Lithuanian Road Museum
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Kelių muziejus | |
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| Established | 19 October 1995 |
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| Location | Kauno g. 14, LT-21372, Vievis, Lithuania |
| Coordinates | 54°46′20.77″N 24°48′50.05″E / 54.7724361°N 24.8139028°E |
| Website | keliųmuziejus.lt |
The Lithuanian Road Museum (Lithuanian: Lietuvos kelių muziejus) is a museum in Vievis, Lithuania, that exhibits the history of road building and road history. It was founded in 1995 to create a space where visitors could learn about the history of roads and the road maintenance exhibits collected over the years. The museum is owned by the state-owned company Kelių priežiūra and the Ministry of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Lithuania.
With the restoration of the country's independence and the launch of the Lithuanian Motorway Directorate, the long-cherished vision of the road workers to start collecting and exhibiting material on the history of Lithuania's roads was fulfilled – the Lithuanian Road Museum was opened on October 19, 1995. The first director of the museum was Juozas Stepankevičius.
Exposition
During more than 30 years of the museum's existence, the exhibition has been continuously expanded with new exhibits and now occupies two floors of the building. Heavy road construction and maintenance equipment are also displayed in a separate building and outdoor exhibition. The museum currently contains more than 8,000 items.
The museum displays old maps of Lithuania, photo albums, first books, and magazines about road construction. There are models of bridges, viaducts, bus stops, various other structures, the oldest road construction and maintenance tools, and road signs. Pre-war and post-war road construction and maintenance equipment are also on display. Visitors can also try out interactive activities: a road maintenance simulator and an augmented reality mirror.
One of the museum's most unique exhibits is a horse-drawn bitumen boiler made in Germany in 1854. For a long time, the boiler was forgotten until it was discovered on the old road workers' premises.
