Looking forward to Christmas: events in the galleries and museums of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art
Advent starts the joyful waiting for Christmas, the greatest holiday of the year. The divisions of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art in Vilnius and in coastal Lithuania invite to spend this time in a meaningful way and to take part in the rich programme of cultural events. Starting 1 December, the visitors are awaited at the educational events, exhibition tours, creative workshops, performances, concerts for children and adults, lectures on the theme of Christmas, Christmas theatre, crafting of Christmas postcards and decorations, and other engaging activities. Some of the events of the programme will be in the Lithuanian and English languages. Some of these creative events and tours can offer flexible times, when pre-scheduled by visitors or groups. Come for a whiff of festive spirit!
Vilnius Picture Gallery (Didžioji St. 4, Vilnius):
6 p.m. Friday, 15 December – concert A Shadow of My Beloved: The French Baroque Royal Court Arias by the ancient music ensemble Lux Maris (Renata Dubinskaitė – mezzosoprano, artistic director; Karl Nyhlin (Sweden) – lute, theorbo. Free entrance.
1 p.m. Saturday, 16 December – workshop for crafting a Nativity set; at 4 p.m. Christmas-season home theatre **.
3 p.m. Sunday, 17 December – concert of classical music Concert by the Students of the Lithuania Music and Theatre Academy. Free entrance.
5.30 p.m. Tuesday, 19 December – Dr Marius Daraškevičius lecture Christmas traditions of the Lithuanian estates. Free entrance.
4.30 p.m. Friday, 22 December – international children classical music concert Children and Teachers for Peace. Free entrance.
6 p.m. Wednesday, 27 December – classical holiday music concert Musica Assortita***.
4 p.m. Saturday, 30 December – classical music concert Christmas Mosaics. Free entrance.
6 p.m. Sunday, 31 December – New Year classical music concert December Rendezvous ***.
16 December –7 January – interpretation on the theme on 19th-century Christmas Eve meal and exhibition of one painting, the Virgin Mary with Sleeping Child in the historical interior of the gallery.
* Event for children, parents and grandparents. Maximum 25 participants. Advance booking is required, by phone +370 659 58056 or by e-mail jolanta.sereikaite@lndm.lt. Event ticket price for children – 3 EUR, adults – 5 EUR.
** Event for children, parents and grandparents. No booking required. Event ticket price for children – 3 EUR, adults – 5 EUR.
*** Tickets available on the Internet: www.bilietai.lt.
The National Gallery of Art (Konstitucijos Av. 22, Vilnius):
6 p.m. Friday, 1 December – tour of the exhibition JCDecaux prize 2023: In Exchange to Ages with the exhibition curators Ona Juciūtė and Kotryna Markevičiūtė, https://fb.me/e/3bAiMsaVp.
4 p.m. Saturday, 2 December – Tata Frenkel’s performance at the exhibition JCDecaux prize 2023: In Exchange to Ages (broadcasted by Palanga Street Radio).
4 p.m. Saturday, 2 December – Dialogues about Art, in Lithuanian and English, https://fb.me/e/3T8Kvj7vJ.
3 p.m. Sunday, 3 December – Joelis Aškinis’ performance Staccato and Keeping the Back for the Smile at the exhibition JCDecaux prize 2023: In Exchange to Ages, https://fb.me/e/1N4hQldTg.
5 p.m. Thursday, 7 and 21 December – continuation of Karolina Nadzeikaitė’s creative workshop Creation Allows Itself to Err, https://fb.me/e/3T8Kvj7vJ.
The National Gallery of Art invites visitors with small children to collect from the ticket box free sheets with tasks for the exhibition Vilnius Wilno Vilne 1918–1948, One City – Many Stories. In order to perform these simple tasks, children will explore the exhibits and will enjoy themselves.
Tickets for educational events: children – 3 Eur, adults – 5 Eur. Group tour in Lithuanian – 20 Eur, in English – 25 Eur. Tour participants must purchase gallery tickets too. Please book educational events or a tour by e-mail edukacija@ndg.lt.
Vytautas Kasiulis Museum of Art (A. Goštauto g. 1, Vilnius):
6 p.m. Thursday, 7 December – crafting of holiday lanterns, decoration of Christmas cards.
6 p.m. Thursday, 14 December – familiarization with the Ukrainian Christmas celebration traditions and a workshop for crafting colourful Ukrainian Christmas stars.
6 p.m. Thursday, 21 December – felting workshop of a soft, colourful Christmas tree toy.
To book creative workshops, call +370 614 64380 (should your plans change please cancel your booking and open participation opportunity to others).
