Vytautas the Great War Museum
Vytautas the Great War Museum
4
10:00 AM - 6:45 AM
Tuesday
10:00 AM - 5:00 AM
Wednesday
10:00 AM - 5:00 AM
Thursday
10:00 AM - 6:45 AM
Friday
10:00 AM - 5:00 AM
Saturday
10:00 AM - 5:00 AM
Sunday
10:00 AM - 5:00 AM
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
Popular mentions
4.0
123 reviews
Excellent
45
Very good
48
Average
18
Poor
6
Terrible
6
7r4ve11er
London, United Kingdom26 contributions
Sep 2023 • Solo
I went on a Wednesday when I expected the museum to be open according to their website, but when I entered I was informed that it was closed without any explanation. The museum should sort out and update its opening hours. I give this museum two stars instead of one as the staff did at least direct me to the neighbouring M.K. Ciurlionis museum which has a rich collection of Lithuanian art over the centuries.
Written September 7, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
tobegold
Vancouver528 contributions
May 2024 • Solo
I arrived at the museum today, May 30, only to find it closed. No sign at the entrance. There was another door open so I went in to find out the Museum was closed and I was told that a notice was posted on the website. Well I had checked the opening hours on their website on the evening 2 days prior and there was no notice, just the opening hours listing today as open. 15 minutes after I left the museum, and again just now, 6 hours later, there is no notice and the museum is open today per the visitor info on the website (both English and Lithuanian versions of the website). The lady told me that she posted the notice on their website- what a liar. No reply to the email I sent them. I would have given a rating of zero, but the lowest allowed is one.
Written May 30, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
EndiLV
Riga, Latvia8 contributions
Oct 2023 • Family
A great place to see when visiting Kaunas. One of the parts worth mentioning is the exhibition of war in Ukraine, that includes items and pieces of art created in the shade of terror.
Get to know the style of battlefield, different guns and equipment used in different times!
Go for a visit and enjoy ! And let war be only an exhibition and not reality!
Get to know the style of battlefield, different guns and equipment used in different times!
Go for a visit and enjoy ! And let war be only an exhibition and not reality!
Written October 29, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
gtsak
Vrilissia, Greece733 contributions
Oct 2020
A nice war museum in city center of Kaunas.Worth a visit for sure and a nice way to spend a couple of hours.Great gun collection and uniform from the eastern europe mainly.As i said worth a visit
Written October 23, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
NYU62
Tucson, AZ18,549 contributions
Jul 2016 • Couples
This very elegant modern building was opened in 1921 on February 16th, exactly three years after Lithuania first announced her independence. There are historic exhibits dedicated to the military skills of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, collections of weapons, firearms, ammunition, army uniforms, paintings of famous battles, also a comprehensive collection of 18th century pistols. In the great hall of the museum there are replicas of 17th century cannons. In other words, it has been named the "War Museum" because that is exactly what it houses, anything and everything to do with long ago battles and wars.
There is, also, a large area (portraits, personal items, etc.) dedicated to Steponas Darius and Stasys Girenas, who flew across the Atlantic Ocean in 1933. Their crashed airplane Lituanica, is on display and seems to be a very popular exhibit.
To go inside the Museum, you climb the bridge style staircase, which brings you to the second level. A large impressive marble statue of Vytautas the Great, the great Grand-Duke of Lithuania, stands perfectly centered at the front end of this space. It was sculpted by Vincas Grybas in 1934.
The street first level area (make sure you don't miss this on your way out) has a most moving memorial dedicated to those who lost their lives fighting for freedom. It is a dark passageway type of room with blue lighting, and the names of all who perished 1918-1923 are written on large white boards. Above the large white cross in the center, are the words "Žuvome kad Gyventumete Laisvi". (We perished so that you could live free.) This area is very poignant.
The Museum's garden has more than ten statues of Lithuanian military leaders and cultural personalities who influenced Lithuania in 19th and 20th century. Also, a beautiful collection of Lithuanian hand carved large wooden crosses standing behind the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
There is, also, a large area (portraits, personal items, etc.) dedicated to Steponas Darius and Stasys Girenas, who flew across the Atlantic Ocean in 1933. Their crashed airplane Lituanica, is on display and seems to be a very popular exhibit.
To go inside the Museum, you climb the bridge style staircase, which brings you to the second level. A large impressive marble statue of Vytautas the Great, the great Grand-Duke of Lithuania, stands perfectly centered at the front end of this space. It was sculpted by Vincas Grybas in 1934.
The street first level area (make sure you don't miss this on your way out) has a most moving memorial dedicated to those who lost their lives fighting for freedom. It is a dark passageway type of room with blue lighting, and the names of all who perished 1918-1923 are written on large white boards. Above the large white cross in the center, are the words "Žuvome kad Gyventumete Laisvi". (We perished so that you could live free.) This area is very poignant.
