Franciszek Smuglewicz (in Polish and Smuglevičius in Lithuanian) immortalised Vilnius in paint, yet his 18th-century Vilnius has all but disappeared. The Tsarist administration demolished the city wall, its gates and towers in the early 19th century, and the artist’s work is now particularly valued as a source of history, telling the story of a city that no longer exists.
From 1797 to 1832, the Department of Drawing and Painting at Vilnius University established the Vilnius School of Art. Another centre for artists was located in the House of the Römer family, where the first public art studio was opened on Bokšto Street.
After Vilnius University was shut down, artistic life in Vilnius was impoverished, but the Vilnius School of Drawing, which opened its doors in 1866, played an important role in the second half of the 19th century – the artists trained there soon became famous in Paris, one of the European capitals of the arts, and throughout the world.
XX a. pr. suaktyvėjo Vilniaus kultūrinis gyvenimas: rengtos pirmosios įvairių Vilniuje gyvenančių tautų ar bendros dailės parodos, kurtos dailės draugijos, dėtos pastangos kolekcijoms kaupti ir meno galerijoms atverti.
In the early 20th century, the cultural life of Vilnius became more active, with the first exhibitions of art from different nations or communities living in Vilnius, the creation of art societies, and efforts to build collections and open art galleries.
This route presents the multi-century artists of old Vilnius who worked in Vilnius from the late 18th to the early 20th century and captured the spaces of our city in their paintings. They preserved historical memory, restored the residence of the rulers of the Lower Castle on the basis of iconography, and prevented the destruction of a city quarter also thanks to art.
