In one of the towers of Lutsk Castle, possibly the Styr Tower, a unique computer copy of a painting by Lithuanian artist Rimantas Mackevičius will be exhibited in the future. The painting tells about a famous event of the Middle Ages — the congress of European monarchs in Lutsk. The original of the painting is located in the Presidential Palace in Vilnius. For now, this summit of 1429, according to many scholars, awaits proper recognition. But what happened last Saturday in Lutsk Castle once again confirms the sincere interest of Lithuanians in the history shared with Ukraine. For the second year, specialists of the publishing house "Baltija-druk," which has been operating in Ukraine for eight years, have been working on a series of Ukrainian historical portraits. To create this album, they conduct photo shoots not only in museums of Ukraine, but also in Belarus, Poland, and Lithuania. Recently, while searching for portraits of the Lithuanian era, the Lithuanians also visited Lutsk and were impressed by what they saw in the art department of the Volyn Museum of Local Lore, which is in Lutsk Castle, and they also liked the castle itself very much. The idea of creating a computer copy of the painting from the Presidential Palace, painted in 1935, was supported by the Ambassador of Ukraine to the Republic of Lithuania, our fellow countryman Borys Klymchuk. The Chancellor of Lithuania graciously gave consent to this. The copy, made by Klaudijus Driskius, is of high quality. Current technologies make it possible to reproduce an imitation of an artistic canvas. According to the editor-in-chief of the publishing house "Baltija-druk," Virginijus Strolia, this is the first swallow of the historians. A joint analysis of the cultural environment must have a continuation. Lithuanian friends, in essence, got ahead of the leaders of our city, who intended already from next year to become acquainted with the painting in Vilnius. This was said during the presentation of the copy of the painting in Lutsk Castle by the first deputy mayor Sviatoslav Kravchuk. He also shared the idea of painting the subject of the canvas on one of the buildings of old Lutsk. A joint Ukrainian-Lithuanian monograph is also to appear. Its advance copy has already been seen in the regional center. Its presentation is also expected here. This will, of course, happen, but later, and last Saturday the guests from Lithuania were honored by the city authorities for their important initiative — in particular, they were presented with commendations and souvenirs. The director of the publishing house, Rūta Malikenaitė, noted that such an attitude toward their undertaking will encourage other more significant steps.
Svitlana MEKH