Tickets for educational events: pupils – 3 Eur, adults – 5 Eur, family ticket – 6 Eur.
The Applied Art and Design Museum (Arsenalo St 3A, Vilnius):
From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays and Fridays, 22 November – 22 December – festive educational events programme Christmas Accessories:
Soft and Fluffy. Pupils of grades 4-12 will create a Christmas tree bauble, not a usual one of glass, but a felted one. It will be soft, fluffy and colourful.
Holiday Season Postcard. At the museum’s workshop for pupils of grades 1-5, children will use cutting/carving and printing techniques to create a festive artistic postcard.
Workshops are organized for groups from 10 to 25. Price per pupil – 3 EUR. For information and booking call: +370 (5) 212 1813, +370 (5) 262 8080.
Radvila Palace Museum of Art (Vilniaus St 24, Vilnius):
This Advent season, the museum offers three new thematic tours:
Double Gazes: Igor and Svetlana Kopystianski’s Artistic Practices
The relationship between the viewer and the work of art has been long predominantly transparent. The viewer sees, the work shows. The form contains a slumbering content waiting for a viewer to free it. Yet in the 20th century, this scheme was powerfully challenged. The U.S. – based conceptual artists Igor and Svetlana Kopystianski are among those creatives whose pieces explore the depths of the relationship of the viewer to the content and form in a work of art. Since the 1970s, the artists in tandem and individually research what seeing a work of art means, how much the viewers perceive and what they imagine, also, what happens when the habitual categories of seeing and showing are deconstructed, reconstructed, emphasized, and layered. The tour of the exhibition by the creative duo invites to explore how the artists encourage the viewer to perceive the work of art and its potential in a different way.
The Power of Seeing: the Images of Women in the Western Tradition of Painting
Back in 1972, the British art researcher John Berger in his and essay and television programme The Ways of Seeing pointed out the problems with the way we look at the works of art. The seeing and perception of paintings and other work is not a spontaneous feeling arising from an encounter with art. It is manipulated by the habits, the traditions of depiction and the social norms. This is most prominently manifested by the nudes, especially female. Western-tradition paintings frequently depict women in ways, which render their expressions, bodies or emotions as satisfying to the viewer’s imagination and surrendering them to their gaze and power. The tour invites to revisit the exhibition Vibrant Old World Profiles and look at the Western European paintings from the collections of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art in the light of John Bergers’ ideas.
The Story of a Building: a Tour of the Environs of Jonušas Radvila Palace
The complex of the Radvila Palace frequently changed hands, was detonated, abandoned, rebuilt, its separate blocks in different periods were altered to meet a changed function. The traces of time are imprinted in the facades and interiors of the buildings. Palimpsest history of Jonušas Radvila Palace is a testament of the Radvila family jewel in Vilnius, though the founder of it did not get to admire it. But the past of the palace also keeps a code for grand future visions, and the participants of the tour will get to know them.
Attention! A part of the tour will take place outdoors and you will want warm clothing.
Tour booking by e-mail radvilos.ekskursijos@lndm.lt or by phone +370 616 16550. Adult ticket – 6 EUR, pupil ticket – 3 EUR. Guide service in Lithuanian –20 EUR, in other languages – 25 EUR. Maximum 25 individuals in a group.
The Clock and Watch Museum (Liepų St 12, Klaipėda):
At this time, the museum organizes an educational workshop for children Advent Calendar: they make an Advent calendar of the entire form. Curator Eglė Rumbutytė-Šimienė. Booking (required) by phone: +370 (46) 410 413, +370 (46) 410 417.
12 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday, 9 December creative workshop for families – manufacturing of clocks with a working mechanism. The tick-tock of the clock created by the participants will announce ‘Holidays are close!’ No booking required.
5 p.m. Thursday, 14 December – concert Christmas Songs by the students of Music Department of Klaipėda Faculty of the Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy. Students will perform Christmas musical pieces of different genres. During the concert, the audience will be invited to join into singing popular festive songs.
4 p.m. Monday, 25 December Christmas Concert of Klaipėda City Carillons organized by the Clock and Watch Museum and the Klaipėda Concert Hall. Performer Stanislovas Žilevičius and Kęstutis Kačinskas. The courtyard of the Clock and Watch Museum.
11 p.m. Sunday, 31 December – bell music concert of the New Year 2024. Performers Stanislovas Žilevičius and Kęstutis Kačinskas. The courtyard of the Clock and Watch Museum.
