Description of the attraction
The Lithuanian Maritime Museum in Klaipeda is considered the most popular city attraction. The museum is so popular for several reasons.
The exposition of the museum is presented in the northern end of the Curonian Spit. The building of the museum occupies the premises of the former defensive fortress of the 19th century Kolgalis, which stood on this site until the end of the Second World War. An interconnected system of fortifications combined a central redoubt, ramparts with casemates located underground, a defensive ditch and gunpowder stores. At the end of World War II, the fortress was almost completely destroyed by the explosion of the central redoubt and fell into desolation for a long time. Only in 1979 the fortification was subject to reconstruction, and since that time the main exposition of the maritime museum has been located in the building.
A visit to the museum will be a real pleasure not only for children, but also for adults. The exposition is very successfully solved, and the combination of austere military architecture and colorful flowers of marine life creates not only an amazing picture, but also a pleasant impression.
The Klaipeda Maritime Museum consists of several departments: the aquarium, the Curonian Spit Nature Museum, the Dolphinarium and the Maritime Museum itself.
On the way to the fortress, you can get to the museum itself, next to which there is a trawl boat and a trawler, the house of Shveitoja and Palanga - 19th century fishermen. Here you can get acquainted with the everyday life of fishermen. Also, on the way, you can see the ship, which was built by the fisherman Gintaras Paulenis, who, not being a sailor, built a ship based on ancient drawings of Newfoundland ships.
Under the embankments of the fortress, in the casemates, where the gunpowder deposits were previously stored, there is an exposition of the Lithuanian history of shipping, which begins with Peter the Great and ends with the construction of nuclear icebreakers. On the former gun platforms, there is a collection of not only old, but also modern anchors, as well as propellers. At a short distance from the fortress, closer to the coast of the bay, there is an ethnographic museum.
The museum aquarium was built in the building of an old fort. It contains penguins, fur seals and lions. Water shows with the participation of sea lions and Black Sea dolphins are available for viewing. In this part of the Maritime Museum, 34 small aquariums and one large aquarium with a diameter of 20 meters are on display, which contain more than 100 species of fish and fish from the Curonian Lagoon and the Baltic Sea. The aquarium also features such rare Baltic gray seals; in the museum they are specially bred in order to set them free.
The marine fauna exposition includes various collections of exhibits: about 50 species of fossils, shells of mollusks, trilobites, shark teeth and exhibits representing objects from the time of dinosaurs. You can see sculptures of the most dangerous marine animals made by professionals.
The main pride of the Maritime Museum is the dolphinarium, which was opened in 1994. Dolphinarium in Klaipeda is the only one on the coast of the eastern Baltic. Dolphinarium shows are held in the central largest pool. From the show, you can learn a lot about the dolphins living in the Black Sea. There are 1000 seats for visitors.
In addition to dolphins and fur seals, the dolphinarium also has a pair of Californian seals, which were raised in the zoological garden in Duisburg, Germany.
Today, marine sciences are of considerable importance, because with their help a person can think about how important it is to preserve and protect the surrounding nature. In addition, health companies have been held in the dolphinarium since 2002: mental illnesses of children are treated here with the help of dolphin therapy.
