Menotyra žurnalo SOTER puslapiuose
STUDIES OF ART ON THE PAGES OF THE JOURNAL SOTER

Summary/Abstract: This year, commemorating a decade of the restoration, the journal SOTER invites its readers into a retrospective journey through its pages. Therefore, this article is devoted to the discussion about the articles on art studies (fine art studies, architecturology and theatrology) published in the SOTER. The aim of the paper is to explore and evaluate the situation how art and religious studies are presented in the journal SOTER. In the history of the journal, two periods can be distinguished: the interwar period (1924–1939, the publisher – Vytautas Magnus University, Faculty of Theology and Philosophy) and that of the last decade (1999–2009, the publisher – Vytautas Magnus University, Faculty of Catholic Theology). Thus the article is divided into two chapters. The first one analyses the texts related to art studies published during the interwar period. It has been noticed that at that time studies of art had been taking their first timid steps. The articles were of an encyclopaedic character; sometimes like the summaries of works of foreign art critics or just the presentation of statistical data. The scale of art trends and subjects was not quite extensive, confined to the discussion of the iconography of Christian fine arts and small forms architecture, i.e. Lithuanian folk crosses and miniature chapels. Although in the first half of the 20th century the formation of the professional Lithuanian school of art studies took place and students at Vytautas Magnus University were taught by renowned European art historian Jurgis Baltrušaitis, and the museologist and art critic well known in Lithuania, Paulius Galaunė, nonetheless this situation of Lithuanian art studies was not reflected in the journal SOTER. The situation has changed after the restoration of the journal in 1999. Attention to art problems considerably increased. Therefore, the second chapter of this article looks through the publications in the fields of fine art studies, architecturology and theatrology of the last decade. Already in the first issue of the restored journal, Algimantas Kajackas introduced and discussed Vatican documents for preserving the heritage of art and history. His text introduced the readers of the SOTER to the problematic field of church art, and later other four publications followed. One publication of the famous researcher of Lithuanian sacred art, professor Laima Šinkūnaitė, may be considered as the opening of the commemoration of the millennium of the name of Lithuania. She analysed the iconographic programme of Christian missions developed in the decor of Pažaislis Camaldolese monastery. This is the only cycle of frescos in Lithuania depicting the mission of St. Bruno of Querfurt in Lithuania which the first mention of Lithuania’s name in the Quedlinburg Annals is related to. Another article of this art critic is devoted to the discussion of the painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary from the Kaunas Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter and Paul. This is the s

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