ (‘Gospels at all time of a year’). Since 1648 it has been kept in the Herzog August Bibliothek of Wolfenbüttel.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jolanta Gelumbeckaitė from the Frankfurt University of Johann Wolfgang Goethe has prepared the new edition of the Postil of Wolfenbüttel with comments on the text. This work is a part of the project of the Herzog August Bibliothek and the University of Johann Wolfgang Goethe. In this new edition of the Postil of Wolfenbüttel, a coloured facsimile of an original size of the manuscript and a documentary rewrite of the text are published for the first time. The comprehensive introductory study is comprised of the external description of the manuscript, text analysis and the history of the creation of the text and its research.
This unique manuscript is one of the most comprehensive and important surviving documents of history of the Lithuanian language, testifying to the process of formation of the writing, as well as to a more rapid, than it was earlier thought, spread of the European culture in the territories, settled by the Lithuanian-speakers.
Guests of the event were also welcomed by director of the Herzog August Bibliothek Prof. Helwig Schmidt-Glintzer, Lithuanian Ambassador to Germany Evaldas Ignatavičius, a speech was given by Dr. J.Gelumbeckaitė. Students and teachers from Šakiai Žiburys gymnasium took part in the event.
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