The happy news reached Kupiškės that in commemoration of the International Day for the Protection of Monuments and Monuments, which is April 18, Vilnius Kupiškės Club member prof. Dr. Jonas Rimantas Glemža was awarded the medal of the Department of Cultural Heritage “For services to the cultural heritage of Lithuania”.
Photo of the Department of Cultural Heritage
Banguole ALEKNIENĖ-ANDRIJAUSKĖ
And for a lifetime of work
The Department of Cultural Heritage under the Ministry of Culture celebrated its professional holiday in the recently completed restoration and open to the public Sapiegi Palace in Vilnius.
According to the information of this department, here the medal was awarded to the venerable Kupiškė JR Glemža for his lifetime merits in protecting the cultural heritage of Lithuania through his work: for his initiatives and direct participation in the creation and management of heritage protection institutions, for his contribution to promoting the name of Lithuania in international organizations, for passing on his experience and knowledge to the young for the generation of heritage conservators and restorers and in the formation of their training system, for the implemented projects of management, restoration and adaptation of cultural heritage objects and the active dissemination of knowledge and stories about cultural heritage.
On this occasion, more people deserving of Lithuanian cultural heritage were awarded.
The same medal for lifetime achievements was awarded to the engineer, architect, heritage conservationist Roman Jaloveckas.
The architect, architecturologist dr. Rasa Bertašiūtė, architect restorer Giedrė Filipavičienė, architect Augis Gučas, architect restorer Gražina Kirdeikienė, architect restorer Evaldas Purlys.
From a famous family
Photo of the Department of Cultural Heritage
Jonas Rimantas Glemža was born on March 20, 1935 in Kaunas.
He comes from the famous Glemži family. His father Jonas Glemža, born in Kupiški, was a teacher, printer, and public figure. Local explorers Stefanija, Mikalina and Elvyra Glemžaitė are JR Glemža’s aunts.
According to the data provided in the “Visuotine Lithuanian Encyclopedia”, JR Glemža graduated from the Kaunas Polytechnic Institute in 1959. In 1958-1963 he worked in the Architectural Monuments Protection Inspectorate (inspector, head), in 1963-1986 – in the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania: 1963-1979. Head of the Board of Museums and Cultural Heritage Protection, 1979-1986 Deputy Minister of Culture, 1986-1994 Chief Architect of the Monument Restoration Institute (until 1992), 1994-1996 Director of the Department of Monument Management (later also the Protection of Cultural Values), 1995-1996 and Secretary of the Ministry of Culture. In 2003-2009, the chairman of the State Commission for Cultural Heritage.
From 1972 he taught at the Vilnius Academy of Arts (until 1990 at the LSSR Art Institute), in 1999-2003 he was the head of the Department of Monument Management, professor (2003). In 1981-1990, vice-president of the International Council of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), in 2000-2002, chairman of the Union of Lithuanian Restorers.
The most important projects: restoration of the Medininkų castle donjon (with architect M. Mikulionyta, constructor J. Mendelevičius, 1994-2000), Lithuanian territory, general plan of Vilnius (both in 1999; part of cultural heritage) as one of the authors.
He wrote the following books: “Lithuanian architectural monuments: Protection and restoration”, “Architectural monuments in the structure of the cities of the USSR” (with others, both 1978, in Russian), the textbook “Protection and management of real cultural heritage” (2002), “Historical Lithuanian architectural heritage” interiors: history, management, evaluation” (2014).
JR Glemža worked for more than 61 years in the field of heritage protection. Of these, 22 years were allocated to the development of the heritage preservation study system in Vilnius. His activities are a significant contribution to the training of heritage conservation specialists. Thanks to JR Glemža, the Old Town of Vilnius was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
In 2005, JR Glemža was awarded the Medal of Honor of the Union of Lithuanian Architects, and in 2010, he was awarded the Order of the Knight of Architecture for his services to the art of Lithuanian architecture. In 2019, the heritage conservationist was awarded the St. Christopher statue for services to the architectural heritage of Vilnius.
