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When we first received the keys to these premises in the summer of 2020, we knew nothing about the building at 6 Vokiečių/1 Mėsinių Street. During our preparatory work for the exhibition, together with the museum’s friends and residents of the building, we recreated the history of one of the thousands of buildings in the Old Town of Vilnius. We were all surprised at the richness of its history. For more than three centuries (1629–1940), the building served as the headquarters of the Christian Butchers Guild of Vilnius. The ground floor accommodated butchers’ shops, and shops selling other commodities. The premises on the upper floors were let. During the interwar period, the building was used as a centre for Vilnius craftsmen. In 1940 it was nationalised, and after the Second World War it provided accommodation to people of various professions. After 1990, the ground floor was let out for commercial use, and was home to the legendary LondVil, a clothes and footwear shop. It had a number of tenants in later years, until it finally became a temporary home for the new Vilnius Museum. The story of the building that provides a home for the museum is an attempt to ‘ground’ ourselves. It was also an invitation to go on an exploratory journey into the city, and this journey begins with the 480 square metres under our feet.
The exhibition took a broad look at the daily life of the Butchers Guild, a ‘trade union’ that came into existence in the Medieval period, it elaborated on the connection between the city and the meat industry, and it explored the changing face of the building and the people who lived and worked here. Finally, it gave a short glimpse of the history of the Vilnius Museum, which started over a century ago.
Items for the exhibition were borrowed by:
Agnė Grigaliūnienė
Egidijus Kaluina
Ferdynand Bohdan Ruszczyc
Jacek Szumański
Laisvis Janulis
Laura Taučiūtė
Matvei Linov
Rimantas Puzinas
Romualdas Tumelis
Saulius Pilinkus
Valentinas Gylys
Violeta Pileckaitė-Ivinskienė
Vytautas Paulauskas
Bažnytinio paveldo muziejus
Biblioteka UMK w Toruniu
GUT.LT – buities technika
Yad Vashem
Kretingos muziejus
Lietuvos centrinis valstybės archyvas
Lietuvos mokslų akademijos Vrublevskių biblioteka
Lietuvos nacionalinė Martyno Mažvydo biblioteka
Lietuvos nacionalinis dailės muziejus
Lietuvos nacionalinis muziejus
Lietuvos valstybės istorijos archyvas
Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie
Российская национальная библиотека
UAB Efis
UAB Singlis
Vilniaus Gaono žydų istorijos muziejus
Vilniaus regioninis valstybės archyvas
Vilniaus universiteto biblioteka
Vytauto Didžiojo karo muziejus
Special thanks to:
Ada Bielikowska, Agnieszka Wiśniewska, Aistė Niunkaitė-Račiūnienė, Algimantas Jablonskas, Alla Makarevich, Andrzej Ciecierski, Andrzej Kierulis, Anna Hosbein, Arūnas Dzedzevičius, Arūnas Gelūnas, Augustas Vaitkevičius, Dainius Numgaudis, Dalia Padriezienė, Darius Indrišionis, Egidijus Gotalskis, Eglė Jasevičiūtė, Elena Krukonytė, Emanuel Saunders, Evaldas Blaževičius, Evaldas Stambrauskas, Evelina Bukauskaitė, Giedrė Barauskienė, Gintas Kavoliūnas, Gintautas Blažiūnas, Ignė Rasickaitė, Inga Baltrušaitytė, Jolanta Bernotaitytė, Jūratė Meilūnienė, Jūratė Senvaitienė, Jurgita Markevičiūtė, Kristina Kasparavičienė, Laima Jadevičienė, Laima Sazonova, Loreta Meškelevičienė, Mantas Zabulionis, Marija Drėmaitė, Martynas Kosas, Nijolė Klingaitė-Dasevičienė, Ramutė Vaikšnoraitė, Rasa Semėnaitė, Rytis Rimantas, Rolandas Skarbauskas, Rūta Kačkutė, Rūta Šimulė, Sigita Maslauskaitė, Sigitas Beiga, Sigitas Narbutas, Skaistis Mikulionis, Skirmantė Kvietkauskienė, Skirmantas Kuncevičius, Tadas Šėma, Urszula Czarnowska, Valdas Steponaitis, Vidmantas Airini, Viktorija Vaitkevičiūtė-Verbickienė, Vilius Šimkus, Viltė Janušauskaitė, Virgilijus Pugačiauskas, Vytautas Naudžiūnas, Vytis Ramanauskas, Vladas Niunka, Waldemar Wołkanowski
Lietuvos Respublikos generalinis konsulatas Sankt Peterburge, Nacionalinė dailės galerija, Prano Gudyno restauravimo centras, Vilniaus dailės akademija
