This photograph, taken before 1939, shows a fragment of the central entrance portal of the Lentvaris manor palace: above the arch of the door is a cast relief of a kneeling armoured knight holding a banner and a heraldic shield bearing a lion, surrounded by a foliage-carved archivolt. Published in: LCVA (Lithuanian Central State Archives), PRI photo card catalogue, negative inventory card No. 13539/7.
This particular relief has not survived to the present day — this old photograph is the only known image of it. A similar knight motif above the same door is faintly visible in another photograph in this exhibition, taken with the palace already abandoned. The knight theme was a favourite in the palace's decoration generally: a bust of King Jan Sobieski (also shown in this exhibition) stood above the side entrance, and a complete statue of an armoured knight once stood in a round flowerbed to the right of the palace — it, too, did not survive.
The animation brings out details that are barely visible in this old, faded photograph and adds colour — letting you clearly see, for the first time, how this lost relief actually looked.