The Museum's garden has more than ten statues of Lithuanian military leaders and cultural personalities who influenced Lithuania in 19th and 20th century. Also, a beautiful collection of Lithuanian hand carved large wooden crosses standing behind the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Written July 18, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Christopher P
Beziers, France356 contributions
Sep 2015 • Friends
This is really a sad story. The building is big and could hold an impressive exhibition of military history. The lighting is good and there are signs of money having been spent recently. But it has few exhibits of any interest at all, and there is no theme throughout. We would have liked to have had some kind of historical thread but there is none. An archive of old swords and pikes is not what makes a museum these days. Apart from the general lack of coherence, little is in English, so non-Lithuanian visitors will get very little here. It's not very expensive to go in, but it is still poor value for money. One to avoid, I'm afraid.
Written September 6, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Paweł C
Lublin, Poland790 contributions
Dec 2017 • Friends
The place offers a nice history lesson - especially for someone from Poland (as both countries constituted one kingdom for many years). There many exhibits from medieval armory to modern weapons. If you are interested in history (the days of Polish-Lithuanian glory in XV-XVII centuries) and you like military climate - the place is for you :-) By the way, the guide was really nice and competent.
Written December 17, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
B186518
Scotland, UK61 contributions
May 2017 • Couples
An impressive looking building, we turned up on a late friday morning and went through what we assumed was the entrance (no sign to say what was the entrance}. Were met by the cleaner who stared at us as though we had two heads each! We waited at the payment booth and various other staff came and went and they all looked shocked that somebody was actually coming to visit the museum as they went to find someone who could serve us, Eventually another staff member told us to look at the exhibits and pay later before hurrying away. There was a sign saying you could have an english audio guide but were not offered this so went to the first exhibit we could see, as were not even told where to go {and there were no other people looking around}. As it was all in Lithuanian there was no point in going on so we just left. A real disappointment.
Written June 1, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Ekulbwga
London, UK57 contributions
Jan 2013 • Couples
This monolithic soviet era building almost sucks the life out of the surrounding area. But dare to venture inside and you will be rewarded. Before you get to the museum itself there’s a plaza which was used for mass celebration of national holidays when Kaunas was temporary capital of Lithuania.
It’s lined with statues of Lithuanian national renaissance figures and there’s a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with an eternal flame (try to resist warming your hands there during one of their winters).
So head up the steps past the odd gun and a lion or two and once you’ve managed to heave the big iron door aside - you’ll be in a bright and airy, high-ceilinged space. Cheap tickets (£1 each). Didn’t interact with the staff but they didn’t seem interested in volunteering much either.
It’s considered to be one of the most important museums in Lithuania, but to be honest, I find that most museums are as dull as hell if you don’t know what you’re looking at, so it’s probably worth filling in a few gaps before you go.
As you’d expect, it‘s full of things to do with local wars – iron-age archaeological finds, rifles, hand pistols, armour, machine guns, ammunition, petrol bombs, uniforms, staff cars, cannons etc.
There are models and exhibitions of Lithuania’s stone/iron age and, understandably, a large area dedicated to when Lithuania was the biggest state in Europe.
This is one of the highlights because Grand Duke Vytautas and his team had a major away win in the 15th Century by beating the mighty Teutonic knights at the Battle of Grunewald. Annexing Belorussia, Latvia and parts of Estonia, Moldova, Poland, Russian and Ukraine all the way to the Black Sea.
He’s a national hero and there’s a big statue of Vytautas at the back of the foyer along with a painting of the battle of Grunewald.
He’s even had some mineral water named after him (although, if you’ve seen it, I’m not sure he would have approved of their controversial viral ad campaign!).
There’s also the intrepid book smugglers from the late 19th Century. Which sounds almost comical but underlines the bravery of ordinary locals who defied the Russian Imperial occupiers by smuggling Lithuanian books from all over the world and keeping the language alive.
Rendering the predatory Cyrillic books toothless in their attempt to silence the Lithuanian language for good and literally rewrite their history.
Another highlight is the actual wreck of the "Lituanica". A little two-seater plane which Lithuanian/American aviators Steponas Darius and Stasys Girenas attempted to become the first people to cross the Atlantic in a light aircraft by flying non-stop from New York to Kaunas in 1933.
Remarkably they didn’t have any navigational equipment and flew through dense fog – yet the flight was one of the most precise in aviation history.
Right up until they crashed mysteriously (possibly shot down) when flying over German territory. Just 600 miles or so from the record.
Be prepared. The twisted, mangled fuselage, propeller and wings lying in a big glass box is actually quite moving. And you can certainly see why they didn’t survive.
Finally there are some exhibits that are dedicated to the 1991 uprisings when Lithuania proudly became the first country to escape the soviet yoke. Including a very ‘street’ Molotov cocktail.
