The PhD project explores the fate of Baroque heritage in the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the long 19th century, when these lands were part of the Russian Empire. During this period, the Baroque style fell out of fashion across Europe, displaced by Classicism and subsequent styles, and was considered in bad taste for decades until it was revisited and even experienced some revival in the late 19th century. The rich and diverse Baroque architecture in the present-day Belarus and Lithuania faced even bigger challenges at the time, and the political factor played a principal role here. In the aftermath of the November Uprising of 1830–1831 and January Uprising of 1863–1864 against the Russian rule, the imperial authorities intensified their Russification policies in this region. This included the so-called “church-building reforms”, which involved transforming former Catholic and Greek-Catholic churches into Orthodox ones, mainly in Classicism or pseudo-Byzantine/Russian styles, with a focus on removing or replacing “Latin” elements, often associated with “Polish influence”. As a result, the Baroque monuments, being the most numerous, relatively recent, and extremely “Latin” ones, suffered the most from these policies.
My research aims to explore the peripeties of this heritage in connection with aesthetic changes, colonial policies of the Russian Empire, emerging art history and preservation, and national self-determination in the region. I plan to study how various groups and individuals such as government authorities, art scholars and enthusiasts, private patrons, clergy, and local communities, perceived the Baroque heritage and what role they played in the preservation or destruction of these monuments. Additionally, I intend to consider various social, religious, political, economic, and other factors behind these attitudes and processes, as well as their consequences.