Lithuania National Museum

If you wish to learn more about history of Lithuania, to study the mode of life of Lithuanians during different epochs, to see unique archeological findings then you necessarily should visit The National Museum of Lithuania. It was founded in far 1855 by the researcher of Lithuanian culture Tyshkevich who studied the mode of life and history of Lithuania during many years.

The museum is very popular not only among tourists, but also among the townspeople. Today it is in the territory of the capital of Lithuania, Vilnius, though it was transported here only in 1967 and was opened for the first visitors equal in a year. Before this the most part of exhibits was taken out to Moscow in 1863, the other part was in one of Vilnius libraries.

The leader in the Lithuanian national movement Jonas Basanavičius was engaged in the restoration of the museum in 1919. He started to collect the future collection of the museum. But he could not carry out the opening of a cultural monument of the country because of the occupation of Vilnius by Poles. And later Basanavičius work was continued and finished by the historian and museum worker Zhilenas. Earlier the museum had another name: «The Lithuanian Museum of History and Ethnography ». But after this it was renamed into « The National Museum of Lithuania».

All the collection of the museum is divided and has 5 unique departments: archeology, history, numismatics, iconography and ethnography. There’re more than 800000 exhibits in the museum. These are various pictures, icons, utensils, and instruments of work, attires, medals, clothes, various coins, weapon, documents and many other things. In this museum it is possible to observe the history of Lithuania, beginning from derivation of the Great Lithuanian Princedom prior to the beginning of the Second World War: customs and traditions, the way of life of Lithuanians, which you can get to know in the ethnographic department of the museum. The National Museum of Lithuania is unique. The uniqueness consists in that all the exhibits of the museum are original.

The personnel of a museum are very friendly. Guides will tell you with pleasure about the history and culture of Lithuania, and the exhibits of the museum will help you to imagine the picture of the last years.