2019 05 18 – 2019 10 31 WHOEVER IS A PRESIDENT? THE PRESIDENTS OF LITHUANIA AND THE INSTITUTION OF PRESIDENCY IN LITHUANIA IN 1919–1940

This year, the history of the Institution of Presidency in Lithuania already counts a century. Marking this occasion, an open-air exhibition of archive photographs “Whoever is a president? The Presidents of Lithuania and the Institution of Presidency in Lithuania in 1919–1940” is being exhibited in the front garden of the museum. It tells us more about the duties and daily routines of the President of the Republic of Lithuania. On the 4^th of April in 1919, the State Council of Lithuania elected Antanas Smetona as the first President of the State. Later Aleksandras Stulginskis and Kazys Grinius served as Presidents of the Republic of Lithuania. The photographs of the exhibition commemorate the working moments of the Heads of State: an oath, committed to act in good faith as President; ceremonies of the supreme leader of the entire Armed Forces of the State; communication with foreign diplomatic envoys; work with the Cabinet of Ministers and other official occasions. In addition to the official ceremonies, the visitors of the exhibition will be able to see another side of the Office of the President of the Republic – direct communication with citizens, visits through Lithuania in the major cultural, industrial and agricultural events. The exhibition also reveals what the daily routine of the Head of State at the Presidential Palace. What was his working day? Was his office spacious enough? What type of guests visited him? Curator of the exhibition: historian Justina Minelgaitė-Plentienė. The exhibition features photographs from the Lithuanian Central State Archive, M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art, the Historical Presidential Palace of the Republic of Lithuania, and Vytautas the Great War Museum. The exhibition is partly financed by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania. We kindly invite you to an exhibition. The garden is open daily from 7:00 am to 10:00 pm.