Polish Archaeologist, Historian, Museum Curator. Count Eustachy Tyszkiewicz was a Polish noble with the Leliwa Coat of Arms, who is best known for his prehistoric findings in the land areas of present-day Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. During his lifetime, these areas were mainly part of the Russian Empire. Wilno, Poland of then is today’s Vilnius, the capital city of Lithuania. His pioneer research became the basic foundation of the historical study for this area of the world. In 1855, he became the founder of the Vilnius Archeological Commission followed the next year by the Museum of Antiquities in Vilnius. The opening of the Museum of Antiquities took place on April 17, 1856, which was the birthday of the Russian Emperor, Alexander II. It was a gala affair with over 300 invited guests. Although the Commission was named "archeological", it did not deal exclusively with archeology, its activities spread to other areas of science. He was an honorary member of the Archaeological Institute in Great Britain and Ireland along with the Icelandic Science Society. He was made an honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, a member of the Danish Society of Northern Antiquities, and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and Antiquities in Stockholm. He published papers with description of some ancient monuments discovered in the western parts of the Russian Empire in 1842. An entire ancient statue was unearthed and presented as a gift to the Russian Emperor. In 1846, he wrote “Letter to Sweden” Volumes I and II. In 1843, he went for training to Denmark, Finland and Sweden, to enhance his knowledge of ancient history and to know about research methods of his foreign colleagues in archeology. In 1850, he published papers on arts and crafts in former Lithuania and in 1870, history of Courland and Semigalia. He was the younger of two sons of Pius Tyszkiewicz, the marshal of Borislav dynasty. He and his brother, Konstanty Piewicz Tyszkiewicz, were noted archeologists, who were known to work alongside peasants to undercover archeological finds. His first “dig” was a pagan cemetery and another time an abandon castle ruins. During this time, about 450 proverbs and sayings were collected and recorded by him in his notes. He was the first to code Lithuanian archaeological findings by assigning each to the stone, bronze and iron ages. By 1862 the museum had already visited over 10 thousand visitors, but one year later, after the civil unrest called the January Uprising, the institution was closed because the Russian authorities recognized that even an ethnographic museum was a threat to them. Most of his collection was transferred to Russia by Mikhail Nikolayevich Muravyov when his came into office; Muravyov became notorious for his drastic measures in stamping out the Polish insurrection of 1863 in the Lithuanian provinces. The valuable pieces in his vast library disappeared. Years later, remnants of his writings and books were found scattered among the provincial libraries. Relieved of all his posts, insulted and humiliated by the Russians, he relocated in 1865 for northern city of Birzai in Lithuania. He published a study on history of Biržai in 1869. The Archaeological Commission was reopened in his lifetime and he did try to cooperate at one point with the commission, but apparently this attempt to resolve poor relations did not solve anything. He did return to Wilno, Poland before his death. After his death, his remaining items became the beginning of the National Museum of Lithuania. In honor, a street in Warsaw, Poland bears his name.