As the Feast of the Three Kings approaches, the archeologists of the Palace Museum remind us that the first scenes of the visit of the Three Kings to Bethlehem in Lithuania reach us from the 15th century. In the middle of the 20th century, when archaeologists were investigating the territory of the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania in the Lower Castle of Vilnius, they even found fragments of several koliks depicting the Three Kings.
"Perhaps such depictions have existed before, but the cochleas found decorating the stoves of the residence of the Lithuanian grand dukes were created only a little more than half a century after the universal baptism of Lithuania. Therefore, it is likely that these plots are actually one of the first ones made right here in Vilnius," says archaeologist Gintautas Striška, head of the Archeology and Architecture Research Department of the Palace of the Lords Museum.
According to the archaeologist, the exhibition "From the Unicorn to the Three Kings: Gothic Koklias from the Collections of the Museum of the Lords Palace" is currently showing fragments of several koklia depicting the Three Kings. In one cochlear, the figures of the Three Kings are depicted very symbolically - one king is full-length, and the other two - only the heads decorated with crowns. It was possible to recreate the plot of the next kokli only with the help of archaeological finds from neighboring countries.
"One of the plots was more difficult to recreate," says G. Striška. - Two fragments of a white clay covered with a yellowish glaze depict a five-pointed star and a seated woman in a long pleated dress, whose head is decorated with a crown, and she is holding a baby in her hand. Although the larger part of the cochlea was not found, we recognized the entire plot by comparing it with Lower Jankov (a village near Gniezno, Poland) found similar to the 15th century. by the neck From in Poland of the surviving kokli plot, it turned out that the kokli dating from the Gothic era found in Vilnius depicts the scene of the visit of the Three Kings to Bethlehem and the veneration of the born Baby, while the woman seen in the fragment of the Vilnius kokli is St. An image of the Virgin Mary."
The visit of the Three Wise Men to Bethlehem is mentioned in the Gospel according to Matthew. In the Middle Ages, sages became kings and received the names of Kaspar, Merkel and Balthazar. The wise men are already depicted with crowns on the cobblestones found in Vilnius. Merkel, honoring the divinity of Christ, gave incense, symbolizing holiness, wisdom and divine blessing, the black Baltazar - myrrh, intended for healing diseases and wounds and stopping aging, embalming bodies, and the bearded and gray Kaspar kneeling in front of the Baby - gold, symbolizing honor, wealth and the power
In Vilnius, another matrix of the three kings' visit to Bethlehem was found. They were found by archaeologists in the former residence of the Bishops (now the Presidency) and in Dominikonų st. 4 in the environment.
The Three Kings and other cocci found on the territory of the Palace of the Lords, made almost 600 years ago and attributed to the Gothic era, can be viewed in the Museum of the Palace of the Lords until 2024. April 28 in the upcoming exhibition "From the Unicorn to the Three Kings: Gothic Cockroaches from the Collections of the Palace Museum". For visitors with visual impairments, there are specially designed samples of cochlea that can be touched, and the story about them is presented in Braille.
