Horse Museum (Lithuania)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Lithuanian Horse Museum (Lithuanian: Arklio muziejus) is an ethnographic and equestrian regional museum dedicated to the historical use of horses in the agriculture of Lithuania. It is located in the village of Niūronys, Anykščiai District, Lithuania. It is situated about 6.5 kilometres (4.0 mi) north of Anykščiai within the Anykščiai Regional Park. Since 1992, it is a branch of the A. Baranauskas and A. Žukauskas-Vienuolis Memorial Museum.[1][2][3]
The Horse Museum was opened for visitors in 1978 by professor and agronomist Petras Vasinauskas. He nurtured the idea of the museum since 1940.[4] In 1975, Vasinauskas realized that horses were being replaced by machinery and thus no longer valued in Soviet collective farming. To raise awareness of this issue, Vasinauskas together with a journalist traveled more than 1,500 kilometres (930 mi) across Lithuania in a horse cart.[2][5] As news about the museum spread, farmers started bringing various items and even live horses to the museum.[2]