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Save the Date

Saturday, Sept. 25 @ 2pm ~ Ema Kibirkštis Lecture: Mounds of Meanings: Investigating the Histories of Lithuania’s Kryžių kalnas (“Hill of Crosses”)

Fall, 2021 ~ Prof. Timothy Snyder Lecture (TBA)

Saturday, December 4, 2021 ~ Museum Excellence Award Dinner Honoring Archbishop Gintaras Grušas

Design the
“Love & Respect Park”

Explore our collections

The Edward A. Danisavich, Jr. Collection of Schuylkill County Recordings

A Weekly Exhibit of Museum Collections

Aleksandras Plenys Collection of Chicago Lithuanian Opera Recordings

Buy a Brick

The founder and past president of the Balzekas Museum, the late Stanley Balzekas Jr., stands next to the Honored Benefactors plaque at the Balzekas Museum.

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:

Tell your Lithuanian American story!

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.

Lithuanian Life and Landmarks in America

The Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture greatly acknowledges the support of the following grant-making organizations:

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/

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

A Night at the Opera

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 Lithuanian Foundation, Illinois Arts Council Agency, Illinois Humanities, the City of Chicago, DCASE and CityArts, 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

Pre-printed letter addressed to “Mielas Broleli” (Dear Brother), beginning of 20th century

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.

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.

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.