Architektūros mokymas Polocko jėzuitų kolegijoje ir akademijoje
Studies of architecture in the Polotsk Jesuit College and Academy

Summary/Abstract: The activities of the Jesuit College in Polotsk, the most significant source of education in the Slavonic lands of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania, were of particular importance in the field of architecture studies. At the end of the 18th century, in view of a model of secular institutions, architecture shaped into a sovereign subject even though it was not a compulsory subject. It was taught by highly qualified architects such as Gabriel Lenkiewicz, Bazyli Szlachta, Franciszek Kareau, Andrzej Żebrowski, Gabriel Gruber, and Manswert Skokowski. In 1812, the College was awarded the status of academy, where the Department of Architecture was established. Unlike a respective department in Vilnius University, the one in Polotsk was in the same faculty as art departments. A clear-cut specialisation was typical of the subject: professional military and civil construction studies were separated, and the didactic process became methodologically consistent. The focus of the architecture curricula fell on practical and technological matters (knowledge of construction materials, constructions, and interior decorations) rather than on theoretical analysis of aesthetic issues; therefore, the studies had the form of deeper studies of museum collections and doing practical work. The research has concluded that the organizing of architecture studies in this institution in 1812–1820 was closer to the principles applied in art academies. It has been found that professors of Polotsk College (later - academy) and its graduates lectured on archi- tecture in other Slavonic Jesuit colleges (in Mstislav, Sluck, Vitebsk, Mogiliov) in the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

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