Museum sights in Kaunas
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A
Museum of Deportation & Resistance
The Museum of Deportation & Resistance documents the spirit of Resistance encompassed by the partisan Forest Brothers, who fought against Soviet occupation. Led by Jonas Žemaitis-Vytautas (1909-54), 100,000 men went into Lithuania's forests to battle the tyrannical regime. One-third were killed, the rest captured and deported. Fighting continued until 1954 when the last partisan was shot.
One of the most desperate anti-Soviet actions was the suicide of Kaunas student Romas Kalanta. On 14 May 1972 he doused himself in petrol and set fire to himself in protest at tyrannical communist rule. A suicide note was found in his diary explaining why.
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IX Fortas (Ninth Fort)
Some of the darkest moments of Lithuania's brutal history occurred here. The Ninth Fort was built on Kaunas' northwestern outskirts in the late 19th century to fortify the western frontier of the tsarist empire. During WWII the Nazis made it a death camp where some 80,000 people were butchered. Later Stalin's henchmen used it as a prison and execution site.
The museum has exhibits on the Nazi horrors against Jews, and also includes material on Soviet atrocities against Lithuanians.
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B
National Čiurlionis Art Museum
The National Čiurlionis Art Museum is Kaunas' leading museum. It has extensive collections of the romantic paintings of Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875-1911), one of Lithuania's greatest artists and composers, as well as Lithuanian folk art and 16th- to 20th-century European applied art.
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C
Military Museum of Vytautas the Great
The Military Museum of Vytautas the Great covers Lithuanian history from prehistoric times to the present day. Of particular interest is the wreckage of the aircraft in which Steponas Darius and Stasys Girėnas died while attempting to fly nonstop from New York to Kaunas in 1933.
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D
Museum of Devils
Diabolical is the collection of 2000-odd devil statuettes in the Museum of Devils, collected by landscape artist Antanas Žmuidzinavičius (1876-1966). Note the satanic figures of Hitler and Stalin, formed from tree roots, performing a deadly dance over Lithuania.
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E
Palace of Weddings
The 17th-century former town hall at Rotušės Aikštė is now a Palace of Weddings where brides and grooms say taip ('I do') on Saturday. In its cellar there is a small ceramics museum.
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Tadas Ivanauskas Zoological Museum
Tadas Ivanauskas Zoological Museum. Inside, 13,000 stuffed animals jockey for attention. Outside is a statue of Vytautas the Great and a stone turtle.
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G
Ceramics Museum
A small ceramics museum in the cellar of the 17th-century former town hall at Rotušės Aikštė.
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H
Folk Music & Instruments Museum
Near the former Presidential Palace of Lithuania, the Folk Music & Instruments Museum strikes a musical note.
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I
Communications Development Museum
The former post office contains the Communications Development Museum should old telephones be your thing.
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Medicine & Pharmaceutical History Museum
The Medicine & Pharmaceutical History Museum is gruesome and fascinating.
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K
