House Museum of Venclova Family

Exposition

Exposition

The European Night of Museums

House Museum of Venclova Family

Contacts
Address: Pamėnkalnio g.34, LT-01114, Vilnius.
Tel. (+370 ~ 5) 262 85 25, mob. +370 678 83 665.
E-mail: info.venclovos@vilniausmuziejai.lt
http://www.vilniausmuziejai.lt/venclova/index.htm
Head of the Museum – Justina Juozėnaitė.

Information for Visitor

Opening hours:
Monday to Friday 10–17.

Collection
Home collection of Venclova family is comprised of around 8 thousand pieces. It includes the funds of Antanas Venclova and of Tomas Venclova, as well as recently established fund of Račkauskas family.

Exposition
A. Venclova's Exposition of Memorial Cabinet is set up according to D. Skrebiene's project and reflects years 1950-1970, Vilnius' Lithuanian intellectuals' life. Many Lithuanian writers and intellectuals visited and socialized in this cabinet. T. Venclova came to full growth among exhibited items in the museum - poet, essayist, and publicist of wide views, Yale University professor.

Exhibitions
The museum organizes literature exhibitions.

Cultural, educational activity
The Museum acquaints with 1950-1970 living manner of Vilnius Lithuanian intellectuals.

History of the Museum
From 1973 to 1990 the Vilnius Writers' Museum existed in the Antanas Venclova (1906–1971) apartment where the writer lived since 1946.
Memorial Home-Museum of A. Venclova was reorganized into memorial Cabinet of A. Venclova in 1991 located at Vilnius House of Lithuanian Culture, and after that, in 1996 – at Vilnius Centre of Ethnic Activities. The museum was titled “Home-Museum of Venclova Family” in 2004. Since June of 2005 this museum is included in the Directorate of Memorial Museums of Vilnius along with Memorial Home-Museum of B. Grincevičiūtė “House of Beatričė”, Memorial Home-Museum of V .Krėvė-Mickevičius and Memorial Home-Museum of V. Mykolaitis-Putinas.

Antanas Venclova
A. Venclova (1906–1971), writer, born in Trempiniai, county of Kalvarija.
He studied Lithuanian, Russian and French literature at the University of Kaunas. Graduating in 1932, he worked as a high school teacher. Apart from his teaching work, he edited the literary journal Trečias frontas (The Third Front) in 1930–1931 and the almanac Prošvaistė (Gleam) in 1939–1940.
When the Soviet Union occupied Lithuania in 1940, he was appointed Lithuanian People's Commissar for Education. He retreated to Russia at the outbreak of the German-Russia war in 1941, returning with the Red Army in 1944.
During 1944–1946 he taught literature at the University of Kaunas and was head of the department of Lithuanian language and literature.
From 1946 until his death on June 28, 1971, he lived in Vilnius.
In 1949 he was elected a member of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences and during 1954–1959 he was president of the Lithuanian Writers' Union; from 1941–1962 he served as a deputy to the Supreme Soviet.
Venclova was an exceptionally productive writer; he wrote verses, short stories, novels, literary essays, as well as biographical sketches, travel impressions and reminiscences.
His collections of verses include Sutemų skersgatviuose (In Alleys of Twilight, 1926), Gatvės švinta (Streets are Dawning, 1927), Šalies jaunystė (Youth of the Country, 1947), Žemė gera (The Earth is Good, 1963), Vakarinė žvaigzdė (Evening Star, 1971).
His poetry is very uneven. The earlier verses are experimental and lack originality. Verses written in Russia during the war convey genuine nostalgia and love of his native country. His post-war poetry, declamatory in form and hortatory in character, suffers from artificialities and clichés. His later verses are reflective in tone and content and gain in sincerity and lyrical quality. 
He published several collections of short stories, including Beržai vėtroje (Birches in the Storm, 1930), Naktis (The Night, 1939), Mirtis Lisabonoj (Death in Lisbon, 1967); and the novels: Draugystė (Friendship, 1936) and Gimimo diena (Birthday, 1959).
His important essays on literature were collected in Laikas ir rašytojai (Time and Writers, 1958), Epochos vėjas (Wind of the Epoch, 1962) and Literatūra ir liaudis (Literature and People, 1974).
He wrote three volumes of memoirs: Pavasario upė (The River of Spring, 1964), Jaunystės atradimas (In Search of Youth, 1966) and Vidurdienio vėtra (Storm at Noon, 1969).
He translated among others works of Guy de Maupassant, B. Kellermann, C. Dickens, V. Kataiev, M. Gorky, B. Pasternak, and A. Pushkin into Lithuanian.