National Museum of Lithuania

Vilnius, Lithuania

The National Museum of Lithuania, established in 1952, is a state-sponsored historical museum that encompasses several significant structures and a wide collection of written materials and artifacts. It also organizes archeological digs in Lithuania. The museum consists of five main departments, although three of them are located close to each other to the Vilnius Castle Complex (into the New Arsenal, the Old Arsenal and the Tower of Gediminas Castle).

The history of the Old Lithuania (between 13th century - 1795) is exposed in the New Arsenal. The Ethnic exposition involves Folk art and home comforts of Lithuanian rustics of the 18th-19th centuries. One of the biggest archeological expositions in Europe called “Lithuanian prehistory” is located in the Old Arsenal. The Tower of Gediminas Castle includes an impressive collection of weaponry of 14th-17th centuries.

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Address

Arsenalo gatvė 1, Vilnius, Lithuania
See all sites in Vilnius

Details

Founded: 1952
Category: Museums in Lithuania

More Information

www.lnm.lt
en.wikipedia.org
www.way2lithuania.com

Rating

4.3/5 (based on Google user reviews)

Interesting Sites Nearby


Vilnius Cathedral (0,2 km)
Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania (0,2 km)
St. John's Church (0,5 km)
Gediminas' Tower (0,1 km)
Vilnius University (0,5 km)
Vilnius Town Hall (1 km)
St. Anne's Church (0,5 km)
St. Casimir's Church (1,1 km)
Presidential Palace (0,5 km)


Trakai Island Castle (23,2 km)
Trakai Peninsula Castle (23,2 km)
St. Mary's Church (23,4 km)
Norviliskes Castle (59,4 km)
Medininkai Castle (28,5 km)
Kernave (35,6 km)
Senieji Trakai Castle (21,6 km)
Karmazinai Mound (27,2 km)
Dubingiai Castle Ruins (42,5 km)

User Reviews

Liubov Bevz (17 months ago)
Great place to visit. Entrance was just 3 EUR and there are lots of interesting things collected. I loved ethnographic expozition with reconstruction of typical traditional Lithuanian households. And especially interesting is exposition about unique Lithuanian art called Cross crafting.
Ray (2 years ago)
Museums are very affordable in Vilnius and I definitely recommend everyone to visit this one. They even have free cloakrooms!
Bill Dinger (2 years ago)
An expansive museum covering the grounds and barracks of the old Vilnius castle. Has numerous artifacts about Lithuanian history and it's information placards are in both English and Lithuanian. The cost is 2 Euros for each section, and there are like 3 aections. Takes about 2 hours if you go to all 3 places as well as hike up to the castle. Please note castle hike is up a very steep pitch with uneven cobblestones and limited to no handrails. There is a furnicular but it wasn't working when I was there. The top offers great views of Vilnius
Olga P (2 years ago)
A very interesting museum! And only 1,5 euros for students!
Usman Malik (2 years ago)
Love this museum. Nice collection. It’s not so big but got plenty of stuff. Tickets about €3 for adult and kids free. They have got musical instruments, maps of old Lithuania, clothes used to wear and different areas of Lithuania and much more. Must visit if you like history.
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In 1151 King Konrad III ended a dispute over who should inherit Cochem Castle by laying siege to it and taking possession of it himself. That same year it became an official Imperial Castle (Reichsburg) subject to imperial authority. In 1282 it was Habsburg King Rudolf’s turn, when he conquered the Reichsburg Cochem and took it over. But just 12 years later, in 1294, the newest owner, King Adolf of Nassau pawned the castle, the town of Cochem and the surrounding region in order to finance his coronation. Adolf’s successor, Albrecht I, was unable to redeem the pledge and was forced to grant the castle to the archbishop in nearby Trier and the Electorate of Trier, which then administered the Reichsburg continuously, except for a brief interruption when Trier’s Archbishop Balduin of Luxembourg had to pawn the castle to a countess. But he got it back a year later.

The Electorate of Trier and its nobility became wealthy and powerful in large part due to the income from Cochem Castle and the rights to shipping tolls on the Moselle. Not until 1419 did the castle and its tolls come under the administration of civil bailiffs (Amtsmänner). While under the control of the bishops and electors in Trier from the 14th to the 16th century, the castle was expanded several times.

In 1688 the French invaded the Rhine and Moselle regions of the Palatinate, which included Cochem and its castle. French troops conquered the Reichsburg and then laid waste not only to the castle but also to Cochem and most of the other surrounding towns in a scorched-earth campaign. Between that time and the Congress of Vienna, the Palatinate and Cochem went back and forth between France and Prussia. In 1815 the western Palatinate and Cochem finally became part of Prussia once and for all.

Louis Jacques Ravené (1823-1879) did not live to see the completion of his renovated castle, but it was completed by his son Louis Auguste Ravené (1866-1944). Louis Auguste was only two years old when construction work at the old ruins above Cochem began in 1868, but most of the new castle took shape from 1874 to 1877, based on designs by Berlin architects. After the death of his father in 1879, Louis Auguste supervised the final stages of construction, mostly involving work on the castle’s interior. The castle was finally completed in 1890. Louis Auguste, like his father, a lover of art, filled the castle with an extensive art collection, most of which was lost during the Second World War.

In 1942, during the Nazi years, Ravené was forced to sell the family castle to the Prussian Ministry of Justice, which turned it into a law school run by the Nazi government. Following the end of the war, the castle became the property of the new state of Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate). In 1978 the city of Cochem bought the castle for 664,000 marks.

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