- Place
- Molėtai District Municipality
- Region
- Aukštaitija
- Type
- regional history museum with a permanent exhibition and changing galleries
- Address
- Inturkės g. 4, Molėtai
- Coordinates
- 55.23196, 25.42092
- Visit duration
- 1-2 hours
- Best time
- during daytime from Tuesday to Sunday, allowing at least one hour for the permanent exhibition
Molėtai Museum
Key to the History of the Molėtai Region
The new permanent exhibition welcomed visitors from 12 June 2026, the day after its official opening. Its route starts with the lake landscape and the Luokesai pile dwellings, then continues to the upheavals of the 20th century and present-day Molėtai. It is designed as one regional narrative rather than a sequence of unrelated display cases.
Authentic objects are combined with video, sound, digital media, and short theatrical scenes. Actors connected with the Molėtai region and the young Remarka company embody historical figures, so visitors hear and watch part of the story rather than only reading labels.
From Lake Luokesai to princely families
Two pile dwellings about 2,500 years old, discovered on the bed of Lake Luokesai, form one of the exhibition's strongest anchors. Wet conditions preserved wooden spoons, birch-bark buckets, net fragments, floats, and fishing gear, revealing everyday life rather than an abstract prehistoric period.
Later chapters bring forward the Giedraitis and Radvila families, the Dubingiai castle site, and Barbara Radziwiłł. This connects Molėtai with the broader history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania while retaining a local focus on people and places.
A multilingual town, occupations, and Sąjūdis
Before the Second World War, Yiddish and Polish were heard alongside Lithuanian in the region. The museum treats this multilingual world as part of local identity and addresses the Holocaust, post-war partisan resistance, and deportations separately from lighter stories of daily life.
The Soviet period and Sąjūdis complete the chronological route. This sequence helps visitors see how political ruptures changed the people, languages, memory, and physical appearance of the Molėtai region.
A museum, art gallery, and exhibition halls under one roof
Following reconstruction completed in mid-2021, the building at Inturkės Street 4 houses the regional history display, Molėtai Art Gallery, an exhibition hall, and the Broma gallery. The full visit therefore changes with the temporary exhibition programme.
The new permanent display opened during the museum's 35th anniversary year. The 2026 renewal is not the beginning of a new institution, but a modern presentation of work and collections built over three and a half decades.
Opening hours, tickets, and planning your visit
On 21 July 2026, the official website listed visitor hours as 9:00-17:00 from Tuesday to Sunday, with Monday closed and the final Wednesday of each month designated as a cleaning day. Always check the museum website before travel, especially around public holidays.
Prices listed on the same date were EUR 5 for adults, EUR 3 for pupils, students, and pensioners, and EUR 10 for a family. Concessions and free admission apply to specified groups, but prices can change. Allow at least one hour for the permanent display and up to two hours with temporary exhibitions.
