Album in Commemoration of the 500-th Anniversary of the Death of  Vytautas the Great LM-226
Album in Commemoration of the 500-th Anniversary of the Death of  Vytautas the Great LM-226
Album in Commemoration of the 500-th Anniversary of the Death of  Vytautas the Great LM-226
Album in Commemoration of the 500-th Anniversary of the Death of  Vytautas the Great LM-226
Album in Commemoration of the 500-th Anniversary of the Death of  Vytautas the Great LM-226
Album in Commemoration of the 500-th Anniversary of the Death of  Vytautas the Great LM-226
Album in Commemoration of the 500-th Anniversary of the Death of  Vytautas the Great LM-226
Album in Commemoration of the 500-th Anniversary of the Death of  Vytautas the Great LM-226
Album in Commemoration of the 500-th Anniversary of the Death of  Vytautas the Great LM-226
Album in Commemoration of the 500-th Anniversary of the Death of  Vytautas the Great LM-226
Album in Commemoration of the 500-th Anniversary of the Death of  Vytautas the Great LM-226
Album in Commemoration of the 500-th Anniversary of the Death of  Vytautas the Great LM-226
Album in Commemoration of the 500-th Anniversary of the Death of  Vytautas the Great LM-226
Album in Commemoration of the 500-th Anniversary of the Death of  Vytautas the Great LM-226

Album in Commemoration of the 500-th Anniversary of the Death of Vytautas the Great LM-226

Author: N / A

Title: Album in Commemoration of the 500-th Anniversary of the Death of  Vytautas the Great.

Title in English: Album to Commemorate the 500th Anniversary of the Death of Vytautas the Great.

Published: Kaunas, 1933.

In 1930, the entire country engaged in a solemn commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the death of Vytautas the Great. In 1933, the occasion was marked with the release of a high quality representative album that included a lot of iconographical material: photographs of committees and divisions created for the commemoration, commemorational events, workers of both governmental and public institutions and organisations, and others groups. The book was prepared for publication by Henrikas Serafinas. It was published by the Spindulys publishing house, which was one of the biggest publishing houses in Kaunas in 1928–2009. 

Reference: "The Collection of Lawyer Jaunius Gumbis: the Past Preserved in Books". Museum and Collector - 7. Vilnius: National Museum of Lithuania, 2018, p. 214.

Paying tribute to Vytautas the Great did not end with the jubilee year. For example,the book ‘In Commemoration of the 500th Anniversary of the Death of Vytautasthe Great, 1430–1930’ was published in 1933. This high-quality publication summed up the importance of Vytautas to the Lithuanian state in texts, and, most importantly, in images portraying the grand duke, the organisers of the anniversary events, prominent public figures, highlights of the festivities, events and symbols of state hood.The visual material and the parallels drawn between Vytautas the Great and President Antanas Smetona (and also between the periods of rule of these two personalities) leave no doubt that interwar intellectuals regarded modern Lithuania, which was reestablished in 1918, as a continuation of Vytautas’ state. The book was also distributed on the other side of the Atlantic, to promote the cult of Vytautas.

Reference:  "Kaunas-Vilnius 1918-1945”, The Art collection of the law firm Ellex Valiunas. Compilars D. Barcytė, dr. I. Burbaitė. Vilnius, 2021, P. 62.

Published: "The Collection of Lawyer Jaunius Gumbis: the Past Preserved in Books". Museum and Collector - 7. Vilnius: National Museum of Lithuania, 2018, p. 214-219; "Kaunas-Vilnius 1918-1945”, The Art collection of the law firm Ellex Valiunas. Compilars D. Barcytė, dr. I. Burbaitė. Vilnius, 2021, P. 63.

Photographs: 

3rd: Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas (1392–1430). Artist Jonas Mackevičius.

4th: President of the Republic of Lithuania and Honorary President of the Committee of Vytautas the Great Antanas Smetona. Artist Jonas Mackevičius.

5th: President Antanas Smetona’s wife, Guardian of the Treasury of the Committee of Vytautas the Great Sofija Chodakauskaitė-Smetonienė (1885–1968).