Raseiniai Area History Museum

Address
3 Muziejaus St, LT-60123, Raseiniai.
Tel. +370-428-51892.
Tel./Fax +370-428-51191.
E-mail: muziejus@raseiniai.lt, raseiniumuz@gmail.com
Web-site: http://www.raseiniumuziejus.lt/

Opening times
Tuesday to Friday 9.00–12.00, 13.00–17.00
Saturday 11.00-17.00.

Additional services
Ordering excursions throughout the Museum.
Ordering excursions throughout the Raseiniai region.
Selling works of art and Museum publications.

Collection
The museum contains collections of coins, photographs and publications, art, and ethnographic exhibits relating to the history of the area.

Expositions
The Museum was established in Raseiniai prison building, built in 1930. That partly determines the theme of Museum Expositions.

Raseiniai region since the oldest times till mid-19th century;

Raseiniai since Mid-19th century till early 20th century;

Raseiniai region in the year of independence;

Raseiniai region in the year of occupations;

Cultivation;

Models of Valeras Kuzas;

Liturgy – cultural heritage;

Ethnography.

Exhibitions
At the Museum exhibits are created of fine arts, folk art, theme occasions from the Museum’s fund.

Cultural, educational activity
Training programs for various age students are about ethno-culture, history, geology and nature.
Management of lessons.
Organising conferences and seminars.
School of weaving art.

Branch Museums
Pasandravys Memorial Reservation (The Birthplace of Poet Maironis)
Address: Bernotai and Pasandravys Village, LT-60474, Raseiniai region.
Tel. +370-428-41335.
Opening times: Tuesday to Saturday 9.00-17.00.

The museum was established in 1992 in the birthplace of Jonas Maciulis-Maironis (1862-1932), a priest, poet and doctor of theology. The ethnographic display recreates the authentic environment in which the Maironis family lived.
In 1993 the road to the birthplace was decorated by pillar-type wooden crosses and miniature chapels.
A memorial room was opened in the Maironis Secondary School in Betygala displaying the poet’s personal relics, books and the Maciulis family portraits.
In Pasandravys, an astonishing, amazing, unusual nature’s corner, many regional cultural events take place. Poetry verses are sounding and music created together with poetry of Maironis spreads throughout.
The Birthplace of Maironis is annually visited by the nation’s youngsters who are members of Maironis Organisation, also by regional and nation’s students and many others visitors who honour the creativity of Maironis.

Betygala Museum
Address: 16 Vytauto St, Betygala, LT-60209, Raseiniai region.
Opening times: Tuesday to Saturday 8.00-16.00; Sunday 8.00-15.00.

This museum was established in 1986 in the town famous for numerous castle hills, legends and a sculpture of Vytautas the Great.
The museum has arranged exhibits of graphic artist Jonas Kuzmickis (1906-1985), geology and history of Betygala area.
An interesting educational program is held at the museum, excursions are organised to visit the Museum and all interesting places in the Betygala area.

Public Museum
The Raseiniai Area History Museum takes care of the regional schools’ history and ethnographic museums.

Other news about the museum
The museum was opened in 1975.

Poet Maironis
Maironis was the pen name of Jonas Maciulis (1862-1932), the best-known poet in what is known as the National Movement, which emerged in the late 19th century and accompanied the rise in national consciousness which resulted in the 1918 declaration of independence.
Maironis was a Catholic priest and taught theology in St Petersburg for 15 years before being appointed rector of the seminary in Kaunas. His work deals with the concepts of national identity, the homeland and the national revival. He associated true patriotism with the rural way of life. His book of romantics verse Pavasario balsai (Voices of Spring), published in 1895, is considered the start of modern Lithuanian poetry.
In 1910 he bought a large house behind the Town Hall in Kaunas, which he shared with his sister and her family. After his death she turned the house into a museum.
Six rooms on the ground floor are devoted to an extensive exhibition about the history of Lithuanian literature, while the first-floor rooms show how Maironis lived. The reception rooms are opulent, and newly restored, while the study and the poet's bedroom at the back of the house are austere.

