SUMMARY:

Every nation is susceptible to the influence of stereotypes produced within its own unique historical memory. These stereotypes not only demonstrate the outward attitudes of one particular people toward other nations or historical partners, but also determine the way a nation perceives itself, that is, its own self-assessment, affecting profoundly the national psychological image.
The article discusses the evolution of historical memory about the Grand Dutchy of Lithuania and basic historical stereotypes in the Lithuanian national consciousness. In chronological order, the author overviews the two-hundred-year history of the making of the Lithuanian nation and points at a transfer of old stereotypes of historical memory about the vanished glorious past of the mighty Grand Dutchy, inherited from the times of the estate-based Lithuanian polity. The article reveals new peculiarities and motives within the historical memory of Lithuanians, which are typical only for stereotypical perceptions prevailing in the twentieth century. New tendencies in stereotypization, that is, the production of new stereotypes and the downplay of previous ones, are also briefly touched upon.
The facts presented by the author give one the right to suppose that historical memory of the once-mighty Grand Dutchy has been a permanent determining, if not decisive, factor in forging a new Lithuanian national identity. In many cases, the image of the old mighty state and its rulers has been consciously used for the purpose of consolidating the nation and has served as a symbol worth imitating for Lithuanian politicians and public figures in modern history.