military museum of vytautas the great

Saw exhibition of all war history and equipment.Found out what interests me the most- collections of swords and old rifles

A good museum, charging a very small entrance fee. We used the free audio guide available as some exhibits did not have English information.MOf particular interest upstairs us the wreck of the ill-fated aeroplaneLituanica and the story of pilots Darius and Girenas.

Because I like all about wars, so this museum I liked best of all Kaunas. I was with friends and they said same.

Military museum of Vytautas the Great is located in the very centre of the city. For hidtory lovers it is a real treasury. One can learn a lot about the history of Lithuania, its celebrated people and deeds. The remains of the plane "Lituanica" on which Famous Lithuanian pilots Dariu and Girenas crosed the Atlantic Ocean is the most sacred exibit. The museum is really worth visiting.

Really like this museum, a mixture of arms and a history of Lithuanian struggle, in a very pretty setting. Biggest downside is that the exhibits are only randomely accompanied by English explanations, with some exhibits intriguing for their lack of explanation if you don't fully grasp the Lithuanian! Particulalry interesting are the rooms on Lithuanian pre-history.

All the exhibits have descriptions in firstly their own language and then English, which was a great help. Very interesting, lots to see, the most moving part is outside, where they have the eternal flame. Beautiful peaceful atmosphere.

Interesting museum, part of it was in reconstruction during my visit. Possibility to know more about Lithaunian military and history. Museum is not large, but nice. Staff kind, no dislikes. Liked.

Rainy day? Interested in war history and equipment? Have spare couple hours? You won't find better place to go!

i normally like to visit different countries war museums, at the time the museum was getting refurbished, it didnt have a huge selection of exibits but there was enough to pass the time for about a half hour and out side it had the monument for the unknown soldier

It is an interesting museum of Lithuanian war history, nice building and yard of the museum, children like to sit on lions statues near the entrance. But take a look on the museums work time! It is not ordinary!

A fairly standard military museum, reasonably good if you like this kind of thing, but probably not a priority attraction if you are less keen. There is a less-than-obvious upstairs bit, so don't miss that by accident. The fee for photography is extortionate - and the thing I'd have liked to take a photo of to help me find out more about (a model train) was right where the staff were stood.

they are actually buidling - expanding artefacts at exhibition there, this is probably the smallest military musem i have ever seen, it includes also something about archeology of the region. It needs more information in English for foreigners, otherwise sometimes you do not get clue....

This monolithic soviet era building almost sucks the life out of the surrounding area. But dare to venture inside and you will be rewarded. Before you get to the museum itself there’s a plaza which was used for mass celebration of national holidays when Kaunas was temporary capital of Lithuania.It’s lined with statues of Lithuanian national renaissance figures and there’s a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with an eternal flame (try to resist warming your hands there during one of their winters).So head up the steps past the odd gun and a lion or two and once you’ve managed to heave the big iron door aside - you’ll be in a bright and airy, high-ceilinged space. Cheap tickets (£1 each). Didn’t interact with the staff but they didn’t seem interested in volunteering much either. It’s considered to be one of the most important museums in Lithuania, but to be honest, I find that most museums are as dull as hell if you don’t know what you’re looking at, so it’s probably worth filling in a few gaps before you go.As you’d expect, it‘s full of things to do with local wars – iron-age archaeological finds, rifles, hand pistols, armour, machine guns, ammunition, petrol bombs, uniforms, staff cars, cannons etc. There are models and exhibitions of Lithuania’s stone/iron age and, understandably, a large area dedicated to when Lithuania was the biggest state in Europe. This is one of the highlights because Grand Duke Vytautas and his team had a major away win in the 15th Century by beating the mighty Teutonic knights at the Battle of Grunewald. Annexing Belorussia, Latvia and parts of Estonia, Moldova, Poland, Russian and Ukraine all the way to the Black Sea.He’s a national hero and there’s a big statue of Vytautas at the back of the foyer along with a painting of the battle of Grunewald. He’s even had some mineral water named after him (although, if you’ve seen it, I’m not sure he would have approved of their controversial viral ad campaign!).There’s also the intrepid book smugglers from the late 19th Century. Which sounds almost comical but underlines the bravery of ordinary locals who defied the Russian Imperial occupiers by smuggling Lithuanian books from all over the world and keeping the language alive. Rendering the predatory Cyrillic books toothless in their attempt to silence the Lithuanian language for good and literally rewrite their history.Another highlight is the actual wreck of the "Lituanica". A little two-seater plane which Lithuanian/American aviators Steponas Darius and Stasys Girenas attempted to become the first people to cross the Atlantic in a light aircraft by flying non-stop from New York to Kaunas in 1933. Remarkably they didn’t have any navigational equipment and flew through dense fog – yet the flight was one of the most precise in aviation history. Right up until they crashed mysteriously (possibly shot down) when flying over German territory. Just 600 miles or so from the record.Be prepared. The twisted, mangled fuselage, propeller and wings lying in a big glass box is actually quite moving. And you can certainly see why they didn’t survive.Finally there are some exhibits that are dedicated to the 1991 uprisings when Lithuania proudly became the first country to escape the soviet yoke. Including a very ‘street’ Molotov cocktail.There is English next to many of the items but not enough. And there was a whole room being done up with a temporary exhibition on display boards which was only in Lithuanian. Which is a crying shame in the unlikely event that you’re from another country and can’t read the language…35 litas to take photographs is a rip off (that’s £9 and the price of a good meal out here). Plus I can’t really see the point of it, as it needs the publicity and surely the more photos of the exhibits that are on the web – the more people will see something that inspires them to go and they’ll make more money that way.So if I was being harsh it would only warrant a ‘good’ - but I’ve bumped it up to ‘Very Good’ because it looks like it needs the visitors and there’s no other museum I can think of that has a famous plane-wreck in it!

I have been there a while ago, but it sure is interesting. Quite a lot of various exhibits. And the location is great. Will definitely go there again sometime.

Very spacious , well described exhibits . Sad though when I went the aviaton exhibits were under refurb.Nice staff ... I arrived half an hour before official opening , but they let me in