First Ladies of Finland and Lithuania Visit Vilnius University

On 14 May, Vilnius University (VU) welcomed the First Lady of Finland, Suzanne Innes-Stubb, and the First Lady of Lithuania, Diana Nausėdienė.

The First Ladies visited the renowned Pranciškus Smuglevičius Hall at the University Library, where they met with the Library’s Director General Irena Krivienė and viewed rare manuscripts, cartographic collections, and documents related to Finland. Among the exhibits were letters and a postcard depicting Helsinki sent by Finnish folklorist and University of Helsinki Professor August Robert Niemi to Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas (1925–1926), Kazys Boruta’s essay ‘Suomių kraštas’ (‘The Land of the Finns’), a 17th-century account of Sweden, Gotland, and the Grand Duchy of Finland, as well as the 1660 anatomical work ‘Catoptrum microcosmicum’ (‘Mirror of the Microcosm’) by German physician Johann Remmelin, featuring multilayered illustrations of the human body.

During the visit, Suzanne Innes-Stubb and Diana Nausėdienė also met with students from the Centre for Scandinavian Studies at the Faculty of Philology, viewed publications related to the history of VU, visited the Observatory Courtyard, and walked through the Grand Courtyard of the University.