A Watercolour of Vilnius

In the works created in the 19th century following Rossi’s drawings, images of the Gediminas Tower, the Lower and the Upper Castles, the Supreme Tribunal of Lithuania, the defensive wall, long-destroyed pagan temples and other significant historical buildings can be seen “restored” by some artists expressing the ideas of the Romantic epoch.

The watercolour depicts what could be seen in the city at that time, and what was no longer present when the watercolour was painted, what remained in the memory despite the occurring changes. 

In the 18th century, a legend that a pagan temple was situated in this place was still alive. Deities Lel and Polel, characters of Slavonic mythology, resemble twins Castor and Pollux from Greek and Roman mythology. These deities are associated with the legend about the Roman origin of the Lithuanians. 

Vilnius as the capital of the state, the place, where Lithuanian rulers lived, cultural and theatrical life was humming with activity and flourished.

An interest of Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland Władysław Vasa in opera prompted the beginning of the Lithuanian musical theatre.

The Italian opera The Elena Kidnapping performed in the Lower Castle of Vilnius in 1636 was one of the first operas in Europe given outside Italy. Andromeda was the second opera performed in the Palace of the Grand Dukes in 1644. The libretto of the opera was written by Virgilio Puccitelli, a 17th century Italian poet and diplomat. 

After establishing the Supreme Tribunal of Lithuania in Vilnius, i. e. the Supreme Court of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, legal state power was separated from the grand duke authority and became independent.

The Statute is the law code of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Second Statute of Lithuania adopted in 1566 consolidated the reforms of the mid-16th century: the administrative territorial division of the state into powiats, courts of powiats, castle and subcamerarius elected by gentry, participation of gentry in powiat sejmiks and the Sejm.

The statute was drawn up by a commission headed by Grand Chancellor of Lithuania and Voivode of Vilnius Mikołaj Radziwiłł the Black, with the participation of Augustyn Rotundus, a vogt of Vilnius, Pedro Ruiz de Moros, a canon of the Church of St. Johns in Vilnius, and other legal experts.

The name of Vilnius city originated from the river Vilnelė (Vilnia), which, at the time, still flowed around the Šventaragis Valley and formed spectacular hills of Vilnius.

In a drawing by the artist J. Peszka of 1808, Sereikiškės is shown on the side of the Vilnelė, as seen from the garden of the Bernardine Monastery at that time, where the botanical garden of Vilnius University was being established in a new location.