Bored with paintings or standard sculptures and looking for something more exciting? Here you will find the most random museums in Lithuania that even locals don’t know about. They all demonstrate limitless creativity and interesting (or rather odd) ideas.
1. Atomic Bunker, Kaunas
The nuclear bunker is a unique attraction in Kaunas, founded 6 meters under the ground. Museums’ private collection is the only one of this kind in the world. It has more than 1,200 unusual functioning exhibits.
Among the most extensive range of gas masks for adults, you can also see masks for children and horses. You will be surprised about the abundance of radiation meters, civil protection devices, air horns, mobile chemical laboratories, closed-circuit breathing apparatuses, diving equipment, civil defense medical devices and instruments, electric generators, air compressors, and various portable floodlights. http://www.atominisbunkeris.lt/en/
2. Devils’ Museum (Žmuidzinavičius Museum), Kaunas
Devils’ museum was opened in 1966 by the Artist Antanas Žmuidzinavičius, and it’s the only one in the world. It houses over 3 thousand devils — works of fine and applied art, souvenirs, masks. The artworks are made and collected in Lithuania and come from 70 countries of the world. Every year, the museum is visited by thousands of tourists who are curious to see for themselves the mysterious mythological creature.
3. Toy Museum in Vilnius
The first part of the museums’ exposition is dedicated to the oldest toys in Lithuania. It’s interactive and loved by children — you can grab copies and reconstructions of the original toys out of the drawer and play.
In the second part of the museum, you can visit the exposition “Memories of the 20th-century,” where you will find many toys that are over a hundred years old.
4. Clock Museum, Klaipėda
The only Clock Museum in Eastern Europe is located in the Lithuanian port city of Klaipėda, in a 19th-century villa. When visiting the museums’ exposition, you will find that counting time is not simple. Different nations understood it in their own way — a unified system of counting time appeared only in the 19th century.
As soon as you open the museum’s door, you hear the relentless ticking of the clocks, reminding us how precious time is.
5. The Museum of Eight-wheeled Vehicle, Nemakščiai
The museum was established in honor of Pšemislovas Neveravičius, the nobleman of Nemakščiai. As a self-taught man, at the beginning of the 20th-century, he was the first in the world to develop a self-propelled eight-wheel vehicle. The museum displays 12 expositions, including the history of Nemakščiai town and Žemaičiai highway. You can also observe the restored eight-wheeled carriage or ride an eight-wheeled car by prior arrangement. www.astuonratis.lt
6. Cat Museum, Šiauliai
The unique museum collection was founded by a pharmacist Vanda Kavaliauskienė. Throughout the exhibit, you can see kitten figurines, paintings, postcards, stamps, dishes, toys, drawings, books, and even read poems about cats. The art pieces you’ll find in the museum are from all over the world: England, the US, Canada, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Cuba, African countries.
You’ll find cat pictures are everywhere you look; they are on the walls, stained glass windows, stair railings, even on the ceilings. Six real cats are living here too. The naughty cat Pearl, known as the boss of the museum, welcomes all the visitors inside and quietly observes them.
7. Museum of Antique Christmas Tree Toys, Miežiškės
In 2010, the librarian of Miežiškės town Violeta Karklytė invited the people of Miežiškės to donate antique Christmas tree toys and their attributes to the exhibition “Remembering the Christmas tree.” Now, the collection includes over 2,000 exhibits of old Christmas tree ornaments. There is no similar museum in other Baltic countries.
8. Horse Museum, Niūronys
The antique Horse Museum is located 8 km outside of Anyksciai. Horses were essential to the economy and agriculture of Lithuania, and in the museum, you will learn why. Visitors can ride a horse or use a horse carriage to ride around the streets.
9. Hammer Museum, Linkmenys
The Hammers Museum in Linkmenys is the third-largest hammer exposition in the world that organizes tours to explore a set of 500 hammers and other exhibits. This collection is continually updated, and the hammers come from different corners of the world, including Morocco, Kenya, Portugal, Alaska, among many others. Each tool has its own story; for example, a special hammer specifically made to crush crab shells.
