“Lutheran Culture Days” starts today in Klaipėda Region

Martynas Mažvydas, Kristijonas Donelaitis, Martynas Liudvikas Rėza are some of the best-known representatives of the Lithuanian Lutheran community, who left a clear mark on the cultural development of Lithuania. However, the legacy of Lutheran culture in Lithuania and the world is much broader than the first Lithuanian book or poem „Year“. The extremely bright legacy of Lutheran culture for Lithuania will be introduced to the wider public this weekend for the first time in Klaipėda region. „Days of Lutheran culture“.

“The current generation did not have the opportunity to know well the significance of Lutheran culture.”

September 22-24 Darius Edvardas Anužis, one of the organizers of the “Lutheran Culture Days”, says that the idea to hold Lutheran Culture Days for the first time in Klaipėda region arose after the reconstruction of the Klaipėda Sculpture Park.

“We discussed with like-minded people that during the reconstruction of the park, too little attention was paid to the old cemetery located in the park territory, where almost 40 thousand citizens of various denominations, most of whom were Protestants, were laid to rest for eternity. Cemeteries are the core, the roots of any community, and as we respect the past, we project our future from the same angle. We thought that today the Lutheran culture and its contribution to the country’s development processes are forgotten, and the current generation did not have the opportunity to get to know the significance of this culture not only for the entire Klaipėda and Pomeranian region, but also for Greater Lithuania,” says DE Anužis.

He was also supported by Klaipėda Evangelical Lutheran parish priest Reinhold Moras. According to the priest, Lutheranism was extremely important for the social, cultural and architectural development of the Klaipėda region and the entire Pomeranian region, so today’s residents of this region should get to know this culture more widely.

“After all, the so-called Little Lithuania extended from Nemirsetas all the way to Smalininkai. There are various cultural and geographical monuments still preserved in these territories, and more than one generation of people living here carries the beginning of Lutheranism. Therefore, it is extremely important that people have as many opportunities as possible to learn more about the roots of their region”, says priest R. Moras.

Various events from Pagėgiai to Klaipėda region

“Lutheran culture days” events will take place in various areas of Klaipėda region. September 22 (Friday) cultural day events will start at the Žukai Evangelical Lutheran Church, where those gathered will have the opportunity to hear the historian Assoc. Dr. Silva Pocytė’s lecture on the uniqueness of the history and culture of the Klaipėda region and listen to the concert program “World Music” by the chamber music ensemble “Čiurlionio Quartet” of the Lithuanian National Philharmonic.

September 23 Lutheran cultural events will take place in Klaipėda, Kintai and Kretingalė. Archaeologist dr. Raimonda Nabažaitė, historian and religious scholar dr. Arūnas Baublys, researcher Kotryna Rekašiūtė, and the director of the Museum of the History of Little Lithuania, historian dr. John Genys.

On the same day, the “Čiurlionis Quartet” chamber music ensemble of the Lithuanian National Philharmonic will hold concerts in the Evangelical Lutheran churches of Mažoja Kintos (12:00) and Kretingalė (18:00).

September 24 (Sunday) – the main part of the “Lutheran Culture Days” program. Residents of Klaipėda and guests of the city are invited to the celebratory services at the Klaipėda Evangelical Lutheran Church, followed by the ceremony of honoring the city’s old cemetery in the Sculpture Park.

Also, on Sunday afternoon (2 p.m.), everyone who wants to get closer to Lutheran music culture and its history is invited to the Faculty Hall of the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater in Klaipėda. Here, a special report on Lutheran traditions in the music of Little Lithuania will be read by a musicologist, prof. Daiva Kšanienė, the actress Nijolė Sabulytė will recite the psalm, and the Klaipėda Chamber Orchestra (conductor Mindaugas Bačkus) and the choir “Aukuras” (conductor Tomas Ambrozaitis) will perform “Sunrise Mass” by the beautiful Norwegian composer Ola Gjeill. The concert will end with the joint traditional Lutheran hymn “Take my hand”, which will be performed to the accompaniment of the Klaipėda Chamber Orchestra.

The event program of “Lutheran Culture Days” will symbolically end on Sunday with an evening prayer in Karklė, remembering the destroyed Lutheran churches in the Klaipėda region, to which all those who want to pay their respects are invited at the historical site of the former Evangelical Lutheran Church in Karklė.

All Lutheran Culture Days events are free.

You can find more information and a detailed program of “Lutheran Cultural Days” events:

https://www.facebook.com/LiuteroniskosKulturosDienos