Palanga Mayor Jonas Šliūpas Museum

Palanga Mayor Jonas Šliūpas Museum – an open meeting place where different opinions, communities, and generations can hear each other, learn about themselves and others. Today, the home of Jonas Šliūpas is open to relevant, not always comfortable stories or contemporary topics, to a variety of artistic styles and ideas, to dialogue and respect for different opinions. It is a home that provides shelter for the stories told by artifacts, artists, and other creators who often raise social issues and conflicts that are not always comfortable for society in their work.

The museum building is a single-story wooden villa with an attic, built at the end of the 19th century by the Counts Tiškevičiai. The most ornate part is the main southeast façade with openwork ornamented cornices, a balcony railing, profiled window frames with openwork transoms and diamond-shaped windows in the attic. The Counts Tiškevičiai played a particularly important role in the modernization of Palanga and the development of the resort’s infrastructure. The Counts Tiškevičiai rented their villas in Palanga to their courtiers, who in turn rented them to vacationers visiting the resort.

During World War I, the building housed a German topographical office, which recorded the changes in the beach embankments after storms. When Palanga became part of the independent state of Lithuania, many villas and guesthouses changed owners. From 1931 to 1944, Jonas Šliūpas (1861–1944) lived in the villa with his family. In 1933, when Palanga was granted city rights, Jonas Šliūpas became the first mayor of the city, leading it with interruptions from 1933 to 1941. While serving as mayor, J. Šliūpas set up an office in his home, where he discussed and resolved issues related to the city’s activities and residents with the people of Palanga. With the second Soviet occupation approaching, the Šliūpas family left their home in 1944 and moved to Brėgencas (Austria). J. Šliūpas died on November 6, 1944, in Berlin (Germany) and was buried in the Lithuanian National Cemetery in Chicago (USA).

A museum was opened in this building on July 7, 1989. In 2020, the Dr. Jonas Šliūpas Memorial Homestead-Museum was renamed the Palanga Mayor Jonas Šliūpas Museum. The building was renovated in 2022–2023. After the renovation, an external lift for people with disabilities was installed in the museum building, valuable elements of the building were restored and repaired, its valuable features were preserved and revealed, and the building’s energy efficiency was improved. Much attention was paid to the renovation of the exhibition space, and educational and expanded temporary exhibition rooms were installed. On the way to the museum, from Vytauto Street, visitors are greeted by a bust of Jonas Šliūpas on a renovated path. The monument was created by sculptors Aloyzas Toleikis and Donatas Lukoševičius, and architect Jolanta Galdikienė.

Jonas Šliūpas was a freethinker, promoter of Lithuanian ideas, fighter for Lithuanian identity in Lithuania and the US, born on March 6, 1861, in the village of Rakandžiai, Gruzdžiai parish, Šiauliai district. He was an impressive personality who wrote many books, published newspapers, met many people, and was active in many areas. Jonas Šliūpas was a free man full of ideas, some of which were modern and acceptable, but others did not meet the expectations of the conservative community. He was an excellent orator, his life was full of extreme situations and various disputes, but he was always a man of good intentions and ideas for his life.

Today, when you visit the museum, you will feel the spirit of this progressive and uncompromising personality. The house of Jonas Šliūpas hosts exhibitions of famous Lithuanian and international artists, as well as historical and authentic artifacts.

The exhibition “Who was afraid of Šliūpas” is on display in the museum’s entrance hall. Using comics created by Miglė Anušauskaitė, we reveal the multifaceted and not always “convenient” personality of Jonas Šliūpas in a fun way, without trying to heroize him.

The museum is a meeting place where communities, famous Lithuanian artists, historians, cultural experts, art critics, and other creators explore issues of historical and cultural identity relevant to local residents and the region through cultural and creative practices, actualizing events and personalities, reflecting and searching for new meanings of place. Today, the Jono Šliūpas House is open to relevant, not always comfortable stories or contemporary themes, to a variety of artistic styles and ideas, to dialogue and respect for different opinions, where different communities and generations learn and discover themselves and others. The museum organizes tours, educational programs, and creative workshops for schoolchildren and young people, collaborates with social partners, and improves the museum’s accessibility for people with special needs.

Address and contacts

Vytauto g. 23A, Palanga

+370

j.sliupo.muziejus@lnm.lt

https://lnm.lt/muziejai/jono-sliupo-muziejus

Facebook – www.facebook.com/sliupomuziejus

Instagram – www.instagram.com/sliupomuziejus

Opening

Wednesday–Friday 10 a.m.–5 p.m.

Saturday 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

Sunday 11am–4pm

Ticket price for adults: €4.