Vince Ruzgas Memorial Cabinet
In 2005, the Vince Ruzgis (1890-1972) Memorial Cabinet was established in the museum. It displays the personal belongings, photographs, documents, letters, awards, textbooks and other exhibits of V. Ruzgis, the founder of the Museum and its long-time director, the director of the V. Kudirka Library, teacher and textbook author. In 2015, the Memorial Cabinet was renovated and expanded with newly acquired exhibits and items from the Museum’s collections. In 2021, the Ruzgis Memorial Cabinet was renovated and moved to new premises.
FROM THE DEPTHS OF THE AGES TO US
Two expositions introduce visitors to the development of education in Lithuania from the first mention of the first school at Vilnius Cathedral in 1397 to 1940. In addition to the history of pedagogy, the two exhibition halls also show the historical changes in the methods of displaying the museum’s treasures. There are both traditional showcases and school illustrations, creating an atmosphere that radiates the spirit of the different eras.
THE OLD PERIOD
The exhibition retraces the path of the spread of the Christian European educational experience in Lithuania, as well as highlights the influence of the Jesuit Order, the Reformation movement and Vilnius University on the formation of Lithuania’s education system. It shows how, in the 19th century, Tsarist Russia sought to turn the school into an instrument of Lithuanian Russification. The activities of the first promoters of the Lithuanian national school, S. Daukantas and M. Valančius are presented. Particular attention is paid to the secret school as a manifestation of national revival. The exhibition includes Lithuanian literature from the 18th and 19th centuries, textbooks, pupils’ notebooks, a school bell, pens and other school items, and a model of the secret school.
EDUCATION IN LITHUANIA 1904-1940
The exhibition includes documents, photographs, regulations of the first educational societies and rare textbooks illustrating the period of establishment of the national school in the early 20th century. In 1918-1940, a system of education based on democracy was established and operated in independent Lithuania. Each of its links – pre-school education, primary, secondary and higher education – is represented by separate exhibition stands. Visitors will be fascinated by the rich and extensive collection of teaching materials of the time. An interesting highlight of the exposition is the illustration of a primary school classroom – a model.
VISUAL TEACHING AIDS FOR ANCIENT NATURAL SCIENCES
The exposition introduces the visual teaching aids used in Lithuanian schools at the beginning of the 20th century: posters, moulages, models, herbaria, mineral collection. Most of the exhibition is devoted to biology. The branches of biological science are distinguished: botany (posters of plants and their structure, multimedia), zoology (posters of insects, birds, fish and other animals), human anatomy (first aid posters, models of the blood circulation, muscles and internal organs, multimedia). The unique collection of Indian hunting equipment brought by J. Budrys from Brazil illustrates how man depends on nature. Part of the exhibition is devoted to geology and palaeontology, and the collection of minerals, fossils and boulders of exceptional museum value by E. Golyškinas (which marks the beginning of museology in Kaunas) is presented. Interactive computer games integrated into the exposition help to deepen the existing knowledge and acquire new knowledge about birds, geological fossils, and experience positive emotions of discovery and cognition.
SAID – WRITTEN
It is an action-entertainment-experiential exposition adapted for live educational activities. In it, one can get to know the old ways and means of communication between people, the communications that are still used, to learn how our world was changed by icon, phonetic writing, computerization. One of them is the creative “workshop for the knowledge of the world” – a modernly renovated and equipped educational exercise area for the museum’s educational activities. The educational part of the exposition consists of eight directions of individual activities: “The Tradition of Western Writing” – a space in which the classical European evolution of the path of writing is represented; “Old School” – tells how our great-grandparents studied. Wax and gruffle tables, styles and inkjet, goose and metal feathers are attributes of this zone.” The Era of the Secretary” – twentieth century. The office of the secretary-typist of 5-7 decades. Typewriters, ready-to-print texts, hourglass for assessing the visitor’s printing abilities. The SOS signal, which saved more than one ship, sinks past, so the game zone “Secrets of morse code” teaches Morse code alphabet. Rhythmically “knocking” the letters with the key of the telegraph, visitors transmit a message to each other. “Touch the letter”, “Sign language” – spaces where visitors are introduced to the language of the deaf – the gestures they use, the movements, the mimicry, the writing of the blind, the history of Louis Braille. The secrets of coding are revealed by the most mysterious action zone “Codes”. Examples of Egyptian icons, hieroglyphs, demotic Sumerian writing, runes – patterns of ancient civilizations on the scoreboard “Signs, symbols, icons” arouse the curiosity of the visitor to guess their meanings. The exposition intrigues the visitor to even more inquire about the history of world civilizations, writing, and also allows you to spend their free time for both children in a high-quality and interactive way.
