Address
29 Vytauto St, LT-68300,
Marijampole.
Tel.: +370-343-56288; +370-343-93042; +370-343-54575.
E-mail: markrmuziejus@gmail.com 
http://www.marijampolesmuziejus.lt/
Information
for visitors
Opening hours:
Tuesday to Saturday 9.00-17.00.
Admission:
Charge - Lt 2;
Pupil / student - Lt 1;
Guided tours - Lt 10.
Additional
services
Reservation of excursions, when
appropriate;
Reading of lectures.
Museum's
collection
The museum contains archaeological,
numismatic, and ethnographic exhibits, as well as documents, photographs
and applied arts.
Exposition
History
Exposition of Suduva Area
Address: 29 Vytauto St., LT-68300, Marijampole.
Tel. +370-343-54575.
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: 31 Vytauto St., LT-68300, Marijampole.
Tel. +370-343-93042.
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: 7 Kauno St., LT-68175, Marijampole.
Tel. +370-343-72506.
This memorial museum was established in 1976 in the Vincas
Mykolaitis-Putinas boarding school. In 1995 it became a branch of the
Marijampole Local Lore Museum. Photographs, books and some of the writer’s
personal belongings are on display.
Sudūva’s
History Exposition “The Soul of the People”
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 (Sudūva/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 kankles (citra), a Lithuanian string musical instrument,
operating in the Museum;
A school of kankles (citra) for children at the Museum.
Branch
Museum
Tauras District Partisans and Deportation
Museum
Fragments
form Museum’s history
In 1930 the Marijampole Province Council
allotted funds for a museum’s establishing and formed an organizing
committee for this purpose. In autumn of 1933 the museum SODZIUS was
opened.
In 1948 the museum SODZIUS was reorganized into the Museum of Ethnography
and in 1950 it moved to other premises in the Laisves Street.
In 1964 the Museum moved to the present premises. With the passage of time
the Museum enlarged, its exposition being continuously updated.
Other
news about the Museum
The founder of the Museum is the
Marijampole Town Municipality.
The manager of the Museum is Antanas Pileckas.
Marijampole
Marijampole, city in southwestern
Lithuania, 53 km Southwest of Kaunas on the Sesupe river. Under Soviet
rule, in 1953, its name was changed to Kapsukas.
Until the 16th century, almost the whole of southern Lithuania (Suduva)
was heavily forested with few inhabitants. The first inhabitants along the
Sesupe appeared in mid-16th century.
In 1717 Count Martin Butler built a chapel in Pasesupys hamlet and planned
out a village, which, in documents
dated 1736, was called Starapole. Near this village, between the Sesupe
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, Suduva was
apportioned to German Prusia.
When the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815) set up an autonomous Kingdom of
Poland under the Russian protectorate, Suduva, including Marijampole, was
incorporated into this kingdom. In 1831 the Kingdom of Poland was
suspended and from this time until World War I Suduva was governed by the
Russian governor general residing in Warsaw.
Marijampole, located in the center of Suduva, has played a notable role in
Lithuania’s cultural and national life.
Marijampole High School was the spawning ground for the leaders of the
national revival, church dignitaries, educators, artists, and writers,
including J. Basanavicius, P. Bucys, K. Grinius, M. Gustaitis, J.
Jablonskis, V. Kudirka, P. Masiotas, J. Matulaitis-Matulevicius, V.
Pietaris, P. Vaicaitis, and T. Zilinskas. The 1918 declaration of
Lithuanian independence was signed by six Marijampole High School
graduates, namely J. Basanavicius, 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 Marijampole Local Lore Museum
