On May 23, the National Museum of Lithuania invites visitors to the European Museum Night — one of the largest cultural initiatives in Europe, during which museums open their doors at unusual hours and encourage people to experience history, art, and heritage in new ways.
This year’s Museum Night program at the National Museum of Lithuania’s branches will feature evening tours, concerts, educational activities, immersive performances, scent tastings, interactive games, and exhibitions. Events will take place in Vilnius and other Lithuanian cities, and most of them will be free of charge.
At Gediminas Castle Tower, families will be invited to take part in the educational game “Mission: The Iron Wolf,” where history will turn into a live adventure filled with tasks, clues, and a secret code. In the evening, short guided tours titled “Stories from the Past” will introduce visitors to the history of Vilnius’ founding, the legend of Gediminas’ letter, and the secrets of the Upper Castle.
At the House of the Castle Keeper, Museum Night will unfold through sensory experiences and unexpected stories. Visitors will be able to explore the olfactory exhibition “Liturgical Scents of Lithuanian Faiths,” participate in scent tastings with educator Toma Vyšniauskienė, and join a tour about the history of witchcraft in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. A new historical comic book about the castle keeper Petras and his journeys through different eras will also be presented.
At the House of Histories, visitors can enjoy tours of the ethnography storage exhibition “Surrounded by Spirits,” discover the culture of the Ainu people of northern Japan, attend a concert, and join exhibition tours exploring how Lithuania shaped its self-image at world exhibitions and the work of the world-famous Ainu researcher Bronisław Piłsudski.
At the Bastion of the Vilnius Defensive Wall, visitors will be able to try archery in the activity “Arrow Through Time,” while children are invited to join the solidarity initiative “High Five for Ukraine.”
At the Kazys Varnelis House-Museum, guided tours of the exhibition “The Book Dragon” will reveal the beauty of books, the traditions of small-scale graphic art, and the process of bookmaking.
Museum Night events will also take place at other branches of the National Museum of Lithuania — the Old Arsenal, the Jonas Šliūpas Museum in Palanga, the Vincas Kudirka Museum, and the Birthplace of Jonas Basanavičius. Visitors there can expect archaeological tours, performances, concerts, audiovisual installations, and educational activities for the whole family.
This year, many other Lithuanian museums and cultural institutions are also joining Museum Night — from the Palace of the Grand Dukes and the Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights to the Vilnius Museum, the Lithuanian Museum of Theatre, Music and Cinema, the Money Museum of the Bank of Lithuania, branches of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art, and the Vilna Gaon Museum of Jewish History. Visitors can look forward to concerts, silent film screenings, tours of historic cellars, performances, interactive games, creative workshops, and special one-night-only experiences.
European Museum Night has been organized since 2005 by the French Ministry of Culture together with the International Council of Museums (ICOM), under the patronage of UNESCO and the Council of Europe. In Lithuania, the initiative is coordinated by the Lithuanian National Committee of ICOM and the Lithuanian Museums Association.
The full National Museum of Lithuania program:
National Museum of Lithuania program
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