Jonava District Municipality
Aukštaitija
regional history museum in a historic horse-post station
J. Basanavičiaus g. 3, Jonava
55.07350, 24.27940
1-1.5 hours
year-round, as an indoor museum
Jonava Local History Museum, Jonava horse-post station
Jonava Regional Museum in the old post station
Jonava Regional Museum tells the history of the wider Jonava region from a special place: a surviving nineteenth-century horse-post station in the town centre near the Neris. This is one of those museums where the building is as important as the contents.
The museum collections hold more than 58,000 exhibits divided into history, ethnography, and art collections. Visitors meet the region's past from the earliest periods to the twentieth century, while the cellar displays archaeological finds from the vanished Skaruliai Manor.
Horse-post station on the Saint Petersburg-Warsaw route
The museum building is a Classicist horse-post station built in 1833-1835 as part of the Saint Petersburg-Warsaw route through Jonava. It was designed to a standard plan by Vaclovas Ričelis, architect for Vilnius Governorate post-station construction, and the main facade has a four-Doric-column portico.
It was a third-class post station with rest rooms, a waiting room, stables, and fodder stores. The great Jonava fire of 1905 devastated the town centre and damaged the station, so the present appearance formed after rebuilding. Later the building housed a communications centre and library, and the museum moved here in 1992. The complex is listed in the Cultural Heritage Register.
Museum history and collections
The museum began with the 1988 exhibition Old Jonava, for which residents and collectors donated more than 500 objects. On 1 August 1989 the Jonava Local History Museum opened in the house of former teacher and deportee Balys Garmus; in 1992 it was renamed Jonava Regional Museum and moved to the post station.
Since 2018 the museum has operated as a branch of Jonava District Municipality Cultural Centre. Its holdings include archaeology, photography, numismatics, art, postcards, and written heritage; an ethnoclub also gathers here to nurture sutartinės, sash weaving, and other crafts.
Skaruliai Manor archaeology and Jonava history
One distinctive exhibition is Skaruliai Manor archaeology in the museum cellar. The manor itself has disappeared, so its tiles, vessels, and other excavated ceramics are among the only tangible traces of the estate; the 1622 Skaruliai church still stands nearby.
The museum also tells the town's founding story: Jonava is regarded as a town founded by the Kosakovskiai family, with town privilege granted in 1750. A separate part of local history covers the large pre-war Jewish community of Jonava, which made up a substantial share of the town and was destroyed in the Holocaust in 1941.
Museum branches
Jonava Regional Museum has several branches outside the town: the Samulevičiai Memorial Homestead in Prauliai, linked with artist Antanas Samuolis and playwright Raimundas Samulevičius; the Folk Art and Crafts Centre in Šveicarija; and sculptor Konstantinas Bogdanas Memorial Museum in Žeimiai.
The Jonava Tourist Information Centre also operates in the same post-station complex, so the museum is a convenient starting point for a Jonava-region trip. The branches are in separate localities, so plan them in advance.
Visiting
Museum admission is free. Opening hours differ between summer and winter seasons, so check by phone or on the official page before arriving. The main exhibition usually takes 1-1.5 hours.
A Jonava-region trip can be combined with Skaruliai Church, museum branches, or nearby Aukštaitija sites such as Žeimiai Manor and Kėdainiai Old Town.
