“Recently, the last sketches by N. K. Roerich appeared on a permanent exhibition at the Society for the Encouragement of Arts.

The artist spent part of the past summer to travel to western and central Russia, having visited Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod, Yuriev-Polsky, Vladimir, Suzdal, Rostov the Great, Smolensk, Vilna, Trakai, Grodno, Kovno, Merech, Riga, Wenden, Pechory, Izborsk and Pskov. The aim of this trip was to bring to the canvas the monuments of ancient architecture, partly collapsing or already collapsed. N.K. Roerich was helped by his wife, who worked as a photographer.

...But here we are at the border of the Russian land. In some pictures, there are images of Vilna, Trakai, Merech, Riga, Wenden passing before our eyes; here are the castles of Gediminas and Kestutis with preserved fresco paintings – castles that are reminiscent of the times when Lithuania was independent, when it was so close to Russia and Russian influence. And here are the catholic monasteries in Kovno, in the Jesuit style, a witnesses of the later times, when the Russian influence was replaced by the Polish Catholic one. The beautiful facade of the church in Kovno (now a dwelling house) features completely the same design as the church of Saint Anna in Vilna, about which Napoleon said that he would be happy to bring it in the palm of his hand to Paris.”

(N.K. Roerich and his Recent Sketches. Rus’. 1904. January 8/21. No. 27.)