Birštono muziejus

About the museum

The Birštono muziejus (Birštonas Museum) was founded in 1966 in the wooden “Ramunė” villa (“Chamomile”), built around 1932 to a design commissioned by the forester Antanas Katelė. After the war the villa was used as a rest home. In the same year, 1966, marking the 120th anniversary of the spa, the teacher Petras Kazlauskas and his pupils set up a temporary exhibition on the history of Birštonas in the “Baltoji” (“White”) villa; in 1967 the museum became a branch of the Kaunas State History Museum. In 1993 it was handed over to the Birštonas municipality, and in 2000 the Sakralinis muziejus (Sacral Museum) was established.

The two-storey wooden building, with decorative turrets, a porch with columns and balconies, has kept its authentic wooden floors, windows and fragments of wall paint. The permanent exhibition tells of the old history of the town and its spa past: finds from the period of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, evidence of the spa's history in the 19th and 20th centuries, personal belongings of well-known doctors and spa figures, and examples of old spa equipment.

The most important exhibits are the phaeton that once travelled between Birštonas and Kaunas, the furniture and work tools of the dentist Ignas Šablauskas, the personal belongings of the balneologist Jurgis Venckūnas, a water pipe hollowed out of a tree trunk, a mud cart, a mineral water bath and a model of the surroundings made by Polish soldiers interned in Birštonas. The building also has spaces for changing exhibitions and museum educational activities.

Highlights

• The wooden “Ramunė” villa with turrets, porch and authentic floors
• Permanent exhibition on the old history of the town and its spa past
• The phaeton that once travelled between Birštonas and Kaunas
• Belongings of the doctors Jurgis Venckūnas and Ignas Šablauskas
• Old spa equipment and a model of the surroundings made by Polish soldiers

Permanent exhibition

• Senoji Birštono istorija ir kurortinė praeitis – The permanent exhibition in the wooden “Ramunė” villa on the history of the town, the development of the spa and well-known doctors.

Founded

1966

Operated by

Birštono savivaldybė

Admission & discounts

Ticket to the Birštonas Museum – €2; to both museums (the Birštonas and the Sacral Museum) – €3. Discounts apply; ask at the ticket office.

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