Vilnius City Municipality
Vilnius
art museum in the historic Radvila Palace
Vilniaus g. 24, Vilnius
54.68650, 25.27910
1-2 hours; longer with temporary exhibitions
Thursday evening or a quieter weekday afternoon
Radvila Palace, RRDM, Radziwiłł Palace
A museum in the Radvila Palace
Radvila Palace Museum of Art operates on Vilniaus Street, in the historic Jonušas Radvila palace complex. Here the museum's content begins even before you enter the exhibition: the palace remains recall the political and cultural weight of one of the most influential families of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
The Lithuanian National Museum of Art presents this branch as a space for historic and contemporary art, education, and exhibitions. For that reason it is not only a palace-history display; it functions as an art institution where architectural past and current exhibitions constantly overlap.
Traces of Jonušas Radvila's residence
In the sixteenth century a wooden residence associated with Mikalojus Radvila the Black stood here. In 1646, the Grand Hetman of Lithuania and Voivode of Vilnius Jonušas Radvila (1612-1655) began building a masonry residence to a design by architect Jonas Ulrich. It was a U-shaped Renaissance complex with Mannerist decoration: four two-storey wings linked at the corners by five three-storey pavilions. The only iconographic source from that time is Sebastian Dadler's 1653 medal, created when Jonušas Radvila became Voivode of Vilnius.
After the 1655-1660 Muscovite army invasion, the palace was damaged and remained neglected for centuries. In the early nineteenth century, owner Dominykas Jeronimas Radvila transferred it to the Vilnius Charity Society, which managed the buildings until 1940. Two three-storey pavilions and two two-storey wings with almost authentic facades survive today; one pavilion was demolished by Soviet film-makers in 1965. Visitors should therefore not expect a fully rebuilt seventeenth-century complex: the palace history is read through fragments, plans, and iconography.
Old and contemporary art
Long-term exhibitions change, but the museum's direction is well described by two axes: sixteenth- to nineteenth-century Western European painting collections and contemporary, socially sensitive exhibitions. The Lithuanian National Museum of Art has mentioned displays such as Protest Art from the Tarasov Collection and presentations of old European painting.
This combination lets one museum show different roles of art. Old painting reveals traditions of collecting, iconography, and craft, while contemporary projects ask questions about memory, citizenship, and artistic response to political circumstances.
From restoration to renewed museum
Palace restoration work began in 1967, and the second western pavilion was rebuilt in 1984 to a design by architect Evaldas Zulonas. A Lithuanian Art Museum branch has operated in the Radvila Palace since 1990. In recent years the museum has been renewed in stages: a new permanent exhibition opened on October 9, 2020, and the southern wing reopened after reconstruction on March 15, 2023.
This matters when planning a visit because the museum is not static. Its spaces and exhibitions have been expanding gradually, so even previous visitors can find a new exhibition logic.
Hours and tickets
At the time of review, the official ticket page of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art listed the hours as Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday 11:00-19:00, Thursday 12:00-20:00, Sunday 11:00-17:00; closed on Mondays and public holidays.
At the time of review, a ticket cost 6 EUR, with a discounted ticket at 3 EUR. Check prices, exhibition composition, and last-entry rules on the official museum page before travelling.