10. Baltic Circus Clown Museum, Kaunas
The museum displays the biggest collection of clowns in Europe, containing about 2000 different clowns: large and small, cheerful and sad, knitted, sewn, wooden, ceramic, even silver! Visitors may also familiarise themselves with the history and the facts of the Lithuanian circus, watch the authentic exhibits that reveal the spirit of the circus, i.e., artists’ personal belongings, costumes, playbills, programs, original photographs, etc. A journey to the miraculous world of circuses will be exciting to both children and adults.
11. Reinforced Concrete Sculpture Museum and Fairytale House “Dragon Jungle,” Kuktiškės
Levutė Meškauskienė and her family started creating this museum in her homestead in 2000. Over 16 years, various sculptures have been carved from reinforced concrete: animals (horse, deer, crocodile, lion, bear, eagle, hawk, owl, swan, frog, hedgehog, dog, etc.). There are more than 70 art pieces in the museum.
In the courtyard of the museum stands a reconstructed outbuilding called the fairy house “Dragon Jungle.” Everything inside and is made of concrete: various animals and images on the walls, handmade floor tiles, and chandeliers.
12. Kaunas Museum for the Blind
The Kaunas Museum for the Blind opened in 2005 in the catacombs underneath St. Michael the Archangel Church. It was the first museum for the blind in the Baltic States and one of the first in Eastern Europe.
The exposition is invisible and felt through the senses of sound, touch, and smell. You walk through hanging objects, elastic bands, spaces where you hear sounds, smell scents, and touch objects with fingers. Museums’ information is provided to visitors in both Braille and ordinary language.
13. Lithuanian Museum of Ethnocosmology, Kulionys
A sky observatory and ethnocosmology museum in Kulionys village are located about 70 kilometers north of Vilnius. The Lithuanian Museum of Ethnocosmology is the first and the only museum of such character in the world. The essence of the institution is the relationship of a man and humankind with the Cosmic World.
14. Teapot Gallery, Biržai
In the gallery, you can found the world of tea. There is an impressive collection of teapots, which you can observe while drinking a cup of tea in the house, and on the second floor of the building, you can book a room in a hotel that even has teapot lamps.
15. The Tree Cake Museum, Druskininkai
The first and only one of this kind in the world: in The Tree Cake Museum, you can see a unique tree cake included in Guinness World Records. The tree cake is 3 m 72 cm tall, and this giant weighs almost 86 kilos.
The Tree Cake Museum is the only place in Lithuania where you can taste a tree cake baked by yourself, using authentic Lithuanian products, in real flame.
16. Angel’s Museum, Šiauliai
The museum opened on September 6, 2014, for Šiauliai inhabitants and its’ guests. It exhibits a collection of angels, gathered by folk artist Rytis Milkintas for more than ten years. Museum’s exposition consists of over 500 angel sculptures from 29 different countries: gifted, bought, brought as souvenirs. Sculptures are made of clay, glass, porcelain, metal, rock, wood, straws.
17. Frog Museum, Šakiai
When visiting Šakiai district, the Frog House is worth adding to the list of objects to see. The accumulated collection of frogs here is impressive and will soon be registered in the Lithuanian record book — 4080 exhibits have been collected here in 12 years.
18. Stick Museum, Kelmė
Perhaps one of the most random but impressive on our list is the Stick Museum in the northwestern Lithuanian city of Kelmė. Folk master Mečislovas Ežerskis has made over 3700 carved sticks. In 2009 Mečislovas’ sticks were certified and recognized as national heritage.
19. Viekšniai Pharmacy Museum
Viekšniai Pharmacy Museum is the only rural-type pharmacy museum in Lithuania with the surviving living quarters of a pharmacist family. The entire history of the place was written by one of the pharmacists. It is an authentic pharmacy established in the second half of the 18th century. Before, the building belonged to the descendants from the Jewish community of Viekšniai.
20. The Cents Room, Šiauliai
More than 150,000 coins were used to decorate the walls of this room, located in the library of Šiauliai University. There’s a belief that this “wallet” room is one of a kind in the world.
