Vilnius Cathedral is not only a functioning sanctuary and one of the most prominent architectural symbols of the capital. It is a place where several centuries of Lithuanian state, Church, city, art and social history are concentrated. Although the Cathedral has been studied many times, until now there has been a lack of consistent research that would combine data accumulated over different periods and methods from various scientific fields and allow us to look at this exceptional object as a whole.
Such an opportunity is sought to be created by the targeted call for comprehensive research on the Vilnius Cathedral, announced by the Research Council of Lithuania (RCL). The ambition for the future project is not only to provide new scientific knowledge, but also to help better understand the place of the Cathedral in the history of Lithuania and Europe, to open up research results to the public and to strengthen the culture of interdisciplinary work. We talk to Prof. Dr. Jurgita Verbickienė, Chair of the Committee of Experts on Humanities and Social Sciences at the RCL, about why the targeted call format was chosen, what complexity means in this case and what approach is expected from research teams.
– LMT has announced a targeted call for comprehensive research on Vilnius Cathedral. Why was the targeted call format chosen? What added value can it create compared to regular competitive research calls?
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– This call is intended for large-scale research focused on one specific object of particular importance to Lithuanian history. The Cathedral is a meeting point for different layers of Lithuanian history. It is significant not only as an architectural object, but also as a symbol of culture, religion and spiritual strength. Important historical figures are also associated with it, and recently there has even been talk of forming a Lithuanian pantheon in the Cathedral.
The need to issue such an invitation arose from the desire to better understand what the cathedral means to us, what lies within it and what unexpected discoveries it can still offer. The cathedral has been studied quite extensively by Polish historians and art historians, and a number of their publications have been published. Here we encounter a situation that is quite common in Lithuanian history research, when scholars from other countries talk about objects that are important to us. Therefore, one of the ideas of this invitation is to encourage us to systematically evaluate what the cathedral means to us and what we have in it.
A targeted call allows for the purposeful gathering of groups of researchers from different fields for the research of a single object, its space, values, personalities associated with it and other aspects. This is an exceptional call in terms of its scope – LMT has never funded a project of this scale dedicated to a single object before. Up to one and a half million euros is planned for the research, therefore a broad, detailed and diverse study of the cathedral is expected.
At the same time, it is important to find ways to present the results of the research to the public, reveal the significance of the archcathedral, and assess its place in the broader context of European cathedrals.
– The call provides for funding for complex research on the Archcathedral. What does complexity mean in this case? Why is it important for an object of such scale and significance that scientists from different fields work together, rather than conducting separate research?
– Until now, scientists could undertake research on a separate object or a specific problem by participating in various funding programs, for example, Lithuanian Studies or research group project programs. In this case, much larger-scale research is expected that would yield a systematic result.
This means that different studies should be consistent with each other, be conducted according to a clear common logic, and the methods used should be coordinated. Complexity is not just a multitude of separate studies. It is important that their results complement each other and help to form an overall picture.
Interdisciplinarity is important today not only in the humanities or social sciences – essentially all sciences are moving in this direction. Due to technological changes, research requires increasingly specialized knowledge related not only to a specific scientific discipline, but also to the application of technologies. Therefore, it becomes very difficult for one scientist, no matter how good a researcher he is, to cover all the aspects necessary for research on such an object.
– The call is focused not only on the creation of new scientific knowledge, but also on its application, knowledge of cultural heritage and its dissemination. What result is expected from the funded project? What, in your opinion, would be the highest indicator of success of such research?
– I would not like to name the expected result very precisely, because that would already be a kind of direction suggestion for applicants. I have no doubt that scientific groups can offer much more than I could currently foresee.
At the same time, it is necessary to understand that the current funding will most likely not be enough to achieve the ideal and final result. Some of the necessary research is very expensive, complex and time-consuming. For example, genetic research may be such. Therefore, with this project, we are rather starting a new phase of research at the Archcathedral and giving it momentum, rather than expecting that all questions will be finally answered within four years.
Not only the scientific result, which can take very different forms, would be important, but also the actualization of certain themes, personalities, and objects. There would also be a need for solutions that would help to present the archcathedral more widely to both the public and the academic community.
Documenting the research itself is also very important. If the research were recorded, this material could become the basis for a documentary film, be used in schools, and help the public better understand the significance of the cathedral in the context of Lithuanian and European culture and history.
