Baltic Missionary Memories: The Doors of Learning

Our last morning in Vilnius we had to get up early; we had an important appointment at 9:00. When Brigita found out that Sister Davis used to work in a library and LOVED books, she said she could try and get us in a tour of the Vilnius University Library. Brigita works at the University and she knows these things. Tours in English are given on request and she would see if one was available. Sister Davis was so excited. Vilnius University is the oldest in Eastern Europe...having been founded as a Jesuit College in 1568. There was a tour scheduled in the morning of the day we were to leave and we could "tag along" for a mere $4 each .... and you readers get to come along for free!

The bronze doors of learning....

This used to be the main research room, but now holds most of the really old artifacts the University has been collecting for hundreds of years.

Mary protecting the Jesuit priests...painted on the ceiling.

Original "New World" maps from expeditions of the 16th century explorers. It looks like California has already fallen into the ocean...

Africa looks fairly accurate...

Can you just imagine how Sister Davis felt as she toured this gorgeous library?

The beauty of the room is in all the ornate details. That is a picture of Christ looking down on the room where "knowledge is learned".

A picture of Christopher Columbus:

After climbing about three flights of stairs we were shown the "White Room". This is where the professors (they are called doctors here) come for research or study.

A REALLY old globe.....

A REALLY old telescope:

There is something exciting about libraries!

So many things to learn in them....

And the view outside was of Old Town...a good place to sit and daydream.

Down several flights of stairs and down a corridor, was the Blue Room. The bookcases here were full of the more important books the library owned.

Ah! Here is something Sister Davis remembers from her youth. A card catalog. Those used to be the backbone of a library...now it's all computerized.

Our English speaking guide was one of the librarians and she talked really fast. We later found out it was because the tour group with us had limited time and she was trying to fit everything in.

Vilnius and all of Lithuania takes great pride in this university and you could tell by how well maintained the buildings were.

Signs of the Zodiac on the wall...

Alma Mater....Vilnius

Our next building was the chapel...a very ornate church built in the middle of the campus.

Inside the chapel

At the back is the pipe organ...

The front is overwhelmingly ornate.

The original stain glass windows were taken out during the Soviet occupation and plain glass windows were installed. The university is trying to restore everything but as our guide told us, "Lithuania is a small country and we just don't have enough money to fix everything at once."

Everything in this small rectory was gilded in gold....

It even had a small pipe organ in it....

The next room was painted in the 1970's by a local artist. Neither Elder or Sister Davis could quite figure out what the artist was trying to tell us. Our tour guide said the paintings all have elements of the history of Lithuania which began as a pagan nation.

Sister Davis did recognize the beehive style stain-glass window...and knew that beekeeping is still important to the local people.

On closer inspection she noticed the little details in some of the hexagons.

Trees are also important in the lives of the people here. Most all furniture and kitchen utensils are made of wood. Natural products are preferred and it is hard to find "plastic" things here.

The tour was over when our guide asked if we would like to see more now that the other group had gone. She had more to show us and since she loved talking about her university she wondered if we had time to see more of it. Who would turn down getting their own private tour? Not us!

She took us to a room where the kids getting out of class gathered to socialize. The walls were lined with fresco's done by a local artist. Each picture was symbolic.

These were three famous Lithuanians and though Sister Davis listened and was interested in what the guide was saying, she didn't write anything down so she can't remember any of these guys names.

Nor can she remember why the horse is jumping over the bear...yet there was a reason for it!

The next room in our private tour was the Department of Philosophy ante-room. Here another local artist made huge mosaics from Lithuanian stone of four muses.

These were remarkably gorgeous. The stones are all tiny pieces put in place with no mortar.

Four happy missionaries enjoying our day of "learning".

And the last place on our tour...the unique University Book Store!

Where the ceiling murals are fantastic.

After thanking our guide profusely, we headed to the Three Mexicans restaurant. Hoping for great Mexican food.... but realizing our hopes could be dashed.

The interior looked pretty authentic...but lets face it we are in Eastern Europe what are the chances of decent Mexican food?

Our hopes were realized, the food was great.

The tacos even came with a side of refried beans!

And then it was time to head back to Riga. The weather was great until we were nearly home. That's when Elder Adams called and said he was worried about us because of the big storm in Riga. It wasn't long before we could see it in the distance, ominous dark clouds....they didn't bode well for us.