Description of the attraction
In the town of Birštonas, next to the Church of St. Anthony of Padua, there is a sacral museum built in 2000. The museum was founded in the former abbot's building and has a characteristic ethnographic style.
The museum is of particular interest to fans of religious art. The museum has a large collection of sacred art - textiles, paintings, liturgical dishes, sculpture and folk art. Visitors to the museum will see two memorial expositions dedicated to the Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church Vincentas Sladkevičius and the martyr Archbishop Teofilius Matulionis. Visitors will be able to watch films about them, as well as about the visit of the Pope to Lithuania.
Various exhibitions and events are held in the museum every month: “Christmas post-time of waiting”, “Meeting with the Icon”, “Let's paint Easter eggs together”. Also, the museum often hosts cultural evenings - meetings, book presentations, lectures, etc.
On his return from exile in 1956, Teofilius Matulionis lived in one of the rooms of the building of the sacral museum, and in 1957, on the night of December 25, he secretly ordained can. Vincentas Sladkevičius.
The Golden Treasury is of particular value in the art exhibition. It displays the most unique and valuable liturgical dishes from the churches of the Kaisiadorys bishopric. Visiting the exposition dedicated to the history of the church, you can see the only book in Lithuania about the Russification of the 19th century and the first Catholic edition of the New Testament in the Lithuanian language. Sculptures and figurines carved out of wood on religious themes can be found in the Folk Art Hall.
