Jurgis Pliateris

Graf Jurgis Konstantinas Broel Pliateris (; 1810–1836) was a bibliographer and researcher of the Lithuanian language and literature. He was an activist of the early stages of the Lithuanian National Revival. A member of the nobility, Pliateris received his liberal arts and literature education at Vilnius University. He visited various archives, including those in Königsberg, East Prussia, researching Lithuanian language and literature. He collaborated with several researchers, including Simonas Stanevičius whom he employed as his secretary and librarian and professor Ludwig Rhesa. Pliateris wrote several studies, but many were unfinished and none were published due to his early death. His key surviving work in an unfinished bibliographical study of Lithuanian books published to date. He also collected various historical artifacts and amassed a personal library of about 3,000 volumes. It included some old and rare books and manuscripts, but many items were lost and remaining few were dispersed among various libraries and collections. Biography Pliateris was a member of the Plater family, a Polonized noble family from the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania. His parents were graf Jurgis Pliateris (1780–1825) and duchess Karolina Giedraitytė (1770–1820). His mother, a relative of Bishop , was from the Giedroyć family. The family had thirteen children (six sons and seven daughters). Ten children survived to adulthood and all sons received university education. A copy of his baptismal record located in 2012 recorded his full given name as Jurgis Jonas Vincentas, not as Jurgis Konstantinas which is cited in literature about him. The baptismal record also revealed that Pliateris was born in Memel (Klaipėda) which was then part of East Prussia and not in his family's estate in or near Švėkšna as previously assumed. Likely, the family searched for better medical care in Memel. He received basic education from tutors in the family estate at Švėkšna Manor. In 1820, he enrolled in the Kražiai College where Simonas Stanevičius became his teacher. A year later he transferred to the Vilnius Gymnasium and graduated in 1825. He then studied literature and liberal arts at Vilnius University. His professors included Joachim Lelewel and . Graduating in 1828 at only 18 years of age, he started independent research on the Lithuanian language and literature. Pliateris inherited about of land with a manor in from his parents and started organizing his library there.