National Museum of Lithuania Opens Its Doors Free of Charge on the Last Sunday of September

National Museum of Lithuania Opens Its Doors Free of Charge on the Last Sunday of September 2026 09 25 On Sunday, 27 September, the National Museum of Lithuania (NML) invites visitors to enjoy free admission to its branches in Vilnius, Palanga, Ožkabaliai and Kudirkos Naumiestis. Visitors will have a chance to discover newly opened exhibitions, catch others before they close, and explore a wide range of stories, objects and experiences across the Museum. Journeys Through the Past and the Future at Kosciuškos St 3 The House of Histories is home to an exceptional ethnographic collection storage exhibition – the only place of its kind in Lithuania where visitors can see such a rich and diverse collection reflecting the identity and everyday lives of Lithuanians who lived 200 years ago and earlier. Free 30-minute guided visits will be available from 10 AM to 6 PM, with registration at the House of Histories every half hour. Also on view is the recently opened exhibition “Shaping the Future: A History of Lithuanian High Tech”, which offers an engaging and playful look at the achievements of Lithuanian scientists – from biotechnology and lasers to space research. At the heart of the exhibition are people who were, and continue to be, able to imagine the future. Their choices, mistakes and achievements helped Lithuania become a visible player on the global map of science and technology. Visitors will encounter the stories not only of scientists, but also of patrons, while the exhibition narrative stretches from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to the present day. Younger visitors can explore a room dedicated to Lithuanian video games or test their skills in a playful laser duel. On 27 September, tickets to the exhibition will be available at a 50% discount. The Frequency of Lithuania’s Struggles for Freedom at Gediminas Castle Tower Uprisings, the Wars of Independence, partisan resistance, the dissident movement, the National Revival and the events of January 1991 come together at Gediminas Castle Tower in the new exposition “Frequency of Freedom”. Rather than presenting Lithuania’s struggles for freedom simply as a chronological sequence, the exposition explores a recurring choice: to resist, to take responsibility and to act together. After visiting the exposition, visitors are also invited to meet Davide Rivalta’s bronze sculpture “Wolf” and look out over Vilnius from Gediminas Hill. Perhaps, like the legendary founder of the capital, you too will be inspired by a prophetic dream. How Do We Understand Lithuania? Located at Arsenalo St 1, the Castellan’s House is one of the National Museum of Lithuania’s most remarkable branches. The 16th-century building is among the oldest and best-preserved structures in the historic Vilnius Castle complex. The castellan appointed by the ruler of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was responsible for construction works, castles and royal residences, leased mills and land, collected taxes and settled disputes among people living within the castle estate. Today, everyone is welcome to enter the building and explore the permanent exhibition “Understanding Lithuania”. Lithuanian history is presented through six themes: creativity, beliefs, struggles, historical turning points, global connections and faces. Each theme unfolds in a separate gallery, highlighting key events and phenomena from the earliest periods to the present day. Sustainability Is Not Just a Contemporary Trend Today, we can choose whether to repair, reuse or repurpose the objects around us. In the past, however, when resources were limited, doing so was often a necessity rather than a choice. At the Old Arsenal, Arsenalo St 3, the archaeology exhibition “Reusable” invites visitors to consider sustainability as part of everyday life in prehistoric communities. Archaeological finds reveal how people creatively extended the lifespan of objects – repairing them, adapting them and sometimes giving them entirely new functions. Discover Lithuania’s Indiana Jones Indiana Jones is known around the world as the charismatic archaeologist of Hollywood adventure films. But visitors entering the Gallery at the House of Signatories, Pilies St 26, may be surprised to discover Lithuania’s own counterpart: Jonas Basanavičius. Sunday, 27 September, is the last opportunity to see the exhibition “The Unknown Jonas Basanavičius: The Lithuanian Indiana Jones”, created by archaeology Master’s students from the Faculty of History at Vilnius University. The exhibition reveals a lesser-known side of Jonas Basanavičius and his archaeological and anthropological interests. His personality is presented through personal belongings, while his scholarly curiosity and persistence are reflected in archaeological finds and a collection of skulls gathered from ancient burial grounds. Comics Were a Medieval Thing Too Believe it or not, people in the late Middle Ages had their own version of comics – not printed on paper and bound into books, but fired into ceramic stove tiles. At the Bastion of the Vilnius Defence Wall, Bokšto St 20, visitors can explore the exhibition “Medieval Comics”. The decorated tiles feature scenes that could be “read” much like comics today: coats