This postcard is one of thousands of period views of the Vilnius region sent by mail: "Ст. Ландварово – St. Landwarowo № 26. Озеро и палаццо Гр. Тышкевича – Jezioro i pałac Hr. Tyszkiewicza" (Landwarowo Station. The lake and Count Tiškevičius's palace) — captioned in three languages, as was typical for postcards of the time. Unlike the earlier images in this exhibition, the palace here has already undergone Vladislovas Tiškevičius's neo-Gothic rebuilding — with a pointed spire instead of the earlier crenellated tower top, reflected perfectly in the still lake. Published in: Keršytė, D. Vilniaus vaizdų atvirukai 1897–1915.
1897–1915 was a golden age for postcards of the Vilnius region: over 4,000 different postcards appeared during this period, from more than 120 publishers, based on around 1,200 photographs taken by photographers such as Józef Czechowicz, Jan Bułhak, and others. The period began with the first known postally used postcard (postmarked 1897) and ended in September 1915, when the German imperial army entered Vilnius — the First World War brought this thriving industry to a halt. From 1862, Lentvaris had the highest-class station on the Saint Petersburg–Warsaw railway — the first railway line on the territory of present-day Lithuania — complete with special halls and apartments reserved for the tsar. Travellers passing through would see the impressive palace across the lake right from the station — and could buy a postcard like this one as a souvenir of the journey.
The animation brings this old postcard to life with colour and motion — letting you see the palace as travellers of the time saw it, looking across the lake from the railway station.