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Content: [Legend] [The language] [The religion] [The first Lithuanian book] [Land of Crosses] [M.Čiurlionis] Lithuania stretches along the Baltic Sea for 99 kilometers. Especially beautiful is the scenery of the 98 km long (of which 54 km belongs to Lithuania) and 380 meters to 4 km wide Courian Spit, which separates the Courian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea. The largest objects of interest of the Curonian Spit are their sand dunes. The nature of the Courian Spit is marvelous. There are places, where one sees only sand and sea, where from the eye turns. It is a true " Lithuanian Sahara ". The majestic dunes achieve in parts a height of 50 - 60 Metren.
In ancient times there lived, on this Baltic Sea beach, a beautiful virgin, the giantess Neringa. She had a good heart. She rescued the fishing boats from a storm, helping them reach the shore. She wasn’t always successful; many boats sank and fishermen drowned. There Neringa decided to help mankind by splitting up a part of the sea, where the Nemunas River empties into it. She brought entire dunes into her apron and heaped up an enormous wall. The Lord of the Wind became angry when he saw this. The ocean raged for twelve days and yet the wall withstood it. Tired, the winds let up and now the men could fish in peace in this divided part of the ocean, the lagoon. In gratitude, the fishermen gave the strips of sand the name of the virgin, Neringa.
the most precious, which belongs to the culture of the people, has been, in its development, put through many difficult tests. The Lithuanian language, which is distinguished by its archaic characters, has a very rich vocabulary (the card index of the lexicographical division of the Institute for Lithuanian Language contains about 4.25 million cards with Lithuanian words). It has preserved many antiquated features which no longer exist in other common languages, but are known in archaic, historical languages-such as Gothic, Sanskrit and Ancient Greek.
Before the introduction of the Christianity the Lithuanian idolised the natural forces. Like the ancient Greeks or Romans, they had many Gods and Goddess, whose head was the God Perkunas. The Lithuanian did not establish special buildings of cults, but had holy groves, in which a holy fire burned, which was quarded by Vaidilutes (Priestess). Not until 1387, significantly later than the rest of the European countries, did Lithuania finally embrace Christianity. The Lithuanian were the last heathen people in Europe, and even in 16. and 17. century it worshiped the old Gods and hold customs. With the introduction of the Christianity the old customs and traditions disappeared themselves partially or were dressed themselves into a Christian appearance. The history of every nation contains several symbolic milestones. Lithuania appeared in the history of Europe in the 13th century as a politically active state conducting, at first, its administration in written Latin, old Slavonic and German. But the maturity of a national culture is usually associated with the time at which oral tradition is replaced by the written and printed word. The earliest known Lithuanian manuscripts date back to the beginning of the 16th century. The first printed book in Lithuanian was published in Königsberg (East Prussia) in 1547
"Brothers and sisters, take me and read So, the foreword of 112 lines today symbolizes the beginning of the printed Lithuanian word, as well as the beginning of Lithuanian secular poetry. It is also one of the earliest attempts to articulate Christian culture in Lithuanian, marking the passage from spoken to written language. Although the new Christian religion slowly edged out paganism, Lithuania was known as the
Travelers admired the many wood-carved saints that were erected on crosses on chapels that could be seen in cemeteries, on paths and on huts. These sculptures have the effect of being very unique because their primitive forms do not comply with the Canon. Our Lady of Sorrows, Mother of God, the suffering Jesus, Saint George and Saint Johannes Nepomuk were usually not made to look pretty and were not proportionally illustrated. The woodcarvers drew attention to the attributes of the saints, the decorations and the lines. The saints were supposed to alleviate wickedness, from which grace is requested of the heavenly Powers.
M. K. Čiurlionis has a special place as a unique artist, not only as a painter but also in music-philosopher, romantic, solving the meaning of human life. During his short lifetime, he created approximately 200 pictures with very complicated ideas. His themes are the eternal movement of matter, the conflict of life over death, mankind exploring the mysteries of nature, joys, friendship, the morals of fables and legends. The themes are solved through pure symbolism, highly generalized, whereby the viewers have a lot of room to freely fantasize. In many works, we see the beauty of the homeland, the diversity of its nature. M. K. Čiurlionis often grasps in his paintings the principles of musical composition. A musical theme is developed in his portraits and his series (some have musical names, as it were. He formed the original intuitive visions, in which his consciousness emerges, on one hand, to music, to sonatas and, on the other hand, to colorful portraits. The work of the brilliant painters and composers always carries out its influence in the eternally vivid folk art.
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Lithuania is famous by its original painter and composer M. K. Čiurlionis (1875-1911). Nowadays Čiurlionis stands out for his brilliant original paintings of sonatas preludes and fugues. He is a predecessor, and a most original at that, of contemporary modern art.