Mažeikiai District Municipality
Samogitia
Family memorial exhibition, a branch of Mažeikiai Museum
Bažnyčios g. 6, Viekšniai, Mažeikiai District
56.23490, 22.51560
30-45 minutes, with advance registration
year-round, as an indoor exhibition
Professors M. V. V. Biržiškos Memorial Exhibition, Biržiška Brothers Memorial Exhibition, Viekšnių Biržiškų memorialinis muziejus
Viekšniai Biržiška Family Memorial Museum: a family of three professors
Viekšniai Biržiška Family Memorial Museum is housed in the recreated home of the famous Biržiška family near the Viekšniai church. It remembers one of Samogitia's most distinguished intellectual families: three professor brothers were born here, Mykolas, Vaclovas, and Viktoras Biržiška.
Officially this is the Professors M. V. V. Biržiškos Memorial Exhibition, a branch of Mažeikiai Museum. The Viekšniai town library also operates in the same house: two institutions, one home.
The Biržiškos family
The head of the family was doctor Antanas Biržiška, who worked in Viekšniai. His sons became important figures in Lithuanian scholarship and public life: Mykolas Biržiška (1882-1962) was a signatory of the February 16, 1918 Act of Independence, a literary historian, and rector of Vytautas Magnus and Vilnius universities; Vaclovas Biržiška (1884-1956) was a bibliographer, pioneer of book studies, and compiler of Aleksandrynas; Viktoras Biržiška (1886-1964) was a mathematician and one of the builders of the Lithuanian army.
The Biržiškos home was a cultural centre for the region. Jonas Basanavičius, Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas, Balys Sruoga, and others visited it, and during the Lithuanian press ban prohibited publications were hidden in the house. In 2018 the remains of all three brothers were reburied in Rasos Cemetery in Vilnius.
Recreated homestead and exhibition
The wooden family house was built in the nineteenth century and eventually deteriorated. In 2005 it was demolished because of its dangerous condition, and in 2008 it was recreated on the old foundations according to a design by architect K. Bubnaitis, repeating its authentic appearance. In 1998 the homestead had been declared a cultural monument.
In 2009, marking the 125th anniversary of Vaclovas Biržiška's birth, a memorial exhibition opened in the house. It consists of two rooms: one dedicated to the parents, with the authentic writing desk of doctor Antanas Biržiška, and the other to the lives and work of the three brothers.
Visiting
The exhibition is small and must be visited by advance telephone registration. During research it was open Tuesday to Friday 9:00-17:00 and Saturday 9:00-16:00. There is no separate ticket: entry is included in the Viekšniai Pharmacy Museum ticket.
A visit takes 30-45 minutes. A trip around Viekšniai pairs well with the Pharmacy and Griškevičius museums, and nearby with other Venta-side sites in Samogitia.