Another significant result would be the education of a new generation of scientists and the strengthening of the culture of interdisciplinary thinking. In Lithuania, we are still lagging behind Western countries in this area. Interdisciplinarity is a specific way of thinking that needs to be developed and learned to understand its benefits. This does not mean that every scientist must become an interdisciplinary researcher, but for some of them, such an ability would be a great advantage.
– Vilnius Cathedral is one of the most significant objects of Lithuanian cultural heritage, but at the same time it is also a complex, multi-layered historical source. What layers and meanings of its history could modern science still help reveal? Where do you see the greatest cognitive potential?
– Specific research directions should be proposed by the research teams themselves, and experts will assess whether the chosen path is appropriate. However, it seems to me that it is very important not only to discover new facts, but also to reveal the significance of the archcathedral.
We all seem to know that the cathedral is important to us, but probably a small part of society could clearly explain why it is important and what the historical content of this object is. This often happens with historical phenomena or objects: everyone knows them, but it is much more difficult to name how they relate to people and why they are significant today.
When we talk about Vilnius Cathedral, we are talking about the period from the time of Mindaugas to the present day. It is an object that connects several centuries of very different and changeable Lithuanian history – from its transformation into a Christian state to the persecutions of the 19th century and the Soviet era, and the strength of the people in preserving the object itself.
It would be desirable for the public to be able to better see, feel and name these layers of the archcathedral. Of course, only a part of the knowledge created by scientists will become relevant to the general public and can be used to popularize science. However, in addition to the creation of new knowledge, it is very important to promote its more active presentation to the public.
– In recent decades, archaeological, historical, scientific, and digital research methods have rapidly developed. How can modern technologies and new scientific methods change our understanding of the Cathedral and its history?
– The set of methods used will depend largely on the questions raised by scientists. However, today we can already see how many possibilities new technologies offer.
For example, genetic research can help determine a person’s diseases, age, gender, and in some cases, if comparable data is available, even a specific personality. Scientists can study burials in the basements of the archcathedral. Such research could tell us more about the people of Vilnius or other groups of people who lived in different historical periods: what diseases they had, what they ate, what their origin was, and how the lives of different social classes differed.
The cathedral building has already been scanned, and non-invasive methods are being used to search for cavities in it. Such methods allow the object to be studied without damaging it and to see what scientists could only see or guess before. Today, it is possible to more accurately determine what alloy the object is made of, when it appeared, what its condition is, and also to more accurately date various finds.
Technology allows us to process large amounts of data, look for connections between them, and compare results. This is very important in historical research, where in the past conclusions sometimes had to be based on just one or two documents, so interpretation was of great importance.
Combining methods from history, archaeology, natural science research, and art history in one project would in itself be a certain innovation in the Lithuanian humanities and social sciences. At the same time, it will be a huge challenge – researchers will need to agree on how to work on the same object, what questions to raise, and how to harmonize the methods used by different sciences.
– The call focuses not only on research, but also on the accessibility of its results to the public. How, in your opinion, could the results of scientific research reach people in such a way that they become not only of academic value, but also a living part of Lithuania’s cultural memory?
– Research results should be adapted to different groups of society. Some texts are written and read by scientists, while others are relevant and accessible to the wider public. It is very important not to forget students and young people of different ages.
The cathedral can also be presented as a kind of symbol of societal resilience. The symbolic meanings concentrated in one building can be relevant to very different people, and therefore the forms of presenting the results can be very diverse.
Scientists will write articles and monographs, but alongside them, documentaries, comics, textbooks, and children’s books could appear. The stories of personalities associated with the cathedral could be told, and architectural changes and reconstructions could be visualized digitally. It would be interesting to see how the cathedral changed in different periods, what it was like before, and what the reconstruction by Laurynas Stuoka-Gucevičius gave it.
– What would you like to say to scientists and research teams considering applying? What ideas, approaches or ambitions do you think would best meet the purpose and significance of this call?
– In this call, we expect ambition and focus from scientists, because only a sufficiently large and strong group of researchers can implement such a project.
In science, unexpected, sometimes even provocative questions are always very important. We should try to discover questions that no one has raised before. Even if the answer to them is negative, it would still be a new answer and new knowledge.
Therefore, I would suggest to research teams not to be afraid of creativity, a certain level of playfulness and ambition. They should set themselves high enough goals.
Photo: Donatas Jokubaitis