„Moment równowagi”? O wielokulturowości Wilna w Przewodniku po ziemiach dawnej Polski, Litwy i Rusi Mieczysława Orłowicza

Abstract

The article interprets the fragment about Vilnius in Mieczysław Orłowicz’s Guide to the Lands of Former Poland, Lithuania and Ruthenia. The authoress argues that the publication from 1914, although primarily intended to be practical, can be classified as geoliterature (works in which geographical aspects play an essential role). Orłowicz’s guidebook requires careful reading in historical and genological contexts, considering issues related to censorship and what was omitted or written indirectly in it. Published just before the outbreak of the First World War, this guidebook presents an exciting picture of the city on the Neris River. Orłowicz shows Vilnius from the perspective of a Polish traveller, paying attention primarily to traces of Polish culture, but at the same time notes the multicultur al character of Vilnius, inhabited by representatives of various nationalities, languages, cultures and religions. The city was portrayed at a “moment of balance” – just before the eruption of conflicts and events which significantly changed its character. Orłowicz offers a kind of view from above – extensive, but at the same time devoid of details that prove how unstable this moment of multicultural balance was.