Director General of the LNMA Arūnas Gelūnas decorated with a Ukrainian state order  

Dr Arūnas Gelūnas, Director General of the LNMA. Photo by Gintarė Grigėnaitė

On the eve of the Ukrainian Independence Day, 23 August, Director General of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art (LNMA) Dr. Arūnas Gelūnas, together with over a hundred foreign individuals, was decorated with state honours by decree of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He was awarded an order “For Merits” in the third degree.   

 

Director General of the LNMA Dr Arūnas Gelūnas, European Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius, Lithuanian MP Emanuelis Zingeris, and the filmmaker Mantas Kvedaravičius, killed in Ukraine three years ago, were the four Lithuanians to receive the Ukrainian state awards. They were honoured “for their significant personal contribution to the strengthening international cooperation, supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and promoting Ukraine globally”.  

 

The LNMA is in a close relationship with the Ukrainian cultural institutions. Starting in 2020, an intense collaboration with the Ukrainian museums has been manifested by over 18 exhibitions organized under the leadership of Dr Arūnas Gelūnas, director general of the LNMA. The massive scale invasion of Ukraine has immediately prompted evacuation of the valuable museum exhibits to Lithuania for protection. There they are safeguarded and go through the process of technical examination, conservation and restoration. They are also digitized and presented to the public. Different departments of the museum, for example, the Pranas Gudynas Conservation Centre, routinely receive specialists from the Ukrainian museums as interns.  

 

Support initiatives are another important part of the museum’s activity. On 12 – 14 April 2022, the LNMA put together a special series of tours Museums to the Rescue of Museums. The money raised during these events were used to finance the measures needed to protect the art objects. They were transferred to the colleagues in Ukraine.   

 

In the autumn of the same year, in collaboration with the organization Stiprūs kartu (Strong Together) the museum started an effort Let’s Keep Ukraine Warm, raising funds for electric generators and diesel heaters. The funds reached the humanitarian support centres in Ukraine.   

 

In October 2024, the LNMA, in collaboration with the Jonas Karolis Chodkevičius Support and Charity Fund, launched a fundraising function dedicated to the conservation of the artwork by the Ukrainian artist Maria Pryimachenko. The paintings evacuated from the Zaporizhzhya Art Museum. The resources were pooled to preserve the artwork of this unique painter for the future generations. The exhibition of Maria Pryimachenko’s exhibition I Send You Sunlit Art was hosted by the Vytautas Kasiulis Museum of Art of the LNMA; until 14 September it was on the Pranas Domšaitis Gallery of the LNMA. 

 

Currently, the Palanga Amber Museum of the LNMA is hosting an exhibition Samurai Treasures: Artistic Elements of Japanese Swords and Miniature Sculpture from the Collection of the Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Arts (until 14 September). The exhibition The Old Masters from the Ukrainian Museums. From the Borys Voznytskyi National Art Gallery are on at The Clock and Watch Museum of the LNMA until 1 December, 2025. A photography exhibition of the LNMA’s colleague Vadim Shamkov, titled My Museum opened on 4 September at the Odessa Museum of Western and Eastern Art. Previously it was hosted by the Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Arts, in Kyiv.  

 

The order “For Merits” in the third degree awarded to the Director General of the LNMA Dr Arūnas Gelūnas is not only an act of appreciation of his personal contribution, in a symbolic way it recognizes the museum’s efforts for the preservation of the Ukrainian cultural heritage.