Address
2 Vyduno avenue, LT-50295, Kaunas.
Tel. +370-37-798995.
Opening times
Visits by arrangement,
Tel. +370-37-798995.
Museum's
collection
Memorial flat of an opera singer
Adele Nezabitauskaite-Galauniene (1899-1962) and a museum worker, a
historian of art, the director of M. K. Ciurlionis Art Museum of many
years standing Paulius Galaune (1890-1988), P. Galaune's library,
collections of graphic works.
Exposition
The exposition contains memorial
rooms and a library, as well as P. Galaunes collections of graphics,
ex-libris, folk and art books. The display also depicts the history and
activities of the XXVII Book Lowers Society.
Exhibitions
-
Exhibition of P. Galaune's works,
art exhibitions of his contemporaries and like minded persons are
organized in the museum.
-
K. Bizauskas Memorial Room
Cultural,
educational activity
Organization of annual reading
from P. Galaune's works.
Delivering lectures.
Organization of meetings with cultural workers.
Organization of soirees of museum workers.
Other news about the Museum
The museum was opened in 1995 in
the home of art historian and former director of M. K. Ciurlionis Art
Museum Paulius Galaune (1890-1988) and his wife, opera singer Adele
Nazabitauskaite-Galauniene (1899-1962). Built in 1934 (architect Arnas
Funkas, 1898-1957), for a number of years, the house was the home of the
signatory of the Act of Independence, diplomat and statesman Kazys
Bizauskas (1892-1941).
Paulius
Galaune
P. Galaune (1890-1988) art
historian, graphic artist, museum curator, born in Pagaleziai, county of
Ukmerge.
During 1910-1914 he studied at the Institute of Psychoneurology at St.
Petersburg, Russia, and attended art schools in St. Petersburg and Moscow.
While in the Russian army, he was member of the Lithuanian Central
Committee.
Returning to Lithuania in 1918, he taught art, was curator of the State
Museum, and negotiated the return of Lithuanian art treasures from Russia.
He studied museum science at the Ecole du Louvre in Paris in 1923-1924 and
in 1924 was appointed director of the Ciurlionis Gallery and the Culture
Museum in Kaunas.
He was a lecturer in art history at the Universities of Kaunas (1925-1940)
and Vilnius (1940-1950, with interruptions); he headed the Department of
Museum Science at the University of Vilnius from 1945-1951 and taught at
the Art Institute of Vilnius.
Galaune has distinguished himself as a populariser of Lithuanian folk art,
organizing exhibitions in many European countries and in New Yorks
Worlds Fair in 1939. He collected, classified and described many
Lithuanian art objects and monuments. Owing to his efforts, a large number
of paintings by M. K. Ciurlionis, the world famous visionary Lithuanian
painter, were retrieved from abroad and from private owners to be housed
in a special museum. His numerous articles on magazines of various nations
deal mainly with Lithuanian folk art, architecture and M. K. Ciurlionis.
After his retirement in 1951, he compiled, edited and prefaced six volumes
on Lithuanian folk art.
He wrote more than 20 scholarly works, including Lietuviu liaudies
menas (Lithuanian Folk Art, 1930); Lietuviu liaudies skulpturos
problemos (Problems of Lithuanian Folk Sculpture, 1932), and a memoir,
Muziejininko noveles (Stories of the Museum Man, 1937). A
collection of his articles, called Dailes ir kulturos baruose (In
the Swaths of Art and Culture), was published in Vilnius in 1970. As a
graphic artist, he was a favored fantastic theme in his ex-librises and
book covers.
Adele
Galauniene (nee Nezabitauskaite)
A. Galauniene 1899-1962, coloratura soprano, born in Baidokai, countu
of Kretinga.
In 1918 she graduated from the Harmonium Music and Drama School in Moscow.
In 1919 she married the art historian Paulius Galaune. While living in
Kaunas, together with other soloists and musicians, she began to organize
the Lithuanian opera. Galauniene sang the role of Violet in Verdis La
Traviata at the opening performance on Dec. 31, 1920. During the ten
years of her operatic career she sang no less than 20 title roles, and in
the beginning because of a lack of soloists she also sang dramatic parts.
From 1930-1944 she taught music, reviewed opera productions, and directed
student and womens choruses.
After World War II she again sang in the opera from 1945-1947, and from
1948-1949 she taught voice at the Music Conservatory in Kaunas.
She performed such roles as: Tamara (Rubinstein, Demon), Tatiana
(Tchaikovsky, Eugene Onegin), Tosca (Puccini, Tosca), Gilda
(Verdi, Rigoletto), Rosina (Rossini, The Barber of Seville),
Neda (Leoncavallo, I Pagliacci), Mimi (Puccini, La Boheme),
Juliette (Offenbach, Tales of Hoffmann).
Photos from the
Museum's funds