A view of Vilnius' Old Town

In order to put the story of the image of Vilnius in a wider context, the photographs by Jan Bułhak (1876–1950) should not be left out. The photographer lived in Vilnius from 1912 onwards, and formed a dignified and lyrical image of the Baroque city that was both romantic and Impressionist in the minds of citizens of the independent Republic of Lithuania. Bułhak spearheaded the development and teaching of photographic art in interwar Vilnius. He headed the Department of Art Photography at Stephen Báthory University from 1919. His photographs were published in the Lithuanian press quite often, and since Lithuania and Poland broke off diplomatic relations and Vilnius was inaccessible to many people, we could say that some residents of Kaunas saw Vilnius through Bułhak’s lens.

Text authors Dovilė Barcytė and Ieva Burbaitė

In order to put the story of the image of Vilnius in a wider context, the