History Museum of Lithuania Minor

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Abbreviation

MLIM

Address

Didžioji Vandens g. 2, Klaipėda, LT-91246, Klaipėdos m. sav., Lietuva

Phone No

+370 464 105 23

Fax No

+370 463 121 39

E-mail

direktorius@mlimuziejus.lt; info@mlimuziejus.lt

Website

http://www.mlimuziejus.lt/

Type by theme

istorija

Institution code

190464738

Bank account number

LT54 7180 5001 1014 2206

More information

Information about the museum

History Museum of Lithuania Minor is located in Klaipėda, along the former Dangė river, where it flowed until the 17^th century. In 18^th–19^th centuries the place was one of the busiest and most picturesque streets in the city – there were taverns, bakeries, breweries, shops, various workshops. The Baroque part of the museum building is one of the oldest residential buildings in Klaipėda, with its attic roofs and modest architectural details. It was built in 1773–1774 by the post director Johann Christian Witt.

The beginning of the Museum is related to the events of 1924, when locally educated Lithuanians and Germans founded the Society of the Regional Museum of Klaipėda. The 20^th June of 1924 is regarded as the birthday of the Museum.

In 1988, the Executive Committee of Klaipėda decided to rename the Museum of Regional Ethnography of Klaipėda as the History Museum of Lithuania Minor. For several years a permanent exhibition was established there, showing the earliest history of the Klaipėda region and Lithuania Minor. Today visitors can acquaint themselves with a rich knowledge of archaeology, cartography, numismatics, and original iconographic material and documents.

The main goals of the History Museum of Lithuania Minor and its subdivisions are: to accumulate, protect, research, preserve and restore the historical cultural heritage of Klaipėda City and Lithuania Minor, to develop the historical self-awareness of people, to form Klaipėda identity, to present and promote the history of the city and the cultural heritage in the country and abroad.

Currently History Museum of Lithuania Minor has 5 subdivisions: Castle Museum, The Blacksmith’s Museum, Museum 39/45, Resistance and Deportation Exhibition, Klaipėda Sculpture Park.

Branches and units of the museum

Blacksmith Museum	Šaltkalvių g. 2, 2a, Klaipėda, LT-91246, Klaipėdos m. sav., Lietuva	Information about the branch / unit Some time after the year of 1974, Dionizas Varkalis discovered a blacksmith shop in a half-destroyed building of the Old Town in Šaltkalvių Street, that belonged to Gustav Katzke, a famous blacksmith from Klaipėda. The original equipment and tools of the old master had survived. Then the idea to restore this and one more building and to establish a permanent exhibition of blacksmith work was born. As soon as the restoration of the old blacksmith shop was completed, D. Varkalis concentrated on the renewal of blacksmithing as an occupation. He opened a temporary exhibition of crosses and fences from cemeteries. After the complete restoration of the main building in 1992, the Blacksmith Museum was opened as a branch of the History Museum of Lithuania Minor.
Castle Museum	Priešpilio g. 2, Klaipėda, LT-91240, Klaipėdos m. sav., Lietuva	Information about the branch / unit The Castle Museum was inaugurated on August 1st 2002, during the 750th anniversary celebrations of the city of Klaipėda. After several decades, the idea, cherished by the leading figures, archaeologists and historians of the city, to make the site of Klaipėda Castle accessible to everyone, became a reality. The Castle Museum is located in the Prince Friedrich chamber under the bastion, where artillery was stored in the 17th century. The Museum's exhibits show the development of Klaipėda Castle and Klaipėda City during the 13th–17th centuries. The visitor of the museum can get acquainted with layouts of the city and the castle, stamps, drawings, plans, documents, weapons and photographs of different epochs. One can also admire the original 16th century castle find in the castle site – a gold-encrusted ring. Copies of it are awarded annually to Klaipėda city Culture Masters.
Klaipėda Sculpture Park	Tarp K. Donelaičio, Liepų, Trilapio ir S. Daukanto g., Klaipėda, Klaipėdos m. sav., Lietuva	Information about the branch / unit Klaipėda Sculpture Park was established in 1977, on the site of the old city cemetery. In 1975 the Executive Committee of Klaipėda passed a decision to close down the cemetery and make a park of sculptures in its place. Architect Vytenis Mazurkevičius was among the key promoters of the idea. Residents of the city were given a choice to rebury their loved ones at the cemetery in Joniškė (opened in 1959). Klaipėda Sculpture Park is an open-air art gallery, representing the path to modernisation of the Lithuanian sculpture in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as a place of memorial sites. Many sculptors whose works are displayed at the Klaipėda Sculpture Park are either active artists or academic workers today and represent Lithuania at international art exhibitions.
Resistance and Deportation Exhibition	S. Nėries g. 4, Klaipėda, LT-92228, Klaipėdos m. sav., Lietuva	Information about the branch / unit The Resistance and Deportation Exhibition, was opened in January 2014, in the basement of the former KGB headquarters in Klaipėda. New display is the result of collaboration between the Union of Political Prisoners and Deportees, the History Museum of Lithuania Minor, and Klaipėda Territorial Customs Office. It was calculated that during the period from 1945 to 1954 at one time or another 8268 persons in total were imprisoned in this building. The exhibition introduces partisan movement in Western Lithuania during 1945–1954 and agencies which suppressed the armed anti-Soviet resistance. It also presents the topic of political prisoners and tells the story of deportees from Klaipėda region. Visitors can visit two authentic cells where prisoners were once held and recreated interrogation room. Photographs, documents, letters, and personal belongings are displayed here accompanied by video material and interviews with eye-witnesses of the events.

LIMIS - LITHUANIAN INTEGRAL MUSEUM INFORMATION SYSTEM

Museums

History Museum of Lithuania Minor

Information about the museum

Branches and units of the museum