VMU Events Marking the Miłosz Year Atnaujinta: 2012-01-02 09:20:05

September – December

Lecture series The Czesław Miłosz Year: the Search for Harmony and Tradition

The Dept. of History at the VMU Faculty of Humanities was holding a series of public lectures (in Lithuanian language) from May to December. Teachers who heard the series of lectures (1 lecture equals 2 academic hours) have received certificates. Last lectures of the series were read by Dr. Rimantas Miknys (Lithuanian Institute of History), Prof. Tomas Venclova (Yale University), Prof. Leonidas Donskis (European Parliament), Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rūstis Kamuntavičius (VMU) and Prof. Egidijus Aleksandravičius (VMU).

June 29 – July 1

International Commemoration of Czesław Miłosz's 100th Birthday The Miłosz Road in Kaunas, Kėdainiai, Šeteniai and Krasnogruda

After the conference in Vilnius, events of the cultural programme in commemoration of Czesław Miłosz's centennial The Miłosz Road took place in Kaunas, Kėdainiai, Šeteniai (Lithuania) and Krasnogruda (Poland), bringing focus to poetry, music and folklore. Trips were taken to places and landmarks related to Miłosz in Lithuania and Sejny. More information about the conference The Times and Places of Czesław Miłosz and the cultural programme The Miłosz Road can be found here. The organizers were the Czesław Miłosz Birthplace Foundation, Vytautas Magnus University, The Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore, Vilnius University, Kėdainiai district municipality and Pogranicze Foundation in Sejny.

June 27 – 28

The conference The Times and Places of Czesław Miłosz marking Miłosz's centennial birth anniversary in Vilnius

The conference discussed the author's heritage in the cultural contexts of Lithuania, Poland, Central and Eastern Europe, France and the USA. Other notable subjects included issues of Czesław Miłosz's works' topography, links between historical imagination and individual identity, choice of values, intellectual and political stance.

The conference program is available here.

June 3

Second lecture of the series The Czesław Miłosz Year: the Search for Harmony and Tradition

Marking the anniversary, the Dept. of History at the VMU Faculty of Humanities is holding a series of public lectures (in Lithuanian language) from May to December. Teachers who hear the series of lectures (1 lecture equals 2 academic hours) will receive certificates. The second lecture, which took place at the VMU Faculty of Political Science and Diplomacy, was read by Prof. Dr. Bronius Makauskas (Vytautas Magnus University) whose topic was the Lithuanian-Polish relations and whether the ideas of the Blessed Jurgis Matulaitis and Jerzy Giedroyc are still encouraged. The video recording of the lecture (in Lithuanian) is available here.

June

Updated exposition in the barn and new outdoor exposition The Issa Valley

The working group composed by Assoc. Prof. Vaida Kamuntavičienė in Šeteniai updated the exposition of the barn and installed new outdoor exposition The Issa Valley. You are welcome to view Vaida Kamuntavičienė's article (in Lithuanian) written specifically for the occasion. More information about this and other exhibitions is available here.

May 6–7

International conference From Poetical Pilgrimage to the Search of the Homeland: Adam Mickiewicz, Oscar Milosz and Czesław Miłosz in Šeteniai

Literature scientists, historians and ethnologists read papers and discussed three multicultural personalities – Adam Mickiewicz, Oscar Milosz and Czesław Miłosz. The conference was dedicated to the road taken by the three poets – everything from the established myth of the nest of gentry to meaningful universals, prevailing humanist ideas and the myth of Europe. Some of the covered topics included the parallels between the authenticity of European 'backwoods' and the faith in classicist Europe, the resources of collective mythology, which formed their poetic world-view and conditioned their self-identification.

May 6

First lecture of the series The Czesław Miłosz Year: the Search for Harmony and Tradition

Commemorating Miłosz's anniversary, the Dept. of History at the VMU Faculty of Humanities is holding a series of public lectures (in Lithuanian language) from May to December. In the first lecture held at the VMU Faculty of Political Science and Diplomacy, Prof. Saulius Sužiedėlis (Millersville University, Pennsylvania, USA) talked on the topic entitled From the GDL to the Polish Crown: the Fates of Lithuanian Trans-Nemunas Region. Video recording of the lecture is available here.

May

Czesław Miłosz's exposition in Šeteniai

The exposition in the Šeteniai estate and its surroundings is devoted to Czesław Miłosz and his relation to hometown and Lithuania. Šeteniai is Miłosz's birthtown, located on the eastern shore of Nevėžis in the district of Kėdainai. This is where the poet spent a part of his childhood. The river valley nature and its people are often encountered in his poetry and prose, especially in the autobiographical novel The Issa Valley (first published in 1955 in Paris). More information about exhibitions dedicated to Czesław Miłosz is available here.

February 10, Thursday

Exhibition "Sugrįžimas / Powrόt / Return" was opened at VMU Aula Magna (Gimnazijos str. 7)

The celebrations of the Czesław Miłosz year began with the exhibition dedicated to Czesław Miłosz's anniversary, titled Sugrįžimas / Powrόt / Return, which was opened at VMU Aula Magna. The programme used photos and excerpts from the poet's speeches and poems to tell the audience about Miłosz's return to Lithuania after 52 years.

"The exhibition Return shows the period of Czesław Miłosz's historical journey through time and space. All throughout the Czesław Miłosz Year, the exposition will follow this famous author's trails in Lithuania and abroad, using three languages (Lithuanian, Polish and English) to tell about this journey," explained the conceptual author and the organizer of the event Janina Masalskienė.

The exhibition, which used photos and excerpts from the poet's speeches and poems to tell the audience about Miłosz's return to Lithuania after 52 years, was available for viewing at the VMU History Hall (K. Donelaičio g. 58) since March. It is currently exhibited at Ukrainian universities and will travel to Brussels in autumn.

During the opening of the exhibition, a special publication honouring the 100th anniversary of Czesław Miłosz's birth (in Lithuanian, Polish and English) was introduced. It consists of renowned historian's Egidijus Aleksandravičius' text on Miłosz's search and revelations in the poet's journey of life, the Czesław Miłosz's speech accepting the regalia of Vytautas Magnus University Honorary Doctor, and Czesław Miłosz's bibliography from 1988 to 2010. The texts in this publication are presented in three languages.

The guests of the exhibition Sugrįžimas / Powrόt / Return were shown fragments of documentaries from the fund of the Lithuanian National Radio and Television, which have captured the moments from Miłosz's visit in Lithuania and Vytautas Magnus University, as well as a film created by Kristijonas Jakubsonas especially for the occasion.

Information based on www.milosz.lt and the VMU archive. More information on the events of the Czesław Miłosz Year is provided by the VMU Public Communications Office (Janina Masalskienė, j.masalskiene@vkt.vdu.lt), Vaida Kamuntavičienė (v.kamuntaviciene@hmf.vdu.lt).

Partners of the project: