LABAS!
The Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture is now open to visitors without prescheduled appointments!
Hours:
Monday to Saturday: 10am – 4pm
Sunday: 12pm – 4pm.
Please call ahead if you have any questions or if you wish to schedule a visit: 773.582.6500.
Drop-ins welcome in the Museum’s Gift Shop.
Masks and social distancing required.
THIS SATURDAY, JUNE 5 @ 2PM
Book presentation: Aleksas Šemetas’s “Eilnio partizano atsiminimai”
This Saturday, June. 5d., 2 v.p.p., Audronė Šemetaitė-Murtaugh from Cleveland will present her late father’s, A.a. Alex Šemeta’s, book “Memories of an Ordinary Partisan” (“Elinio partizano atsiminimai”). The book describes the struggle for independence against the Bermontians, the West Russian Volunteer Army, in the Šiauliai region and Kužiai eldership, which took place in 1919, in […]
USED BOOK SALE PREVIEW
Book presentation attendees will get first-pick of our large and varied selection of gently used Lithuanian and English fiction and non-fiction books for sale.
In Memoriam
Edward Joseph Janoskey
1932 – 2021
The Balzekas Museum wishes to express its condolences to the family and friends of Edward Joseph Janoskey.
We gratefully acknowlege the Janoskey family for selecting the Balzekas Museum for memorial contributions in Mr. Janoskey’s memory and in honor of his Lithuanian heritage, of which he was very proud.
Memorial Contributions
To donate by mail, please send checks payable to the “Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture” to the following address:
- Balzekas Museum of
Lithuanian Culture
6500 S. Pulaski Rd.
Chicago IL 60629
The Balzekas Museum is a 501(c)3 non-profit institution registered in the State of Illinois: EIN: 36-6140176
The Edward A. Danisavich, Jr. Collection
These early recordings of Lithuanian immigrant orchestras from Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, come from the newly accessioned Edward A. Danisavich, Jr. Record Collection, which was digitized and donated to the Museum by Edward’s niece Kimberly Ward Manning. The Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture has uploaded these recordings for your enjoyment.
Historian, Author Timothy Snyder – the 2020 Balzekas Museum Man of the Year
The Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture is proud to announce that this year’s Balzekas Museum Award of Excellence recipient is acclaimed author and historian Timothy Snyder, a specialist in Central and Eastern European history. Prof. Snyder is the Richard C. Levin Professor of History at Yale University and a permanent fellow at the Institute for […]
Buy a Brick:
Honor a Loved One
The engraved gold and silver ‘bricks’ or plates on the Balzekas Museum Honored Benefactor Wall and inscribed in the Bronze Benefactor Album recognize donors whose generosity has contributed to the Museum’s growth and ongoing success. Pay tribute to your own or a loved one’s name and Lithuanian heritage while supporting the Museum. Buy a Brick today!
FILL OUT THE BUY A BRICK FORM:
Add Your Voice to our Oral History Project!
In celebration of 150 years of Lithuanian immigration to the United States, the Balzekas Museum is launching an exciting new project entitled: “Lithuanian Life and Landmarks in America”. Collecting and preserving oral histories of Lithuanian immigrants and their descendants throughout the United States is integral to this project. These histories and the Museum’s archives will be used to develop both physical and online exhibits as well as interactive maps and tours documenting where and how Lithuanian Americans lived, worked, studied, prayed, and played.
To ensure the history and contributions of Lithuanian Americans are preserved for future generations, the Balzekas Museum invites Lithuanian immigrants and their descendants throughout the United States to fill out the following questionnaire:
The Balzekas Museum programs and operations are partially supported by grants from the Illinois Humanities, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, the Lithuanian Foundation, the City of Chicago, DCASE, Lithuanian Ministry of Culture, and Museum members and donors. The Balzekas Museum gratefully acknowledges these individuals and entities for their support.
The Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture greatly acknowledges the support of the following grant-making organizations:
Currently on view:
In this time of uncertainty, “No Home To Go To”, the story of Baltic refugees displaced from their homelands at the end of World War II, has lessons for today, most notably, about the resilience of the human spirit. Come see this compelling exhibit at the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture, 6500 South Pulaski Rd., Chicago IL 60521.
Museum Hours: Monday-Saturday 10am – 4pm; Sundays 12-4pm
Groups, please call 773.582.6500 to schedule your visit.
All visitors are required to wear masks and observe social distancing regulations.
Museum tours to Lithuania expected to resume in 2022
Currently all Balzekas Museum tours to Lithuania are paused. However, as more and more US residents become vaccinated, we remain hopeful that our popular tours to Lithuania will once again resume in Spring 2022. If you would like to receive updated travel information, please complete the Museum’s Travel Updates form.
For up-to-date Covid-19 information in Lithuania, we recommend visiting the US Embassy’s website’s page in Vilnius, Lithuania: https://lt.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/
Read more about typical Museum tours to Lithuania >>>
SIGN UP FOR THE NEXT
PROGRAM
FREE ADMISSION!
Please submit your name and email below to receive the Zoom link to the program and access to the opera on the Balzekas Museum Vimeo Channel.
1. WITH COMMENTARY (Available soon)
Watch the 2/13/2021 Zoom presentation of Part I with commentary by musicologist Prof. Darius Kučinskas, film producer Arvydas Reneckis, and guests, including Natalija Vaznelis, the widow of baritone Jonas Vaznelis, who plays Mephistopheles in this production>>>
2. WITHOUT COMMENTARY
“Faustas” Part 1
“Faustas” Part 2
The Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture presents the 1996 Chicago Lithuanian Opera production of Banaitis’s “Juratė ir Kastytis”:
Please click the image below to watch the opera directly on the Balzekas Museum's Vimeo Channel: https://vimeo.com/478189904
This program is supported in part by grants from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, Illinois Humanities, the City of Chicago, DCASE, CityArts, the Lithuanian Foundation, as well as contributions from Museum members and private donors. The Balzekas Museum gratefully acknowledges all donors for their support as well as project partner, the Martynas Mažvydas Lithuanian National Library, and its grantor, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania.
A Weekly Visit to the Museum
A weekly virtual tour
of the Museum’s collections
This program is supported in part by grants from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, Illinois Humanities, the City of Chicago, DCASE, CityArts, as well as contributions from Museum members and private donors. The Balzekas gratefully acknowledges these donors for their support.
