Marijampolė Local Lore Museum

Contacts
Address: Vytauto g. 29, LT-68+3708 ~ 343) 54 575, (+370 ~ 343) 93 042.
E-mail: markrmuziejus@gmail.com
http://www.marijampolesmuziejus.lt/
Director – Antanas Pileckas.

Information for Visitor

Opening hours:
Tuesday to Saturday 9–17.

Admission:
adults – 2 Lt; 
pupils, students – 1 Lt.

Guided tours – 10 Lt.

Additional services:
Reservation of excursions, when appropriate;
Reading of lectures.

Collection
The museum contains archaeological, numismatic, and ethnographic exhibits, as well as documents, photographs and applied arts.

Exposition

History Exposition of Suduva Area
Address: Vytauto g. 29, LT-68300, Marijampolė.
Tel.: (+370 ~ 343) 54 575, (+370 ~ 343) 56 288.
Exposition are permanent and containing the authentic furniture from the Sasnava manor house, the rich collection of clothes and sashes from Suvalkija, household articles from the late 19th century to the early 20th century.

Towns history (Urbanistics) exposition
Address: Vytauto 31, LT-68300, Marijampolė.
Tel. (+370 ~ 343) 93 042.
The exposition contains photographs, charts and plans reflecting the history of Marijampole town from older times to the present.

Vincas Mykolaitis-Putinas Memorial Museum
Address: Marijampolės Rygiškių Jono gimnazija, Kauno g. 7, LT-68175, Marijampolė.
Tel. (+370 ~ 343) 72 506.
This memorial museum was established in 1976 in the Vincas Mykolaitis-Putinas boarding school. In 1995 it became a branch of the Marijampolė Local Lore Museum. Photographs, books and some of the writer’s personal belongings are on display.

Sūduva’s History Exposition “The Soul of the People”
Address: Vytauto g. 29, LT-68300, Marijampolė.
Tel.: (+370 ~ 343) 54 575, (+370 ~ 343) 56 288.
The first exposition hall allows viewers to acquaint themselves with the prehistory of the area. Included among the collection is a rather valuable exhibit: the human skeleton of “Krisna”, which was discovered at peat bog of Turlojiškė in 1949. (Carbon dating at Oxford University has indicated that “Krisna” dates back over 2,780 to 2,899 years.)
In the second exposition hall, museum goers may become familiar with the history of Christianity in the area. On exhibit are small wooden sculptures as well as crosses and church objects.
In the third hall is filled with numerous ethnographic objects. Shown are local (Sūdva/Suvalkija) clothes, household items, and farming implements.

Exhibitions
The Museum arranges exhibitions of art, folk art, ethnic art, scientific studies, and photography.

Cultural, educational activity
Organizing of evenings of poetry and music;
Organizing of ethnocultural events;
Organizing of meetings;
Educational activities on topics of art, ethnic culture, history;
Cooperation with press;
The band of kanklės (citra), a Lithuanian string musical instrument, operating in the Museum;
A school of kanklės (citra) for children at the Museum.

Branch Museum

Tauras District Partisans and Deportation Museum
Address: Vytauto g. 29, LT-68300, Marijampolė.
Tel. (+370~343) 50754.
E-mail: markrmuziejus@gmail.com
More information >

History of the Museum
In 1930 the Marijampolė Province Council allotted funds for a museum’s establishing and formed an organizing committee for this purpose. In autumn of 1933 the museum SODŽIUS was opened.
In 1948 the museum SODŽIUS was reorganized into the Museum of Ethnography and in 1950 it moved to other premises in the Laisvės Street.
In 1964 the Museum moved to the present premises. With the passage of time the Museum enlarged, its exposition being continuously updated.
The founder of the Museum is the Marijampolė Town Municipality.

Marijampolė
Marijampolė, city in southwestern Lithuania, 53 km Southwest of Kaunas on the Šešupė river. Under Soviet rule, in 1953, its name was changed to Kapsukas.
Until the 16th century, almost the whole of southern Lithuania (Sūduva) was heavily forested with few inhabitants. The first inhabitants along the Šešupė appeared in mid-16th century.
In 1717 Count Martin Butler built a chapel in Pašešupys hamlet and planned out a village, which, in documents dated 1736, was called Starapolė. Near this village, between the Šešupė and Javonis rivers, Countess Frances Butler established the Marian Fathers, providing them a wooden church and monastery. Around these structures the small town of Marijampole began to grow.
After the third partition of Lithuania and Poland in 1795, Sūduva was apportioned to German Prusia.
When the Congress of Vienna (1814–1815) set up an autonomous Kingdom of Poland under the Russian protectorate, Sūduva, including Marijampolė, was incorporated into this kingdom. In 1831 the Kingdom of Poland was suspended and from this time until World War I Sūduva was governed by the Russian governor general residing in Warsaw.
Marijampolė, located in the center of Sūduva, has played a notable role in Lithuania’s cultural and national life.
Marijampolė High School was the spawning ground for the leaders of the national revival, church dignitaries, educators, artists, and writers, including J. Basanavičius, P. Bučys, K. Grinius, M. Gustaitis, J. Jablonskis, V. Kudirka, P. Mašiotas, J. Matulaitis-Matulevičius, V. Pietaris, P. Vaičaitis, and T. Žilinskas. The 1918 declaration of Lithuanian independence was signed by six Marijampolė High School graduates, namely J. Basanavičius, S. Banaitis, P. Dovydaitis, P. Klimas, J. Staugaitis, and J. Vailokaitis.
After the reestablishment of an independent Lithuania (1918) the city expanded. Many modern public and private buildings were erected. A number of new industrial enterprises were established, including a cotton textile company, woolen cloth factory, sugar factory, milk-processing company, seed-oil refinery, beverage workshops, stockyards, agricultural machinery workshops, some brickyards, and clamshell workshops.
The town had two Catholic churches, 1 Protestant church, and one synagogue.
During the first Soviet occupation of Lithuania (1940–1941) the economic and cultural life of the city was paralyzed.
The city was destroyed during the second Soviet occupation in the summer of 1944. Only in 1958 were the ruins finally cleared at the city replanted.

The photographs from the funds of the Marijampolė Local Lore Museum