Vilnius university and the beginning of the historical research on Lithuanian in the early 19th century

ENThis article dwells on the interest in Lithuania's past and the development of the research of its history in the early nineteenth century (1800-1832) mainly at Vilnius University. Examination of a variety of scholarly works and activities revealed that the initial interest in the country's past came from fields adjacent to history, such as legal history, ethnography, linguistics, and archaeology, and that the historical research on Lithuania at Vilnius University was under external influence from Poland proper, Russia, and Germany (mainly Prussia) rather than having been developed as an isolated subject. Although the history of Lithuania, especially that of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, was later regarded as a separate Lithuanian or Belarussian national history or as a part of Russian or Polish history, the historical research on it in its nascent phase was not disjointed, but on the contrary - close-knit and characterized by interinfluence.