Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda expressed irritation over the renaming of a museum, founded in Soviet times in memory of Lithuanian poet Kristijonas Donelaitis, in the Kaliningrad region.
The original inhabitants of Lithuania Minor, now part of the so-called Kaliningrad region, have long disappeared, the last traces of Lithuanian culture there must be preserved.
The Kristijonas Donelaitis Memorial Museum was renamed last December to the Literary Museum in the village of Chistye Prudy. However, it retained the memory of the Lithuanian poet in expositions and guided tours across the village formerly known as Lazdinelen.
In addition to complaining about the museum’s new name, Nausėda also called Russia’s Kaliningrad a “historically Lithuanian city.” In 2023, members of the Lithuanian parliament asked the state Language Commission to change the current Lithuanian version of Kaliningrad’s name to Karaliaučius.
No matter how hard Russia tries, Karaliaučius will never become Kaliningrad.
However, Lithuanian experts warned that such a move could cause confusion, as people would not be able to find cities with old names on a present-day map.
In response, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that Lithuania had territorial claims against Russia. The position implicitly justified Moscow’s security measures in the region, Peskov added.
The museum complex was opened in 1979, with its collection currently totalling over 200 exhibits. In the 18th century it housed a Lutheran church where the poet Kristijonas Donelaitis lived and worked.