There is English next to many of the items but not enough. And there was a whole room being done up with a temporary exhibition on display boards which was only in Lithuanian. Which is a crying shame in the unlikely event that you’re from another country and can’t read the language…
35 litas to take photographs is a rip off (that’s £9 and the price of a good meal out here). Plus I can’t really see the point of it, as it needs the publicity and surely the more photos of the exhibits that are on the web – the more people will see something that inspires them to go and they’ll make more money that way.
So if I was being harsh it would only warrant a ‘good’ - but I’ve bumped it up to ‘Very Good’ because it looks like it needs the visitors and there’s no other museum I can think of that has a famous plane-wreck in it!
It’s lined with statues of Lithuanian national renaissance figures and there’s a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with an eternal flame (try to resist warming your hands there during one of their winters).
So head up the steps past the odd gun and a lion or two and once you’ve managed to heave the big iron door aside - you’ll be in a bright and airy, high-ceilinged space. Cheap tickets (£1 each). Didn’t interact with the staff but they didn’t seem interested in volunteering much either.
It’s considered to be one of the most important museums in Lithuania, but to be honest, I find that most museums are as dull as hell if you don’t know what you’re looking at, so it’s probably worth filling in a few gaps before you go.
As you’d expect, it‘s full of things to do with local wars – iron-age archaeological finds, rifles, hand pistols, armour, machine guns, ammunition, petrol bombs, uniforms, staff cars, cannons etc.
There are models and exhibitions of Lithuania’s stone/iron age and, understandably, a large area dedicated to when Lithuania was the biggest state in Europe.
This is one of the highlights because Grand Duke Vytautas and his team had a major away win in the 15th Century by beating the mighty Teutonic knights at the Battle of Grunewald. Annexing Belorussia, Latvia and parts of Estonia, Moldova, Poland, Russian and Ukraine all the way to the Black Sea.
He’s a national hero and there’s a big statue of Vytautas at the back of the foyer along with a painting of the battle of Grunewald.
He’s even had some mineral water named after him (although, if you’ve seen it, I’m not sure he would have approved of their controversial viral ad campaign!).
There’s also the intrepid book smugglers from the late 19th Century. Which sounds almost comical but underlines the bravery of ordinary locals who defied the Russian Imperial occupiers by smuggling Lithuanian books from all over the world and keeping the language alive.
Rendering the predatory Cyrillic books toothless in their attempt to silence the Lithuanian language for good and literally rewrite their history.
Another highlight is the actual wreck of the "Lituanica". A little two-seater plane which Lithuanian/American aviators Steponas Darius and Stasys Girenas attempted to become the first people to cross the Atlantic in a light aircraft by flying non-stop from New York to Kaunas in 1933.
Remarkably they didn’t have any navigational equipment and flew through dense fog – yet the flight was one of the most precise in aviation history.
Right up until they crashed mysteriously (possibly shot down) when flying over German territory. Just 600 miles or so from the record.
Be prepared. The twisted, mangled fuselage, propeller and wings lying in a big glass box is actually quite moving. And you can certainly see why they didn’t survive.
Finally there are some exhibits that are dedicated to the 1991 uprisings when Lithuania proudly became the first country to escape the soviet yoke. Including a very ‘street’ Molotov cocktail.
There is English next to many of the items but not enough. And there was a whole room being done up with a temporary exhibition on display boards which was only in Lithuanian. Which is a crying shame in the unlikely event that you’re from another country and can’t read the language…
35 litas to take photographs is a rip off (that’s £9 and the price of a good meal out here). Plus I can’t really see the point of it, as it needs the publicity and surely the more photos of the exhibits that are on the web – the more people will see something that inspires them to go and they’ll make more money that way.
So if I was being harsh it would only warrant a ‘good’ - but I’ve bumped it up to ‘Very Good’ because it looks like it needs the visitors and there’s no other museum I can think of that has a famous plane-wreck in it!
Written February 13, 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Marco B
London, UK365 contributions
Oct 2019
Entry fee to the War Museum is just 2 Euros,Which is a real steal at that price it has comprehensive sections with arms and armour in Medieval times and the the Two World Wars.I especially enjoyed the Medieval section and the Great Entry Hall.Information boards on display throughout the museum have an English option so easy to read.When I visited I was lucky enough to be visiting on the last Sunday of the month,so entry was free in al museums in Kaunas.
Written November 5, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Is there parking at the museum?
Written October 9, 2017
Hi, How much does it cost to enter or can you see much for free, also how far is it from the old town, thank you.
Written March 8, 2016
It does cost and from memory it was 2 euros.
It is very close to the main Freedom or Liberty Avenue (Laisves Av) and I would say it took me approximately 10 Minutes to walk from Rotuses in the old town to the museum. If you walk out from the Old town and walk up Laisves Av, Turn right at Charlie Pizza and past the Metropolis Hotel. You will see the museum across the road.
Written March 9, 2016
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