of arms, episodes from the lives of saints, fantastic creatures and animals, moral allegories, hunting scenes, knightly tournaments, music-making and other glimpses of courtly life. The exhibition opens a window onto the fantastic and magical world of the late Middle Ages, revealing how symbols and creatures born in the imagination centuries ago remain part of our visual culture today. The Final Pages of Two Book Exhibitions A very special dragon named Ugnius has been living at the Kazys Varnelis House-Museum since spring as part of the exhibition “Book Dragon. A Fantastic Story About the Beauty of Books.” Sunday, 27 September, is the last chance to meet the exhibition’s character, learn about the art of bookmaking, try a printing press and explore its interactive stations. Visitors should also make time for “Book Art: The Most Beautiful Books of Lithuania and the Czech Republic”, which also closes this Sunday. The exhibition presents 46 award-winning titles from the 2024 Czech Most Beautiful Books competition alongside 21 publications recognised in Lithuania’s 2025 Book Art Competition. At 11 AM, 12 PM and 2 PM, visitors can also join the free 45-minute guided tour “The Rhythm of Rhythms: The Optical World of Kazys Varnelis.” The tour introduces the optical world created by the artist and collector – full of visual games, theatrical mises-en-scène and unexpected transformations of space. Advance registration is required by phone at (0-5) 279 1644 or by email: [email protected]. Tapestries and Partisan Experiences in Palanga A tapestry may be defined simply as a handwoven wall hanging, but at the Jonas Šliūpas Museum in Palanga, visitors can experience the medium as a powerful form of contemporary art. The exhibition “Marija Švažienė: Tapestries and Paintings” introduces the work of one of Lithuania’s most distinctive textile artists. From the beginning of her career, Švažienė challenged conventional tapestry traditions, giving the medium a dynamic and spatial form of expression. The Jonas Šliūpas Museum also invites visitors to literally step into the shoes of Lithuania’s partisan fighters. The sensory exhibition “In the Shoes of Lithuanian Partisans…”, designed for blind and sighted visitors alike, tells stories of the partisan resistance through smell, sound, sight and touch. Twelve historically reconstructed artefacts are presented in the exhibition and can be touched, tried on or even worn. A Burst of Contemporary Art in Ožkabaliai This year marks the 175th anniversary of the birth of Jonas Basanavičius. At his birthplace in Ožkabaliai, his personality and ideas are being reconsidered through the language of contemporary art. At Gimtinės St 17, visitors can experience the audiovisual installation “Es humanus” .Combining textiles, kinetic projections and music, the interdisciplinary work creates a bridge between tradition, history and contemporary artistic practice. The Jonas Basanavičius Birthplace also features sculptor and writer Mykolas Sauka’s three-metre-high work “Wayside Shrine”, depicting a child holding a mask. The motif raises questions about identity, self-knowledge and the roles individuals assume within a community. Visitors should also see the exhibition “A Fighter on the Move”, which presents Jonas Basanavičius as a courageous organiser of the Lithuanian National Revival, a cultural and scholarly figure with extensive international connections, as well as an empathetic and caring physician. The exhibition includes personal objects that have never previously been displayed. Also open are the outdoor exhibition “From the Beehive”, the film pavilion “Ožkabaliai Oak Grove”, and, for the youngest visitors, the “Talking Oaks” playroom. In Search of a Lost Town On the last Sunday of September, the Vincas Kudirka Museum will invite visitors to search for a town that disappeared from the map – Schirwindt. The exhibition “I Wanted to Go Home, to Schirwindt. In Search of a Destroyed Town”, at V. Kudirkos St 29 in Kudirkos Naumiestis, tells the story of what was once Germany’s easternmost town and was often referred to as the twin town of Kudirkos Naumiestis. The exhibition features old German tableware, household objects, tools and other items from the collection of Antanas and Irena Spranaitis. The collection was assembled over many years as the couple travelled through the Kaliningrad region during the Soviet period, exploring the former territories of East Prussia and preserving surviving objects connected with their history. Visitors can also explore the outdoor exhibition “Dust of Red Bricks: The History of Kudirkos Naumiestis and Širvintos”, which traces the history of two border towns that existed side by side for more than 300 years. The red clay bricks refer symbolically to a brick road laid across the fields of Miestlaukis during the Second World War, leading towards Schirwindt. At 1 PM, visitors are also invited to join a guided tour of Kudirkos Naumiestis. The town offers stories where different eras, borders and people intersect, as well as unexpected examples of interwar modernist architecture rarely associated with a small Lithuanian town. Museum guides will help visitors discover it all with fresh eyes. For more information and guided tour tickets, please click here. For more information about the exhibitions, please click here.