Plan your visit
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday 12.00 to 18.00, Wednesday, 12.00 to 20.00.
Ticket prices
Adult – 5,00 €
Concessions* – 2,50 €
Combo ticket
Museums in Vilnius (every branch of National Museum of Lithuania that is located in Vilnius) – 30,00 €
* Full-time pupils of schools of general education; full-time students of schools of higher education; citizens of the Republic of Lithuania and other countries of the European Union studying full-time in schools of higher education in the member states of the European Union; pensioners (under 80); persons who suffered from the occupations between 1939 and 1990 – political prisoners and deportees, former inmates of ghettos and concentration or other forced labour camps; persons who fought for the independence of the Republic of Lithuania and suffered from Soviet aggression on 11–13 January 1991 and onwards; participants in the resistance movement against the occupations between 1940 and 1990 – volunteer soldiers and freedom fighters; teachers. Discount is applied upon presentation of an appropriate ID.
Exposition is free of charge for the following visitors:
pre-school children; orphans and children who have lost guardianship by their parents; people with a disability and their one accompanying person; persons from 80 years of age; employees of Lithuania’s museums; members of the International Council of Museums (ICOM); residents of children care homes and socially supported children; teachers accompanying groups of schoolchildren; Vilnius Pass card holders (valid for visiting The New Arsenal, The Old Arsenal, The House of Signatories, Gediminas Castle Tower, The Bastion of the Vilnius Defence Wall, Kazys Varnelis House-Museum, House of Histories); students of Lithuanian art schools for children and youth; students of Vilnius College of Technologies and Design; students of Balys Dvarionas decennary music school; members of the Lithuanian Association of Art Historians; members of the International Association of Art Critics; members of the Lithuanian Association of Archaeologists; guides with valid guide ID; guides accompanying groups of tourists; employees of the Cultural Heritage Department at the Ministry of Culture and its territorial branches; cadets and conscripts from General Jonas Žemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania; soldiers of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas Headquarters Battalion; members of the Lithuanian army volunteer union; employees of Lithuanian Post; journalists; Family Card holders; students of Vilnius Academy of Arts; students of the Faculty of History at Vilnius University; citizens of Ukraine; organised migrant groups; all visitors on the last Sunday of each month.
Educational activities of the National Museum of Lithuania’s expositional locations are free of charge for the following visitors:
children under 3 years of age; residents of children care homes and socially supported children; people with a disability and their one accompanying person; teachers accompanying groups of schoolchildren.
Concessions are applied upon the visitor providing valid ID that prooves right to specific concessions. This ID requirement does not apply to pre-school children and all visitors on the last Sunday of each month.
Information for disabled visitors: exhibition halls does not have wheelchair access.
General visitor regulations of the National Museum of Lithuania
About us
The Former Detention House stands at 1 Kosčiuškos Street, at the confluence of the Neris and Vilnia rivers. The last prisoners left the building in August 2019.
What will you learn?
It’s a space for temporary exhibitions: press here
History of the building
According to ancient historical sources, a palace belonging to the Chodkevičius family, noblemen of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, once stood on this site. During the 16th and 17th centuries the building was ruled by another family, the Sanguškos. Throughout the 18th century the palace had a series of other owners.
Stone buildings were erected in this location in the second half of the 18th century. At the beginning of the 19th century, Czarist Russian authorities expropriated the building and manor site from its final owner, Jonas Chodasevičius. Shortly afterwards the occupying authorities turned Gediminas Hill and the surrounding territory into a military bastion, and the Former Detention House began to serve military purposes.
The building at first contained a barracks and later became a prison for political prisoners. During the 1863–1864 Uprising more than 1,000 individuals were held here, including eight of the 21 rebels condemned to death. After they were executed in Lukiškės Square, these rebels’ bodies were secretly buried on Gediminas Hill.
The building continued to function as a detention centre until the fall of 2019. Only its administrators changed: run by Imperial Russian officers up until the First World War, the building was subsequently taken over by Polish and then German policemen, Soviet militiamen, and finally newly independent Lithuania’s authorities. As soon as the last prisoners left the building it was handed over to the National Museum of Lithuania, and today this unusual museum site has been adapted for holding exhibitions.
Contacts
Address
T. Kosciuškos g. 1, Vilnius
+370 (5) 239 45 74
How to find us?