LITHUANIA 59

P Perkūnas House

Aleksoto 6. Tel (37) 302 994.

# 10am–4pm Mon–Fri, 11am–1pm

Sun. 8

The red-brick Gothic building

(Perkūno namai) was named

after Perkūnas, the god of

thunder. Dating from the early

1500s, it was initially a meet-

ing house for members of the

Hanseatic League. Bought by

the Jesuits, the house was

converted into a chapel

before becoming a theatre

and then a school. Later,

during the Soviet period, it

was used as a ware house. It is

now back with the Jesuits.

KAUNAS TOWN CENTRE

The red-brick Vytautas Church,

built by Vytautas the Great

R Vytautas Church

Aleksoto 3. Tel (37) 203 854.

5 6pm Tue–Thu, 10am & 6pm

Sat–Sun, noon Sun.

This church (Vytauto bažnyčia)

was built by Vytautas the

Great after the Holy Roman

Emperor decided in 1413 that

the land on Nemunas river’s

right bank belonged to

Lithuania’s Grand Duchy.

Used as an army store house

by Napoleon, it was later

converted to serve a Russian

VISITORS’ CHECKLIST

100 km (62 miles) W of Vilnius.

* 356,000. k £ @

n Laisvės alėja 36, (37) 323

436. _ International Jazz
     Festival (Apr). http://www.kaunas.lt

Cathedral of Sts Peter

and Paul 5

Church of the Holy Trinity 2

Church of St George 3

Devil’s Museum q

Kaunas Castle 4

Key to Symbols see back flap

P Laisvės Aleja

This pedestrianized street, set

in the heart of modern

Kaunas, is also called Freedom

Avenue. A monument out side

the Music Theatre at Laisvės 4

marks where Romas Kalanta, a

local student, set fire to

himself on 14 May 1972. His

suicide sparked student pro-

tests, which were suppressed.

E Mykolas Žilinskas

Art Gallery

Nepriklausomybės 12. Tel (37) 322

788. 
     

     11am–5pm Tue–Sun. & 8

     
     

     Named after the famous art
     connoisseur Mykolas
     Žilinskas, this gallery (Mykolo
     Žilinsko dailės galerija)
     houses the valu able art collec-
     tion he donated to Kaunas in
     the 1970s. Besides paintings
     and porcelain from the 16th
     to the 20th centuries, including
     The Crucifixion by Rubens,
     the gallery also includes pre-
     war paintings and sculptures
     by Baltic artists.

     
     

E M K Čiurlionis Art Museum

V Putvinskio 55. Tel (37) 229 475.

# 11am–5pm Tue–Sun. & 8

Housing the paintings of the

Lithuanian artist Čiurlionis,

this museum (M K Čiurlionio

dailės muziejus) also offers an

insight into the deve lopment

of art in Lithuania. It is the

country’s biggest art gallery,

with 335,000 exhi bits. Artifacts

from other cultures include

pieces from ancient Egypt.

E Devil’s Museum

V Putvinskio 64. Tel (37) 221 587.

# Oct–May: 11am–5pm Tue–Sun;

Jun–Sep: 10am–5pm Tue–Sun.

& 8 - =

This museum’s (Velnių

muziejus) collection of

representations of devils,

demons and witches from

Lithuania and around the

world, was brought together

by avid collector Antanas

Žmuidzinavičius. A sculpture

of Hitler and Stalin fight ing

over Lithuania in a pit of bones

is grim, but most of the devils

are shown with humour.

The silver-blue onion domes of

the Church of St Michael dom-

in ate the street’s eastern end.

Built in the early 1890s, it was

originally Russian Orthodox,

but later served as a German

Army church dur ing World

War I, and, soon after, became

a Lithuanian Army church.

Laisvės Aleja 8

M K Čiurlionis Art Museum 0

Mykolas Žilinskas Art Gallery 9

Old Town Hall 1

Perkūnas House 6

Vytautas Church 7

congregation. After Lithuania’s

first indepen dence in 1918, a

reconstruction took place. In

1930, a medallion was placed

in the church wall to comme-

morate the 500th death anni-

versary of Vytautas.

since 1800. The oldest painting

in the cathedral, the Suffering

Mother of God, is reputed to

have miraculous powers.

Railway Station

800 m (885 yards)

VILNIUS

Bus Station

450 m (500 yards)

Airport

10 km (6 miles)

City

Garden

Mykolas Žilinskas

Art Gallery

Church of the

Resurrection

Church of

St Michael

Music

Theatre

M K Čiurlionis

Art Museum

Devil’s

Museum

Philharmonic

Hall

NEPRIKLAUSOMYBĖS

A MACKEVIČI V PUTVINSK IO GATVĖ

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