Off-beat museums

The Devils’ Museum, which is included in the list of the most unique museums worldwide, stores about 3000 horned exhibits from all over the world: pieces of visual arts and crafts, souvenirs, masks. It is an opportunity to take a closer look at the mysterious mythological creature and different forms of its depiction in as many as 70 countries of the world. The collection was started by Antanas Žmuidzinavičius, a famous Lithuanian artist, and there has been a nice tradition that every visitor may bring a devil as a gift to the museum.

The globally unparalleled museum, established back in the 19th century by Dionizas Poška, an enlightened Lithuanian figure, is housed in the gouged out trunks of the giant thousand years old oaks! The tree trunks have been converted to small houses with windows, doors and roofs, with authentic exhibits inside. Bijotai Manor homestead, in which the founder of Baubliai Museum once lived, is located nearby.

The only Užgavėnės (Shrove Tuesday) Museum in Europe, housed in the restored Plateliai Manor homestead stabling, invites to learn about the traditions of this winter festival as well as to see the impressive collection of over 250 Shrove Tuesday masks. The manor complex also houses the craft centre which, in addition to the creations of masks, offers an abundance of other activities – from candle making to pancake making!

The museum, founded by a basketball enthusiast, symbolises all Lithuanians’ love for this sport; it displays a number of medals, awards, photographs, drawings, all telling the history of Lithuanian basketball. Visitors of the museum can see the T-shirts and trainers with autographs of basketball legends such as Arvydas Sabonis, Šarūnas Marčiulionis, Valdemaras Chomičius and others; school pupils can attend educational lessons during which they are acquainted with the deep-rooted history of Lithuanian basketball.

The museum displays the largest 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 interesting facts of Lithuanian circus, watch the authentic exhibits that reveal the spirit of circus, i.e. artists’ personal belongings, costumes, playbills, programmes, original photographs, etc. A journey to the miraculous world of circus will be interesting to both children and adults. 

The museum exhibits an unparalleled cake – the Guinness record-holder is the 3.72 m tall cake šakotis weighing almost 86 kg! Upon learning the history of the cake, visitors may watch the baking process of this treat and even take part in it. The museum also displays cake šakotis baked in foreign countries: Hungary, Sweden, Japan, Poland. If you are wondering about the differences between the cakes from different countries and Lithuania, you will learn about them during the tour while watching ancient utensils and tools used to bake this treat.

Liubavas Manor – one of the oldest in the country – hides almost the most beautiful love story in Lithuania, which has already become a legend. Sigismund the Old, the sovereign of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, transferred the manor, which he had been given, to his son Sigismund Augustus who secretly married Barbora Radvilaitė, the widow of the former owner of the manor. Passed through the hands of many owners, the manor has been known as the residence of aristocrats and talented artists at all times. The manor has been awarded the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage for high quality restoration.

The exposition displayed in the former summer house of a famous writer and laureate of the Nobel Prize acquaints visitors with the facts from the life and work of Thomas Mann, recreates the atmosphere of the early 20th century when the writer used to spend his summers in Nida. The annual Thomas Mann Festival has been organised here for several decades, with its programme containing music, literature, art and cinema, as well as other events dedicated to the writer’s works.

This is the only museum dedicated to bicycle history in Lithuania. Founded more than three decades ago, the museum has almost 100 interesting bikes, from the oldest wooden bike and the smallest bike on record to a circus unicycle and a velomobile of the future.

The comforting crackling of a radio is like a sound from the past. This museum exhibition features functioning phonographs, music boxes, record players, radios, television sets... There are approximately 5,000 exhibits illustrating how much audio, video and telecommunication devices have evolved since the 19th century.