Palanga Resort Museum

The establishment of a museum in Palanga was discussed as early as the beginning of the 20th century, when the “Palanga Friendship Society” was founded on 27 July 1907. Its founders were the brothers Count Felix and Alexander Tiškevičius (1864-1945), the professors Jan Ptazycki from St. Petersburg and Vytoldas Vroblevskis from Warsaw, the doctors Tadeusz Zahorski from Vilnius and J. Jokiel from Łódź, and the lawyer Oskar Szeller from Warsaw. The Society started with 32 members and later grew to about 200. Its aim was the development of health, medicine and culture. “In 1913 the Society of Friends of Palanga issued a publication describing valuable wild plant species typical of the Palanga region. Also published in Poznañ was a book in Polish by Dr Stanislaw Karvowski entitled ‘Palanga and Kretynga’, which describes not only the history of the area but also the construction of the marina. At the beginning of the 20th century, there was a call in the press to collect exhibits for the future museum in Palanga.

However, the museum was not created at that time. It was not until 1964, when the Statute of Local History Societies of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (LSSR) was adopted, that the initiatives of local history societies and the idea of establishing a museum in Palanga were revived. The societies operating in various towns of Lithuania were active in establishing ethnographic museums. In 1966, the Palanga branch of the LSSR Local History Society was established within the Palanga Executive Committee.

The pedagogue Emilija Adiklienė (1906-1993) was appointed the president of the society. The local historians of Palanga organised the Fund for the Protection of Historical Monuments, made a list of the town’s cultural monuments and a map, organised the writing of chronicles of the activities of the collectives and workers, collected memories of the fallen Soviet soldiers, described the crafts of the region, compiled folders – biographies of famous people of Palanga, and wrote down examples of folklore. Public exhibitions were held every year. During the first exhibition, held on 28 February 1969, expectations were expressed for the establishment of a museum and the allocation of museum premises for the storage of exhibits. In 1970, 193 exhibits were collected, a series of thematic files were prepared and descriptions of the old farmsteads of Palanga began. In 1971, more than 500 items were collected. In 1973 it was decided to organise the establishment of a public museum. In 1977, E. Adiklienė resigned from the chairmanship and began to organise expeditions on her own, during which she continued to explore the old homesteads of Palanga. In 1982, when the city authorities did not decide to establish a museum, she handed over all the collected exhibits to the then Lithuanian SSR Museum of History and Ethnography (now the Lithuanian National Museum).

30 May 2008 The conference “Palanga’s cultural heritage: to be or not to be?” took place on 30 May 2005 in the Public Library of the Municipality of Palanga. The conference presented the peculiarities of the development of Palanga from the second half of the 19th century to the first half of the 20th century, the assessment of the state of the cultural heritage values of the Palanga resort: The tendencies of the impact of the urbanisation process on the coastal landscapes, the discussion of the researches carried out on the state of the vegetation of the dunes of Palanga, the presentation of the knowledge of the underwater heritage of Palanga, the presentation of the myths and the reality of the protection of the cultural heritage in Palanga, the discussion of the possibilities of the contemporary protection of the heritage and the preservation of the urban heritage. The need to establish a museum of the Palanga region was discussed at this conference.

19 October 2011 The second conference was held in the Public Library of the Municipality of Palanga, where a resolution was adopted and the most important and necessary first steps for the establishment of the Resort Museum were written down. The first point recommended that the museum should not be called the Museum of the Palanga Region, but the Palanga Resort Museum. And so, a full century after the beginning of the vision for the museum, on 29 August 2013. The Municipal Council of Palanga took the final decision to establish the Palanga Resort Museum. It will be located in the historic villa “Anapilis”. The first director of the museum was Jūratis Viktoras Liachovičius (1946-2017), a Palanga historian, coordinator of various archaeological expeditions and leader of underwater heritage research expeditions.

Today, the Palanga Resort Museum is an important multifunctional centre that preserves, researches and represents the museum’s values, the important collection of Palanga’s visual heritage and the cultural values found in Palanga during archaeological research. The museum’s collections include archaeology, history, photography, numismatics, phalleristics, philately, art, the collections of the Palanga Local History Society and private collections. In 2016, the modernised museum organised contemporary and historical Lithuanian and foreign exhibitions, meetings with authors, historical and cultural researchers, educational activities, conferences, lectures, film screenings, concerts and other entertainment activities. Every year, the museum hosts the traditional events of the Museum Night, the city festival – Palanga Days, the art exhibition “Balta drobulė” (White Cloth), the poetry competition “Haiku for Palanga”, the exhibition from private collections “Palanga. Reflections of History”.

And although it has been a century since the vision of the Museum of the Palanga Region was first conceived, Palanga can be proud that after a long search for a location for the museum, it was decided to locate it in Villa Anapilis, a villa of historical significance to the resort. In 2013, the Palanga Municipal Council approved the establishment of the Palanga Resort Museum and its regulations. At the beginning of 2014, the museum staff started to work in the museum. As part of the “Museum without Barriers” project, the Palanga Resort Museum has a special room for people with disabilities. The Resort Museum is accessible to people with reduced mobility. There are wide corridors and a lift. The museum is regularly open to people with various disabilities. After visiting the museum and learning about the history of Palanga, disabled visitors can play on the interactive floor. Everyone can test their knowledge of Palanga’s history by answering quiz questions prepared and implemented by the museum staff. This is an innovative tool for developing motor coordination, reaction and logical thinking. The interactive floor will not only help develop motor skills, but other skills as well.

Opening hours of the Palanga Resort Museum

Low season (10.01-04.30)

II-VI 10.00-19.00

High season (05.01-09.30)

III-VII 10.00-19.00

Visitors are not admitted to the exhibitions half an hour before the museum closes.

On the eve of public holidays the museum is open one hour less.

Closed on public holidays.

Opening hours of the Palanga Resort Museum office

I-IV 8.00-17.00

V 8.00-15.45

Booking for excursions: tel. +370 460 30576

Birutės al. 34A, LT-00135 Palanga

+370 460 57216
kurortomuziejus@gmail.com