Palanga Amber Museum (Vytauto St 17, Palanga):
3 p.m. Thursday, 7 December – workshop Christmas Postcards
What a pleasure to go to your post box, to find a letter, to open the envelop. The Amber Museum invites you to surprise your loved ones, friends and acquaintances with a sincere and the best present, a hand-crafted Christmas postcard. Drawing skills not needed. Participants will use simple techniques and will be happy with the result.
3 p.m. Thursday 14 December – workshop Crafting a ‘Christmas Tree’ to Decorate the Christmas Eve Table
Have you ever given a thought how much money we spent for Christmas, what amount of garbage we produce? The museum invites to avoid buying decorations which are not simple to recycle or cannot be recycled, but rather make them using simple biodegradable materials. The participants will create an ecological decoration for the holiday table, which can also make a nice present.
2 p.m. Thursday, 21 December – workshop Crafting ‘A Bird’ to Decorate Christmas Eve Table
2 p.m. Friday, 22 December – workshop Crafting a ‘Christmas Tree’ to Decorate the Christmas Eve Table
The participants will craft a decorative item for the holiday table, which encourages responsible consumption. The decorative item can become a nice present.
Workshop participation tickets: preschool, disabled – free; pupils, students, retired – 3 EUR, adults – 5 EUR.
Booking not necessary. Information by phone +370 (46)030 314, e-mail gintaro.muziejus@lndm.lt.
4 p.m. Sunday, December 31 – New Year chamber music concert December Rendezvous. Performers: Augustas Gocentas (cello), Gabrielė Sutkutė (piano).
Tickets: www.bilietai.lt
Information provided by phone +370 (46) 030 314.
Events for school winter holidays:
2 p.m. Wednesday, 27 December and 11 a.m. Thursday, 4 January – tours of the Palanga Amber Museum.
11 a.m. Thursday, 28 December – tour of the exhibition Amber Runs in Our Veins
Suitable for families with children in teens
2 p.m. Thursday 28 December – creative event The Blue Fantasy
We see a lot of the colour blue in winter. The museum invites to experiment and experience awe, to look for associations. The participants will create a blue object or a postcard. In keeping with the Catholic tradition, the time for Christmas greetings and presents is until the Three Magi on January 6.
11 a.m. Friday, 29 December and 2 p.m. Friday, 5 January – educational event The Qualities of Amber.
The participants will touch, scatter, lift, smell, polish, test and experiment with amber. A beautifying amber treatment is included. For children and adults.
2 p.m. Friday, 29 December – a workshop Window Lanterns.
Light effects add a lot to the New Year atmosphere. Those who like to construct, are invited to craft a decorative lantern suitable in a window. There will be a lot of folding and cutting. The lantern will become an unexpected present.
2 p.m. Wednesday, 3 January – educational event The Baltic Signs.
The participants will learn the history of the Baltic tribes. They will watch a short movie The Baltic Signs and Images. They will decorate polished wood pieces in signs or will draw Baltic tattoos.
Tickets for workshops and education events: preschool, disabled – free; pupils, students, retired – 3 EUR, adults – 5 EUR.
Tours with a regular visitor ticket. Ticket prices: preschool, disabled – free; pupils, students, retired – 3 EUR; adults – 6 EUR.
No booking required. Information provided by phone +370 (460) 30 314, by e-mail gintaro.muziejus@lndm.lt. Call to arrange the activities at other, convenient for you time.
Pranas Domšaitis Gallery of Art (Liepų St 33, Klaipėda):
4.30 p.m. Monday, 18 December and 11 a.m. Friday, 22 December: educational event Christmas Postcard
Pranas Domšaitis Gallery invites to prepare for holidays and to surprise friends or family by gifting postcards printed by a graphic press, also sharp prints on pieces of clothing or a Nativity set crafted of clay.
5 p.m. Friday, 1 December – a lecture by the art researcher Virginijus Kinčinaitis Total Aesthetics of the Third Reich
6 p.m. Wednesday, 6 December – concert by the duo of Marc Ducret (France) and Liudas Mockūnas.
Tickets for educational activities: adults – 5 EUR, family – 6 EUR, pupils – 3 EUR. More information by phone +370 (46) 410 421, e-mail domsaicio.edukacija@lndm.lt.
Pamarys Gallery (L. Rėzos St 3, Juodkrantė):
During holiday season Pamarys Gallery in Juodkrantė will host an event from the project Migrating Museum. On Saturday, 9 December, artist Tomas Daukša will present a light installation created for thd space. The citizens of Juodkrantė and visitors can visit it from 9 December through the end of January.
