The first woman photographer in Lithuania.
Born in 1865 in the family of Mečislovas Angelo Candida and Sofija Griškevičiūtė Mongirdas, noblemen of Kaunas province, Raseiniai county. Around 1885 the family moved to Palanga, where they bought a plot of land with several houses.
Paulina was an educated noblewoman, knew several foreign languages, liked drawing. She drew colour miniatures of Palanga, which she used for the album "Polonga Bains de mer" ("Palanga Sea Bathers") around 1892. Interested in photography, she studied photography in Warsaw. From there she brought photographic equipment to Palanga and started taking photographs around 1888, and in 1892 she opened a photography atelier in her home near the old pharmacy in Palanga. Her first photographs were stamped "Fotografija P. Mongird. Polangen" (in Cyrillic script) or "Wadwicz Mongird Polangen" (in Polish).
P. Mongird took photographs of Palanga, its beautiful nature and seaside. Holidaymakers eagerly bought her photographs, which were also published in the Polish press. In addition to images of Palanga, in 1912-1914 she published postcards with images of the Kretinga market square, the Kretinga crossing point of the Russian-German border and other images.
Her skills were recognised by the Counts of Tiškevičiai, who invited her to take photographs of their family members, and commissioned her to prepare albums of images of Palanga and the manor of Kretinga.
An active woman photographer was a rarity at the turn of the 20th century.
