Rumšiškės

Ethnographic museum in Rumšiškės

Rumšiškės is a Lithuanian town (population 1,700), situated east of Kaunas on the northern bank of Kaunas Lagoon. Southern part of the town (including the birthplace of Jonas Aistis) is now under the waters of the artificial lake. The 18th century St. Michael Archangel church of Rumšiškės (rebuilt in 19th century) was saved and moved to its present place in 1958, when the lake was created.

History

The old Rumšiškės was flooded by the Kaunas Lagoon, a lake created by a dam built at Kaunas in the 1950's. During World War 2, Nazis executed around 700 Lithuanian Jews near Rumšiškės[1].

Open air ethnographic museum

Today, Rumšiškės is best known for its excellent open-air ethnographic museum (established in 1966 and opened in 1974), one of the largest in Europe.

The Open-Air museum in Rumšiškės displays the heritage of Lithuanian rural life in a vast collection of authentic re-erected buildings where the Lithuanian people lived and worked. The total area of 175 ha contains 140 buildings from the 18th-19th century with the restored original interior and surroundings. This museum was established in order to help to preserve and research the former ways of living.

The buildings of this museum are exposed as farmsteads and they all together represent the main ethnographic regions of Lithuania: Aukštaitija, Zemaitija, Dzūkija and Suvalkija. The open-air Museum stores the most valuable constructions of farmsteads.

The territory of the museum is a very popular place were ethnographic festivals are celebrated and folk song and dance concerts are held. This museum is very easy to reach - it is located 18 km to the east of Kaunas near Kaunas-Vilnius highway.

--Lokyz 18:37, 1 August 2006 (UTC)