A. Stankevič  |  A. Railaitė-Bardė  |  A. Urbanavičius  |  D. Baronas  |  D. Vilimas  |  G. Sliesoriūnas  |  G. Zujienė  |  J. Sarcevičienė  |  J. Kiaupienė  |  M. Šapoka  |  R. Šmigelskytė-Stukienė  |  R. Čapaitė  |  S. Rowell  |  T. Baranauskas  |  V. Gerulaitienė | O. Valionienė | A. Jurkevičius |

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The Department of the History of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was established at the institute in 1990.

Before the restoration of Lithuania’s independence, the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was studied in the following units of the institute: the Lithuanian History Section (1941–1946), the History Sector (1947–1952), the Pre-Soviet Period Sector (1952–1957), the Sector of the History of the Lithuanian SSR before the October Revolution (1957–1971), the Feudalism History Sector (1971–1981), and the Feudalism History Department (1981–1990). At different times, these sections and sectors were headed by Prof. Ignas Jonynas, Juozas Žiugžda and Juozas Jurginis, both members of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, Prof. Mečislovas Jučas, Prof. Leonas Mulevičius, Prof. Dr Zigmantas Kiaupa, Assoc. Prof. Dr Elmantas Meilus, and Assoc. Prof. Dr Edmundas Rimša. From 2006 to 2020, the Department of the History of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was headed by Assoc. Prof. Dr Ramunė Šmigelskytė-Stukienė. Dr Gintautas Sliesoriūnas is the current head of the department.

As of 2022, the department employs a full-time staff of seventeen, including two chief researchers, three senior researchers, nine researchers, one junior researcher (a PhD Humanities), and two archaeography specialists. Two doctoral students are continuing their studies in the department.

Dr habil. Ingė Lukšaitė, Prof. Dr Zigmantas Kiaupa, and Assoc. Prof. Dr Edmundas Rimša, long-standing employees of the department who have contributed significantly to the solution of the research issues addressed by the department, have enriched the research into the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

The ongoing research programmes of the department

The long-term research and experimental (social, cultural) development programme ‘The Historical Development of the Statehood of Lithuania (the Grand Duchy of Lithuania) in the European Context (the Thirteenth-Eighteenth Centuries)’. Leader Assoc. Prof. Dr Ramunė Šmigelskytė-Stukienė, duration 2022–2026.

The institute’s research programme ‘History and Culture of Lithuania through the Prism of Auxiliary Historical Sciences’. Leader Dr Rūta Čapaitė, duration 2022–2026.

Research programmes completed in the department

Long-term research and experimental (social, cultural) development programme ‘The Grand Duchy of Lithuania: Power, Estate, Individual (Fourteenth-Eighteenth-Century Historical Shifts)’, 2017–2021. Leader Assoc. Prof. Dr Ramunė Šmigelskytė-Stukienė.

The institute’s research programme ‘The History of Vilnius. A Synthesis’, 2017–2021. Leader Dr Gintautas Sliesoriūnas.

The institute’s research programme ‘Auxiliary Historical Sciences’, 2014–2019. Leader Dr Rūta Čapaitė.

The institute’s research programme ‘Auxiliary Historical Sciences’, 2009–2014. Leader Assoc. Prof. Dr Edmundas Rimša.

The institute’s research programme ‘The History of Lithuania’, 2001–2011. Leader Dr habil. Jūratė Kiaupienė.

The institute’s research programme ‘Monuments of Lithuanian Historiography, Part 1’, 1998–2009. Leader Dr habil. Ingė Lukšaitė.

Department’s ongoing research projects

Project of research groups ‘Byzantium and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: Interactions Between the Secular and Ecclesiastical Spheres in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, 2022–2025. Project leader Prof. Dr Darius Baronas. Supported by the Research Council of Lithuania, Contract No. S-MIP-22-25.

Research project of the Lithuanian Institute of History and the Polish Academy of Sciences (Cracow) ‘Acts of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth of 1499–1501. Documents and a Study’. Project leader Prof. Dr habil. Lidia Korczak, project participant Prof. Dr habil. Jūratė Kiaupienė.

Contacts:

Email: sliesoriunasgintas@gmail.com