Vilnius via sacra

Šio straipsnio tikslas - linijų sistemos mūsų valstybės sostinėje Vilniuje paieška. Temą lėmė ne tik gausi publikuota tautosakos medžiaga, bet ir tai, jog nuo seniausių laikų Vilnius buvo vienas svarbiausių dvasinių bei politinių centrų baltų žemėse. Todėl tikimybė čia aptikti vienokią ar kitokią sistemą yra didelė. Straipsnyje panaudoti V. Zahorskio surinkti Vilniaus padavimai, kitų šaltinių medžiaga apie miesto teritorijoje buvusias mitologines vietas, Vilniaus vietovardžių sąrašai. Autorius nenagrinėja legendose aprašomų istorinių įvykių, asmenų ir kitos informacijos patikimumo bei pagrįstumo. Tyrimo objektu pasirinktas pats padavimo egzistavimo faktas, sąsajos su konkrečia geografine aplinka. Autorius suvokia didelę tikimybę nutolti nuo tiesos, nuklysti į fantazijų sritį, todėl pateikiamus teiginius siūlo vertinti kaip hipotetinius. Vilniaus legendose minimos pagoniškosios ir krikščioniškosios sakralios vietos sutampa su rašytinių šaltinių paliudytais miesto religiniais, politiniais, visuomeniniais centrais. Dauguma legendinių bei realių religinių, politinių, visuomeninių Vilniaus miesto centrų yra išsidėstę šiaurės pietų kryptimi nuo Verkių iki Rasų. Keletas - Antakalnio bei Vilkpėdės kryptimi. Vilniaus šventosios (legendinės ir tikros) topografijos formavimuisi lemiamą įtaką turėjo prekybos keliai, jų nulemta miesto urbanistinė struktūra. Vėliau šiaurės pietų prekybos kelias virto piligriminių procesijų (galbūt simbolizuojančių kasmetinį gamtos atsinaujinimo ciklą) keliu.The article provides the analysis of the topography of Vilnius' pagan and Christian locations mentioned in legends - the regularities of their distribution, the causes of the phenomenon and the correlation between legendary locations and the place names of the City of Vilnius and also of the city's historically justified religious and political - public centres. 26 locations of the city (14 pagan ones and 12 Christian ones) found their official mentionings in the legends of Vilnius. Notebly, most of the pagan and Christian sites coinside not only among themselves but they also coinside with the religious and historically justified political - public centres of the City of Vilnius. These are their most important sites: the Šventaragis valley (the temple of Perkūnas (God of Thunder), the Archicathedral, Lower Castle), Verkiai (the family of the High Priest Lizdeika, the temple of pagans, the church, the estate of Vilnius' bishops), Rasos (the place of celebrating the summer solstice, the most important cemetery of the City of Vilnius), the Church of St. Johns (the parish church of the City of Vilnius, the old market-place, the university), the Castle Hill (Pagan Temple, Upper Castle, St. Martin's Church), Šnipiškės (mythological stones, Vilnius' oldest bridge called the Green, St. Raphael's church, the Chapel of Jesus the Nazareth), Aušros Gate and the surroundings (the Holy pagan grove, three Martyrs of Vilnius, the picture of St. Mary at the Aušros Gate). All of these locations are situated in the north-southern direction along one of Lithuania's oldest former trade roads that connected the river Dauguva (and, perhaps, Pskov and Novgorod) with the areas of the Baits, with Kiew, further in the south, and with the other Russian duchies. Undoubtedly, the significance of this road (similarly of the roads leading to Polock, Gardin, Kaunas) is extraordinarily great to the foundation of the city of Vilnius, to the city's urban structure and to the sacred topography (both actual and legendary). However, with the emergence of the network of the temples the trade road was converted into a route of the annual processions of pilgrims that took place during Whitsunday and may have been the symbol of the celebration of nature's (also of the participants of the procession) annual rebirth. The article aims at searching for a lines system in the capital of Lithuania Vilnius. The subject was determined both by the plentiful published folk materials and the fact that from the most ancient times Vilnius was one of the most important spiritual and political centers in the Baltic lands. Therefore the probability to find one or another system in Vilnius is quite big. The article utilizes the legends of Vilnius, collected by V. Zahorskis, materials on the mythological places, which existed on the territory of the city, provided by other sources and the lists of place-names of Vilnius. The author does not examine the reliability and substantiation of the historical events, persons and other information described in the legends. Instead he chooses the very fact of existence of the legend and the relations with the specific geographical environment as the subject for his study. The author comprehends the large probability of deviation from the truth to the area of fantasy therefore he suggests viewing the provided statements as hypothetical. The Pagan and Christian sacral locations, mentioned in Vilnius legends coincide with the religious, political and social centers of the city, evidenced in the written sources. Most legendary and real religious, political and social centers of Vilnius city are to the North and to the South of Verkiai to Rasos. Several are located along the direction of Antakalnis and Vilkpėdė. The trade routes and the urban structure of the city, determined by the trade routes crucially influenced the shaping of sacral (legendary and real) topography of Vilnius. Later the North – South trade route became the path for pilgrim processions (which might have symbolized the annual nature revitalization cycle)