Marijampolė Municipality
Suvalkija
one of Suvalkija's oldest local-history museums
Vytauto g. 31, Marijampolė
54.55200, 23.34870
1-1.5 hours
year-round
Marijampolė Local History Museum, Sūduva Regional Museum
Marijampolė Regional Museum: Suvalkija's memory
The Marijampolė Regional and President Kazys Grinius Museum is one of the oldest museums in Suvalkija. VLE states that it was founded in 1933 as the Sodžius museum, and local historian Vincas Šlekys donated a large share of its first ethnographic exhibits. Over the decades it grew into the main repository of the region's history.
Today the museum's holdings contain more than 40,000 exhibits. They cover archaeology, ethnography, numismatics, photography, art, and documents, so the museum tells the story of the Sūduva region from the earliest periods to the twentieth century.
Turlojiškė Man and archaeology
The museum's most valuable archaeological exhibit is the so-called Turlojiškė Man: a roughly three-thousand-year-old human skeleton found in a bog and displayed in the permanent exhibition. It is a rare find of this age and offers a direct look into the prehistoric life of the region.
The archaeology collection is complemented by ethnographic and everyday-life collections formed since the first Sodžius museum. Through the permanent displays, visitors can follow changes in local homes, crafts, and the life of the city by the Šešupė.
The memory of President Kazys Grinius
The museum's name includes President Kazys Grinius for a reason. Grinius, the third President of the Republic of Lithuania, came from this region. In 1998, a memorial museum dedicated to him was established in the house where he had lived; in 2019 it was merged with the regional museum, which received its present name.
Besides the Grinius memorial, the institution includes other branches, among them the Vincas Mykolaitis-Putinas Memorial Museum and the Tauro District Partisans and Deportation Museum. One museum therefore covers regional history, personal memory, and the history of the freedom struggles.
How to visit
The main museum operates on Vytauto Street in central Marijampolė and is easy to reach on foot. Allow 1-1.5 hours for the main museum; if you also want to visit branches, plan more time.
Opening hours and ticket prices change, so information found during research should be checked on the official museum page before travelling. The visit combines well with Marijampolė Basilica, the Šešupė riverbank, and Poetry Park.
