Announcing the discoveries on 6 January at the Church Heritage Museum, the Archbishop of Vilnius Gintaras Grušas said the treasures were found 16 December and include, among others, the crown of Alexander Jagiellon, Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland; the crown, chain, medallion, ring and coffin plaque of Elizabeth of Austria, Queen Consort of Poland and Grand Duchess Consort of Lithuania; the crown, orb, sceptre, three rings, chain and two coffin plaques of Barbara Radziwiłł, Queen Consort of Poland and Grand Duchess Consort of Lithuania.
The crypt of the monarchs was first discovered in the autumn of 1931, during repairs after a massive flood damaged the cathedral.
With the outbreak of the Second World War and the closure of the cathedral, the clergy walled up precious liturgical vessels in a niche in one of the staircases and hid the royal insignia separately in the crypts.
After the war, the Soviet authorities closed the cathedral and turned it into a picture gallery.
During repairs in 1985, researchers discovered the hiding place of the liturgical vessels when they found discrepancies between the pre-war and contemporary plans. They kept the valuables hidden, for fear that the Soviet authorities would confiscate them. Only a tight circle of people knew the place, which was finally rediscovered in 1999.
“Both the liturgical vessels and the royal insignia have been found wrapped in the newspapers dated 7 September 1939, which means that both parts of the treasury were hidden virtually at the same time, during the first days of war,” said Vydas Dolinskas, director of the National Museum-Palace of the Grand Dukes.
Celebrations of the discovery were tinged by controversy regarding the authorship of discovery. Saulius Poderis, an historian and art restorer, claimed that he had found the location of insignia almost a decade ago and reported it to Church officials and the Department of the Cultural Heritage, who ignored him.
Only archdiocesan officials and museum representatives were present at the announcement. A Church official said Mr Poderis was not among the speakers because they refuse to deal with the persons of dubious reputation.
In 2015, Poderis was convicted for purchasing artefacts obtained by “black archaeology”, the looting of the ancient burial places. Poderis called his exclusion “an intellectual theft”.
This escalated into a public outcry and criticism of the Church. It was suggested that the Archdiocese of Vilnius had refused an offer from the Lithuanian Institute of History to conduct a scientific scan the premises.
The head of the Department of Cultural Heritage, speaking on the Lithuanian National Radio, said that the archdiocese was obliged to inform the department about the discovery, but the insignia were extracted from the crypt without authorised heritage experts present.
On 8 January, the archdiocese publicly admitted it may have violated obligatory procedures in opening of the vault and removing the insignia, which now await cleaning and restoration before going on public display.