Memorial house-museum of a writer Antanas Zukauskas-Vienuolis
TOURIST INFORMATION
A. Vienuolio Str. 2, LT-29147 Anyksciai.
569315, 6155225 (LKS), 55.527073, 25.097823 (WGS), 55° 31′ 37.46″, 25° 5′ 52.16″ (WGS).
Phone: +370 381 58015.
E-mail: info@baranauskas.lt.
Open: daily 10.00–18.00 (July–September), 8.00–17.00 (October–June).
ABOUT MEMORIAL MUSEUM
In 1925 the writer Antanas Zukauskas-Vienuolis (1882–1957) built his house in the old place where the Baranauskai family lived. He inherited this land and spent more than 30 years there, till his death in 1957. The exposition arranged on the ground floor reflects the writer’s life and creation. The memorial rooms are on the first floor. Everything is left as it was on the last day of his life.
The life of the family was mostly connected with the study. There is furniture made by famous masters of Anyksciai. You can see portraits of Vienuolis’ son Stasys and daughter Laima, a desk with an open book and a pair of glasses on it. A leaflet of the calendar and the clock show the time and the date of Vienuolis’ death. Vienuolis, dressed in Osetian national clothes is in the photo above the desk. It reminded him about his nicest young days spent in the Caucasus (1903–1907). There is a rich library by the wall. More than 1300 books are kept in it. A round table, where guests used to sit, stands in the middle of the room. Vienuolis was the first, who bought a radio-set in Anyksciai. His guests often used to listen to it. A stick is suspended on the radio table.
A. Vienuolis liked his house, the Granary, his garden and the birches, planted by A. Baranauskas’ brothers.On August 22, 1955 Vienuolis wrote the testament and asked to bury him near his house and put a fieldstone with the hewed cross on it. He asked to write “A. Vienuolis” and the dates of birth and death on it.
Vienuolis died on August 17, 1957. It was not allowed to hew the cross. His wife Leokadija Zukauskiene asked the architect V. Gabriunas to design a hidden cross, but she didn’t succeed. Only on June 13, 1989 the writer’s will was fulfilled.
© A. Baranauskas and A. Vienuolis-Zukauskas memorial museum, 2015