LABAS!
The Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture is now open to visitors by appointment. Hours M-F 10-4pm, Weekends 12-4pm. Please call 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.
Learn to speak Lithuanian
SPRING 2021 REGISTRATION NOW OPEN
The next 8-week session of our popular Lithuanian Language classes begins in April 10 and runs through May 29. Classes are taught online using Zoom. Space is limited-REGISTER TODAY!
This program is supported in part by grants from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, Illinois Humanities, the City of Chicago, CityArts, as well as contributions from private members and donors. The Balzekas Museum gratefully acknowledges all donors for their support.
NEW STUDENTS
CONTINUING STUDENTS
A Night at the Opera
The Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture presents:
A series of complimentary monthly screenings of Chicago Lithuanian Opera recordings from the Aleksandras Plenys Video Collection at the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture.
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.
Balzekas Museum
Easter Egg Workshop
Virtual Easter egg exhibit and traditional Lithuanian egg-decorating demonstration
on the newly proclaimed
“International Lithuanian Egg-making Day”
Enjoy your own fresh decorated eggs for Easter
Saturday April 3, 2021 – 1pm
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.
SIGN UP FOR THE NEXT PROGRAM
Saturday, March 13 at 1PM Central
featuring Verdi’s “Don Carlo”
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.
View the 1984 production of Gounod’s “Faustas” by the Lithuanian Opera Company, Chicago from the Aleksandras Plenys Video Collection
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
PRESERVING THE ALEKSANDRAS PLENYS MASTER VIDEO COLLECTION
There are approximately 350 original video recordings in the Museum’s Aleksandras Plenys Collection documenting events which reflect the rich tapestry of Lithuanian American experience. The preservation and digitization of the Chicago Lithuanian Opera videos is the first step in our effort to digitize and preserve a record of these events for posterity. Over the next 6 months, we will be hosting a series of live Zoom presentations showcasing these newly digitized opera recordings. We are very proud that these events have been included in the City of Chicago Department of Culture and Special Events Chicago Year of Music 2020-21 “Music in the Key of Chicago” programs.
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.
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.
Open by appointment – 10am to 4pm weekdays, 12pm to 4pm Sundays – Call 773.582.6500 to schedule your visit.
Tours to Lithuania Paused
Americans without non-EU passports are not permitted to travel to Europe. Consequently, all Museum tours are on hold until travel bans are lifted. Please check back for regular updates.