"There are cities full of art, and there are classic books about those cities. One of these books is Mikolaj Vorobjov's The Art of Vilnius - probably the best text written in Lithuanian about our capital city". Tomas Venclova

The most important element of this book is the classic work Vilnius Art (first published in 1940) by Mikolaj Vorobyov (1903-1954). The work, its dissemination and significance are discussed by art historian Giedrė Jankevičiūtė (essay "Vilnius according to Mikalojus Vorobjovas") and poet, literary critic, writer and active intellectual Tomas Venclova (essay "Unscripted Vilnius Study"). Vorobjov's text is illustrated by Jan Bulhak's images of Vilnius, and given a contemporary context by the monuments and panoramas of Vilnius photographed in our time.

Vilnius Art was written to introduce Kaunas Lithuania to the regained capital. In it, perhaps the most profound and broadly European-educated interwar Lithuanian art historian (known as the intellectual link between interwar Lithuania and the Western world) discusses four centuries of Vilnius' architectural heritage, from Gothic to Classical. Vorobjovas conveyed the specific information of art history in a clear and engaging manner, and wrote his work in Lithuanian in an extremely suggestive manner (although he was born into a Russian-speaking family and educated in Germany).

The inclination of thought and the docility of the phrase, the joy of using language, the rich vocabulary, the distinctive inter-war language genders - all this makes it possible to enjoy the text both as a source of knowledge and as a work of verbal expression. The text was heavily edited and lost some of its charm when it was republished in 1997. This edition restores the text to its former form (with only some corrections to the spelling and punctuation of the original text).

Vorobjov's work, translated into English, fills an important gap: it is a book that will help foreigners to get to know Vilnius art, something we have not had until now.

Dedicated to the 700th anniversary of Vilnius.