History

Museum’s exhibition halls

Map of Lithuania

From "Atlas sive Cosmographicae meditationes..." by Gerard Mercatorius. Duisburg, 1595. It is the first map of Lithuania published on a separate sheet, compiled circa 1570 and included in the third edition of Mercatorius’s atlas of 1595

Baptismal font

Master Zakhary Schneider. Vilnius, 1655. The baptismal font was given to the Kėdainiai Church of Evangelical Reformats by Grand Hetman of GDL Janusz Radziwiłł

The collections of the History Department have almost 300 thousand exhibits covering the period from the formation of the Lithuanian state until today. The bulk of these collections consists of exhibits of the Museum of Antiquities founded in 1855, which reflect the political, social, economic and cultural history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The collections of the Lithuanian State Museum and the Museum of the History of Religions, which were affiliated to the National Museum in the late 20th century, were a valuable contribution to the collections of the History Department. The accumulated material is shown in thematic exhibitions and presented in the publications of the National Museum of Lithuania.