Žemaičiai (Samogitian) Art Museum

Contacts
Address: Parko g.1, LT-90117, Plungė.
Tel./fax (+370 ~ 448) 52 492, tel. (+370 ~ 448) 57 643.
E-mail: Zd.muziejus@takas.lt 
Director – Alvydas Bakanauskas.

Information for Visitor

Opening hours:
Wednesday – Sunday 10–17.

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

Additional services
Organization of excursions to places of interest in Plunge area;
Letting out concert, conference hall;
Guest house in a wonderful park with 7 cascade ponds and windings of the river Babrungas.

Collection
A collection of paintings and graphic works received as a gift from Lowland Lithuanians (Samogitians) living abroad: the collection comprises creative works by Juozas Bagdonas (USA), Jadvyga Paukštienė (USA), Adomas Galdikas (USA), Vytautas Ignas (USA), Telesforas Valius (Canada), Alfonsas Dargis (Germany), Vaclovas Ratas (Australia), Adomas Vingis (Australia), Pranas Gailius (France), and Magdalena Stankūnienė (USA).
A collection of paintings and graphic works of Lowland Lithuanian (Samogitian) painters living in Lithuania: the collection comprises creative works by Antanas Kristopaitis, Vytautas Valius, Donatas Valatka, Bronius Grusas, Filomena Linčiutė-Vaitiekūnienė, Ignas Budrys, Svajūnas Armonas, Vidmantas Pinkevičius, Aloyzas Stasiulevičius, Vija Tarabildienė, Milda Kulikauskienė, Vytautas Moncevičius, Algimantas Švažas, Valdas Simutis, Valerijonas Jucys, Dalia Matulaitė, Arvydas Každailis.
Prof. Ignas Končius’ Archive: personal things, iconography, letters, research works.
Prof. Zenonas Ivinskis’ personal library and scientific archive, collection of rare printed matters: books, periodicals.
Iconographical and ethnograpical material on the history of Plunge land: photographs, post-cards, working tools and household articles.
Ancient folk art in 19th century: sculptures crosses.

Exposition
20th-Century Professional Art (Painting, Graphic Arts, and Sculpture);
20th-Century Folk Art (Wood Carving);
The Historical and Urban Development of the Town of Plungė. Administrative History.

Exhibitions
Personal and group exhibitions of professional art are constantly arranged in the museum. Every four years art exhibitions of the world Samogitians are held in the museum.

Cultural, educational activity
Concerts of chamber music;
Scientific conferences;
Meetings with painters;
Anniversaries of famous people of the land.

Branch Museum

Memorial Museum of the Writer Žemaitė
Address: Bukantės viensėdis, Šateikių seniūnija, Plungės rajonas.
Mob. tel. (+370 687) 52 836.
More information >

Public Museum

Kuliai Country-Side District Museum
Address: Vaižganto g. 1, Kuliai Plungės rajonas.
The museum was founded in 1959 on the initiative of Kuliai Secondary Schoolteachers in a former parsonage dating from 1790, in which the priest and writer Juozas Tumas Vaižgantas (1869-1933) lived from 1898 to 1901. It contains an exhibition about local history and ethnography.

Other news
The museum was founded in 1994 in the former manor house of Duke Mykolas Oginskis (1849-1902), which was built in 1879.
A musical school established by M. Oginskis functioned in the estate in 1889-1892 and the artist and composer Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875–1911) is known to have attended it. The manor house is surrounded by one of the biggest parks in Lithuania.
Founder of the museum – Municipality of Plunge region and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania.

Plungė
The name of the town Plungėnai was registered in 1570. In 1792 Grand Duke Žygimantas Augustas gave the town Magdeburg rights and the coat of arms. In 1807 Russian Tsar Alexander and his retinue came to Plungė and stayed in the palace.
The name “Plungė” originated from a small river Plungė, the left tributary of the Babrungas River.
In the center of the town there is a square where the famous open markets and fairs took place before World War II.
For three centuries the estate belonged to different noblemen. The last owners were Duke Mykolas Oginskis and his wife Marija. They not only built the palace, one of the most beautiful of the 19th century, but also contributed to culture and education in the region.
The Oginskis family, from the 17th century, made a profound impact on the country’s political, economic and cultural life. Many great officers, statesmen and public figures were descended from this family. The family was also famous as music lovers and patrons of composers and performers.
Mykolas Oginskis had an orchestra and a music school to which talented children were invited to study. In 1888, at the age of 13, Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis was among the students there. After leaving school, Čiurlionis was offered a place at a musical institute in Warsaw and the duke granted him a scholarship.
Oginskis was highly respected for his efforts to educate ordinary people and support the arts and science.
A collection of portraits of the Oginskis family, consisting of over 100 paintings and sculptures, was formed at the palace. There was a room with old coins, a collection of archaeological finds, a large library famous for ancient scrolls. The Oginskis palace was s shrine to art, music and science.
For 80 years the building was used by the German and Russian armies. It also housed schools and technical colleges. Since 1993 exhibitions of paintings by Samogitian artists have been held there. The premises have been transferred to the Art Museum.
St. Jonas Krikštytojas church was built in Plunge in 1902-1903. A classical belfry is standing near the church. Brothers Zubovai, the counts, built it.
The oldest company in Plunge is flax SC “Linų audiniai”. J. Kučinskas opened it in 1913.
5-km Southwest from Plunge there is Gondingos Mound, the biggest one in Lithuania. In the 5th-7th century there was a wooden fortress on the mound. It is 112,4 m above sea level high.

Photos by Sigitas Varnas