Valerija Čiurlionytė-Karužienė (1886-1982) - a museologist, Lithuanian cultural activist - was the sister of the famous M. K. Čiurlionis, her main merits include the protection of her brother's paintings from destruction, and the establishment of the M. K. Čiurlionis House-Museum in Druskininkai.

"Valė is a great girl, physically well-grown - like Hercules, almost always cheerful, but if she gets angry or stubborn, she cannot be calmed down, although it is very rare. She also plays [the piano], but not so zealously..." (From a letter to brother Povilas, 2 November-December 1909. Čiurlionis M.K. On Music and Art. Vilnius, 1960. P. 254)"

She finished a primary school in Vilnius, where she lived with his sister Marija. She learned art and music from her brother Konstantinas, her father and her mother. Brother Stasys taught her secondary school subjects.

In 1911, after the death of M.K. Čiurlionis, she went to Kaunas to help Sofija Kymantaitė-Čiurlionienė raise her daughter Danutė.

In 1914 she went to St. Petersburg to study, but had to return because two of her brothers were wounded in the war and the family was preparing to retreat to Moscow with war refugees.

In 1915, she refused to evacuate Vilnius without first taking care of her brother's paintings - as the front was approaching Vilnius, urged by J. Basanavičius, V. Čiurlionytė-Karužienė, together with S. Kairis, prepared the paintings for evacuation by loading them into a wagon provided by S. Kairis. The paintings successfully made their way to Moscow, where they remained until their return to Lithuania in 1920. V. Čiurlionytė-Karužienė laid the foundations for their return - she asked the Soviet Russian government for permission to return the paintings to Lithuania. She also approached the then dictator Lenin, who allowed the paintings to be brought back to Lithuania when the opportunity arose.

V. Čiurlionytė-Karužienė worked as Head of the Archives at the Office of the President of Lithuania, as Secretary of the Archaeological Commission, and, after the death of T. Daugirdas, she worked as Head of the Archaeological Commission's desk, went on trips, and registered the estates of the manors. She married R. Karuža, travelled to America and Germany, and while living there, at the request of the director of the M. K. Čiurlionies Gallery, I. Šlapelis, she searched for a restorer for the Gallery. Karužos, together with Povilas and Stasys Čiurlionis, financed the photography of M. K. Čiurlionis's musical manuscripts (photographed by B. Sausanavičius) in 1921.

During the Second World War, she stayed in Kaunas, and after the war she was the one who looked for a way to free the paintings of M. K. Čiurlionis from the vault of the Bank of Lithuania (the Nazis took the keys when they left). She devoted her whole life to protecting her brother's paintings: she defended him in the 1950 ideological court (it was debated whether Čiurlionis could be exhibited), and she founded the M. K. Čiurlionis House-Museum in Druskininkai (the first house was opened in 1963.) It was only thanks to her persistence that the M. K. Čiurlionis Gallery, an annex to the museum, was built in 1969 to exhibit M. K. Čiurlionis' paintings (and to ensure that they had the right conditions to prevent them from fading). After the gallery was built, V. Čiurlionytė-Karužienė also took care of the restoration of the paintings, which was finally put into motion in 1971, when V. Karužienė, together with J. Čiurlionyte, E. Balsis, J. Kuzminskas, A. Sidorovas, and F. Rozineris, wrote an article entitled "To Save the Colours of Čiurlionis," which called for the creation of facsimile reproductions and the restoration of the original works. This article was followed by the initiation of a commission to investigate the condition of Čiurlionis's works, with the participation of the Ministry of Culture, the authors of the restoration workshop of the LSSR State Art Museum and guests. The restoration of the works began little by little, which made it possible to preserve the artist's legacy. As for the contribution of V. Čiurlionytė-Karužienė to history, it can be summed up in the words of Rymantė Šerkšnytė, a student of J. Čiurlionytė and a music teacher - "Fate has given Lithuania the genius M. K. Čiurlionis' art, and to protect and cherish it, it has given Lithuania two faithful sisters - Valerija and Jadvyga" (Šerkšnytė, R. Mano mokytoja, Jadvyga Čiurlionytė, p. 416-419).

Valerija Čiurlionytė - Karužienė

Valerija Čiurlionytė - Karužienė