Rumšiškės

travelling by car from Kaunas. It is a park of the national culture of Lithuania, where on the territory of 150 hectares tourists can see the traditional country life of the Lithuanians at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries.

RumšiškÄ—s is very much alike the other museums of this kind, for example, Pirogovo in the Ukraine and the so called scanzens (i.e. museums of national way of life and handicrafts) in Poland and Slovakia. But the likeness is only in the idea of the exposition. All the exhibits of the RumšiškÄ—s museum are the unique things of the old time and traditions of the Lithuanian people. RumšiškÄ—s is a place, where the national color is concentrated.

There are more than 140 constructions in RumšiškÄ—s, which were used for different purposes by the Lithuanian peasants. The buildings and all the things in them were brought into RumšiškÄ—s from all over the Lithuania. Nowadays the main historical regions are represented on the territory of the museum. They are Samogitia , Aukstajtia, Suvalkija and Dzukija. Any visitor of the museum can become a Lithuanian craftsman (or craftswoman) for some time. You may learn weaving, turn a potter’s wheel and cut out toys made of wood. RumšiškÄ—s is a nice place to buy national Lithuanian souvenirs, such as dolls, kerchiefs and embroideries. Sometimes you can buy souvenirs cheaper in RumšiškÄ—s than in Vilnius and in Kaunas.

The exhibitions of folk arts are held in RumšiškÄ—s regularly. Different kinds of festivals, fairs and outdoor gatherings are held there as well. Tourists have a nice opportunity to listen to the national Lithuanian ensembles and to take part in public holidays. There is a tavern there, where you can taste dishes of the national cuisine.

The first guests visited the museum in 1974. Since then thousands of tourists all over the world have visited it. Nowadays RumšiškÄ—s is one of the best museums of the traditional Baltic ethnography of the last century. The excursion round the museum can take the whole day, the route is about 6 km. If you do not want to walk you may go round the museum by carriage.