RASEINIAI, city in western Lithuania, 73 km Northwest of Kaunas, on the Samogitia highway. The population in 1973 was 10,500 (6,217 in 1939, 6,242 in 1959). The city was a ceramics factory, a men's and children’s' clothing factory, a butter diary, a 200-bed hospital, two secondary and several vocational schools.
The history of the Raseiniai area goes back to the 13th century. Variants of the name in historical documents include Raseyne, Rossein, Roszein and Roscena. In 1253-54 King Mindaugas bequeathed this land in Samogitia to Christian, the first bishop of Lithuania, and to the Livonian Order. But neither was able to withstand the resistance of the Samogitians. Attempting to subdue Samogitia, the Teutonic Order, which had established itself in Prussia and Livonia, conducted frequent military expeditions; Raseiniai suffered especially in 1322 and 1377. During the reign of Vytautas the Great, the Samogitians were for a time (1405-09) given over to German rule, although the Lithuanaians secretly aided their resistance and revolts. After the Battle of Tannenberg in 1410 the Samogitians were finally freed. With the advent of Christianity, one of the first churches was built in Raseiniai in 1416 or 1421. Some historians contend that at that time the town was granted the privilege of self-rule according to the Magdeburg Law; subsequently these privileges were expanded (in1592 and in 1643). From the time of the Union of Liublin (1569) until Lithuania's last partition (1795), Raseiniai served as the seat of the Samogitian eldership. All the regional courts were located there, and the nobility assembled in the town for their dietines. The oldest documents pertaining to landed property have been preserved in court archives. In 1642 the Dominicans were established in the town; they replaced the old church with a new Baroque edifice, built a chapel and monastery, and maintained a school and large library. The Carmelite monastery was founded in 1720 and the Piarist monastery in 1742. The Piarists also maintained a school which in 1788 had 173 students. Following the uprisings of 1831, the Russians closed the monasteries. Raseiniai was one of the first towns to rebel against Russian rule in 1831, and for a time served as headquarters of the rebel leaders (see Insurrection of 1830-31). By mid-19th century the town had grown into an important agricultural trade centre, exporting large quantities of grain to East Prussia and Riga (Latvia). In 1857 the population numbered 8,516 (7,455 in 1897). Several agricultural societies and co-operatives were founded at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries.
During the period of independence (1918-40) there were the county and municipal administrative office, a courthouse, and local agencies of forestry, agronomy, and veterinary; the town had 2 hospitals, 2 high schools, 4 elementary schools; commercial enterprises included a sawmill, dairy, slaughterhouse, leather tannery, banks and stores. The most noted feature of the town is the Dominican Baroque church and monastery, which are being preserved as architectural monuments.

BETYGALA, small town on the banks of the Vievirse creek in Samogitia, approximately one km from the Dubysa river, between Ariogala (13km) and Raseiniai (16km); in 1959 the population was 454 (483 in 1841, 434 in 1934). Near the town is an old fortress hill which was the site of a noted Samogitian castle on the 13th and 14th centuries. It was often attacked by the Teutonic Knights, in whose chronicles it is called Betigal or Bytigal. The first Roman Catholic church in Betygala, the wooden Church of the St. Nicolas, was built in 1416 shortly after the conversion of Samogitia to Christianity. The present baroque church was built in 1930. From 1592-1603 Mikalojus Dauksa (q. v.) was the pastor of the parish. The town suffered severe damage during the Swedish invasion in 1706. It was later rebuilt; subsequently its population was greater than at present. During the 1863 insurrection against the Russian a number of strong rebel groups operated in the environs of Betygala. During the years of Lithuanian independence Betygala was the seat of a township which encompassed 1,546 farms with 9,573 inhabitants (1934). Soviet authorities assigned Betygala to the district of Ariogala and designed it the centre of the sub-district’s collective farms.