Baroque bestseller: a collection of lyrics by Motiejus Kazimieras Sarbievijus

The Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania has proclaimed 2025 the Year of Motiejus Kazimieras Sarbievijus and the Baroque Literature. On this occasion, the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania has planned a series of events for its visitors: five exhibitions of a single exhibit and two events. The objects of the single exhibit exhibitions that are the books printed or written in Lithuania in the first half of the 17th and 18th centuries, will reveal what the ordinary person of Baroque Lithuania read, how they lived and what they believed in.

The first exhibition of the series of a single exhibit exhibition presents the Jesuit poet, literary theorist and preacher Motiejus Kazimieras Sarbievijus (1595-1640). In the 17th century, he was known in the entire Europe as one of the most famous poets writing in Latin, and because he drew heavily on the work of the ancient Roman poet Horace, he was called the ‘Horace of the Sarmatians’ and the ‘Horace of the Christians’.

Sarbievijus’ poetry collection ‘Three Books of Lyrics’ is the subject of the first single exhibit exhibition, which can be visited from 24 March to 18 May. The exhibition will be held at the National Library’s 3rd floor atrium, in the space next to the stained glass window.

In his poetry, Sarbievijus combined the motifs and images of Horace’s work with biblical imagery and the human experience of the Baroque period. Antiquity, the Bible and the reality of 17th century Lithuania and Europe were the most important sources of his poetry. Sarbievijus’ first collection of poetry, ‘Lyricorum libri tres’ (‘Three Books of Lyrics’), was published in 1625. It was published in Cologne, Germany, and became extremely popular, a kind of bestseller of the time. It was republished four times during the poet’s lifetime: in Vilnius in 1628, and in Antwerp (Belgium) in 1630, 1632 and 1634.

The exhibition presents an exceptional edition of Sarbievijus’ poetry collection, which brought him European fame. This is the poetry collection ‘Lyricorum libri IV’ (‘Four Books of Lyrics’), published in Antwerp in 1632 at the Plantin-Moretus printing house, one of the most famous printers in Europe at the time. The title page is decorated with an illustration by the famous Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), a friend of the Plantin-Moretus press, and engraved by the Antwerp engraver Cornelio Galle (1576-1650).

Sarbievijus’ poetry continued to have an impact in later centuries. From his death until the end of the 18th century, the poet’s collections of lyrics were reprinted more than 50 times, and his poetry was translated into English, German, French, Italian, Czech, Polish and Lithuanian, and imitated by many poets of the 17th and 18th centuries.