Over 10 prominent Lithuanian citizens get Polish state awards

VILNIUS - Polish President Andrzej Duda has granted high state awards to more than ten Lithuanian citizens for their merits in developing Polish-Lithuanian cultural, scientific and media cooperation and activities for the benefit of the Polish community in Lithuania.

Among those awarded are prominent literary critics, including the new Culture Minister Mindaugas Kvietkauskas, museum workers, journalists and translators.

The late Professor Algis Kaleda, one of the founders of the Center for Polish Studies at Vilnius University, was posthumously awarded with the Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, and Romualdas Budrys, director of the Lithuanian Art Museum, received the Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland.

Other award recipients include Kestutis Kuizinas, director of the Contemporary Art Centre in Vilnius, Markas Zingeris, director of the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum, Ieva Sadzeviciene, director of Samuel Bak Museum, Lolita Jablonskiene, director of the National Gallery of Art, and Arvydas Zalpys, director of the Meno Parkas gallery in Kaunas.  

Poland's state awards will also be presented to Polish literature translators Irena Aleksaite, Kazys Uscila and Vyturys Jarutis, and Jan Wierbel, editor of the Wilnoteka online portal and television, and others.  

Kvietkauskas, the new culture minister, was awarded as a literary critic for his contribution to developing cultural cooperation between the two nations and popularizing Polish culture and literature.

The awards ceremony will take place at the Polish embassy in Vilnius on January 22.