- Place
- Kretinga District Municipality
- Region
- Samogitia
- Type
- private family museum containing approximately 1,700 hedgehog figurines, souvenirs, and images
- Address
- 56 Genių St, Kretinga
- Coordinates
- 55.87378, 21.21053
- Visit duration
- 30-60 minutes; up to 90 minutes for a children's group with stories and activities
- Best time
- any daylight appointment agreed with the owners in advance
Birutė's Hedgehogs, Hedgehog Museum, Seaside Hedgehog Museum
From one amber hedgehog to a separate museum
The collection began not with a museum plan but with a sad incident at the family home. Around 2011, a dog fatally injured a hedgehog that entered the yard, and Vaidotas Kisielius bought a small amber hedgehog to comfort his wife Birutė. Children, relatives, and friends soon began adding more.
When the figures outgrew the house, two rooms in a small garden building were given to the collection. It held more than 500 hedgehogs when the museum was publicly introduced in 2019, the municipality reported over 800 in 2023, and the owners counted about 1,700 in 2025. The numbers mark stages of growth rather than conflicting present totals.
Museum here means a family collection opened to visitors, not a branch of Kretinga Museum or a state collection repository. The small scale and conversation with the collectors are precisely its strengths: personal connections, gifts, and memories matter more than monumental exhibition design.
1,700 ways to picture a hedgehog
Mass-produced souvenirs stand beside one-off crafts made from ceramic, wood, glass, metal, amber, stone, paper, yarn, straw, and pinecones. Plush toys, candles, and Christmas ornaments share the shelves with postcards, calendars, books, paintings, and children's drawings.
Some of the most revealing objects are not the most ornate. The collection includes a hedgehog potato-peeler holder, biscuit cutter, grater, Soviet-era plastic toys, glass Christmas ornaments, and pieces commissioned for specific recipients. Together they show one animal moving through household design, advertising, children's culture, and decorative art.
Hedgehogs have arrived from across Lithuania and from abroad, including Norway, the Netherlands, and Hawaii. A country does not always identify where an item was made; it may record where it was found or who carried it to Kretinga, so ask not only where but whose story lies behind it.
Every gift becomes part of the collection's biography
Much of the collection grew through gifts rather than purchases. Former pupils of Birutė, who worked as a teacher, now live around the world; neighbours bring finds from work trips, visitors pass on childhood collections, and makers create one-off pieces specifically for the museum.
One especially personal object is a hedgehog embroidered by a family friend living with severe Parkinson's disease. Another was stitched by the couple's daughter while travelling and acquired the name Plungė after she hurriedly got off at the wrong town. Such stories reveal more than an object's material or price ever could.
In 2023, Kretinga's municipal library displayed part of the collection in a public exhibition. It demonstrated that the private hobby also circulates beyond the family yard, although the main display and the owners' narration remain at the Genių Street property.
What children can expect, and what is not here
This is not a live-hedgehog rescue centre, zoo, or natural-history exhibition. Its subject is the image of the hedgehog in souvenirs and objects. Tell children before the trip so they do not arrive expecting to feed or pet a wild animal.
Birutė, a former teacher, tells groups the stories behind objects and prepares activities and games for children, while the garden provides room to move. A Kretinga preschool planned a club visit in 2025, and a municipal report submitted in 2026 also records children's trips to the museum.
Many fragile objects sit on shelves within reach in a small room, so keep younger children close and establish what may be touched. Groups should agree participant numbers, activity length, food arrangements, and use of the garden before arriving.
Visit by arrangement: this is a private home property
The Hedgehog Museum stands at 56 Genių Street in Kretinga on the private property of Birutė and Vaidotas Kisieliai. No permanent public opening schedule is posted, so do not arrive unannounced. Agree a time by calling +370 675 42318 or +370 670 46649.
Admission is presented as free. A new hedgehog for the collection is a welcome but optional gift, not a compulsory ticket. If you would like to contribute, ask which materials, countries, or themes are missing so that you do not bring a duplicate mass-produced souvenir.
A dedicated visitor car park, accessible toilet, and step-free route are not described publicly. When arranging the visit, also ask where to park, whether a wheelchair, dog, or larger group can be accommodated, and whether the entire display is open that day. Respect the owners' privacy and seek permission before photographing people or residential spaces.
