Parliamentary group for national minorities wants to establish the Vilnius Museum

On Tuesday members of the parliamentary group of 3 May proposed to establish the Vilnius Museum to commemorate multicultural character of the capital and to present a joint history of city residents.

“We believe the Vilnius Museum will be an important source of knowledge, but also will help the current city residents to meet their history, learn about each other and overcome their complexes as regards relations among different national communities. As a result, mutual trust will be enhanced, which will help us find solutions to important problems. The investment in the Vilnius Museum pays off in a variety of ways. If people learn about their shared history, they will become resistant to external influences and attempts to divide the Lithuanian society” – said Andrius Kubilius, the originator of the group of 3 May.

The request to establish the museum was made to the Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis, the Speaker of the Seimas Viktoras Pranckietis, the Minister of Culture Liana Ruokytė-Jonsson and Mayor of Vilnius Remigijus Šimašius.

It was noted that the Vilnius Museum would enable people to learn about multinational and multicultural heritage of the capital city and would help them better understand its history. A great input of Jews, Poles, Belarusians and Russians into the city development would be also shown. The museum would be created in cooperation with both Lithuanian and international specialists.

Among those who signed the proposal were Rita Tamašūnienė representing EAPL-CFA in the Seimas and other members of the group of 3 May: Andrius Kubilius, Arūnas Gelūnas, Arvydas Nekrošius, Gediminas Kirkilas, Egidijus Vareikis, Dovilė Šakalienė, Rita Tamašūnienė, Mykolas Majauskas and Monika Navickienė.

The parliamentary group of 3 May, named after an important historical event of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, was established at the beginning of December. The parliamentary group will develop long-term and comprehensive political strategy on national communities in Lithuania. The group was originated by conservative Andrius Kubilius. The request was signed by politicians from different political groups, among others Žygimantas Pavilionis, Arūnas Gelūnas, Gabrielius Landsbergis, Gediminas Kirkilas, Juozas Bernatonis, Rasa Budbergytė, Rita Tamašunienė, Mindaugas Puidokas, Arvydas Nekrošius and Ingrida Šimonytė. The founding act of the parliamentary group provides that special emphasis shall be placed on economic and social development of the Vilnius region, its education and resolving the issue of democracy and community matters in the region.