Lithuania's Devil Museum
Fortean Times visits the MK Ciurlionis Velniu Muziejus, aka the Devil Museum of Kaunas, Lithuania. The institution celebrates devil imagery in art and culture around the world. Visitors are invited to donate their own pieces to the collection too. The three floors of the Velniu Muziejus
LinkThe showcased devils are almost exclusively male, and appear in a variety of styles and aspects. Although most are purely works of art, others have been grafted onto everyday household objects: pipes, ashtrays, nutcrackers (one example seen here) and plates all feature in the exhibition. The statues are made from stone, pottery and wood, but devils are also painted on silk or canvas. Some of the beasties have horns, others pointy tails, while still others are hairy. Imposing black and red colour schemes are the norm, though a few more dignified looking Jack-in-the-Greentype works add variation to the collection.
Contributions from countries as diverse as Mexico, Japan and Cuba are all on display alongside the Slavic artefacts, as is folk art from the indigenous peoples of Siberia. The stairways between each floor are decorated with macabre etchings, large-scale paintings or lively caricatures....
The museum harbours an extra treat in the basement: a well stocked bar, which manages to pull off diabolical decor with taste and style. Although it was empty during my visit, I imagine it would make a perfect venue for drunken carousing in honour of the Lord of Misrule.
The guide, Arunas Stankunas, explained that when the museum opened in 1966, it housed 260 statues. Their previous owner, the artist Antanas Zmuidzinavicius (1876-1966), was obsessed by the number 13, also known as the devil's dozen. (There may be some significance to the fact that 13 multiplied by 20 equals 260) He had obsessively collected them in contravention of Soviet law, which prohibited any religious artefacts. A collection of so much Lithuanian folk art also carried a covert nationalist, and hence anticommunist, message.
Zmuidzinavicius faced exile to Siberia should his devils be discovered. Following Khrushchev's thaw (after the death of Stalin in 1953), Zmuidzinavicius donated the entire collection to the state in 1966, anddied later the same year.
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Raguna Kalnas is worth a visit, too. It's the Hill of Witches. This guy has good photos:
http://www.panterachat.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=756742&sid=b4324a86638ee7ec903ad5a0c29581ea
Raguna Kalnas is worth a visit, too. It's the Witches' Hill. This guy has good photos:
http://www.panterachat.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=756742&sid=b4324a86638ee7ec903ad5a0c29581ea
Great post - what a fascinating museum this must be to visit. There's a pic of the originator of the collection at home here.
I think the Baltics are an underrated travel destination. The bar wasn't there three years ago I think, or at least it wasn't open.
There is a collector of Polish devils, Wiktor Grąbczewski, whose devil collection is (was?) the biggest in Europe, and second biggest in the world.
The collection in the basement of his house is called "Prywatne Muzeum Diabła Polskiego" (private museum of the Polish devil). There are no opening times, but one could call to arrange a visit.
Address:
ul. Bukowinska 26/3
Warsaw, Poland
Phone: (022) 8435535
The link to its internet page is now defunct http://www.diabel.art.pl, but some of it was collected by internet archive.
As a side note, the Slavic devils are not like the evil Christian "fallen angels", but rather they're one of the many tricky or mischievous forest creature varieties from Slavic mythology. It's just that over time the horny creatures inherited the name from their Christian counterparts.
Just note that Lithuania isn't Slavic, it's Baltic.
Whoa. Great stuff, all. Thanks!