The Vilnius City Council on Wednesday agreed to rename the Alexander Pushkin Literary Museum, removing the reference to the Russian poet.
The museum will now be called the Markučiai Manor Museum, after the area of Vilnius where it is situated. According to the explanatory note, this returns a historical name to the museum.
“The return of the historical name is in line with the activities currently carried out by the museum,” the note states.
The Alexander Pushkin Literary Museum has been operating in the building for some 70 years.
In 1899, Varvara Pushkina, who had married the Russian poet’s son Grigory Pushkin, moved to Markučiai Manor near Vilnius. After her death in 1940, her will left the house to the city with instructions to house a museum for Alexander Pushkin.
It was opened in 1948 and was the first literary museum in Vilnius.
According to the explanatory note, however, “the will of Varvara Pushkina, the last owner of the estate, shows that the owners did not call the house by [Alexander Pushkin’s] name, but called it Markučiai Manor”.
The proposal has been coordinated with the Ministry of Culture, the Lithuanian Language Commission, and the Faculty of History of Vilnius University, according to the authors.
This follows a slew of other initiatives across Lithuania removing references to Russia and Russian culture from public life in the wake of Moscow’s attack on Ukraine.
Last year, the Alexander Pushkin Gymnasium in Kaunas was renamed the Kaunas International School. The Russian Drama Theatre is now called the Old Theatre of Vilnius.
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