Art and museums Palace Lithuania's art community is famous for
Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875–1911). Čiurlionis was a nationally renowned musician and artist in Lithuania. His symphonic compositions, Jūra ("The sea") and Miške ("In the forest"), were the first full-length pieces from a Lithuanian musician. Jūra ("The sea") and Miške ("In the forest") were composed to represent Lithuania's landscape. After Čiurlionis's death, the
2420 Čiurlionis asteroid honors his achievements after being discovered in 1975. A large number of museums exist in Lithuania. The
Lithuanian Art Museum was founded in 1933 and is the largest museum of art preservation and display in Lithuania. The
Palanga Amber Museum is a subsidiary of the Lithuanian Art Museum. Various
amber pieces comprise a major part of the museum. In total, 28,000 pieces of amber are displayed, and about 15,000 contain
inclusions of insects, spiders, or plants. Some 4,500 amber pieces in the museum are used for artwork and jewelry. The
Lithuanian Museum of Ancient Beekeeping displays various forms of
bee hives. The
Grūtas Park contains
Soviet-era relics and statues including those of
Vladimir Lenin and
Joseph Stalin.
Music '' at
2019 Venice Biennale , a Lithuanian
soprano singer. Lithuania has a long history of folk, popular and classical musical development. Lithuanian folk music is based primarily around polyphonic music played on flutes, zithers (kanklės) and other instruments.
Folk performing in Vilnius Lithuanian folk music is based around songs (), which include romantic, wedding songs, as well as work songs and more archaic war songs. Traditional vocal music is held in high esteem on a world scale: Lithuanian song fests and multipart songs are on the
UNESCO's representative list of the
Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Folk songs were performed either in groups or alone, and in parallel chords or
unison.
Duophonic songs are common in the renowned tradition of . Another style of Lithuanian folk music is called , a kind of
round dance. Instrumentation includes , a kind of
zither that accompanies , ,
waltzes,
quadrilles and
polkas, and
fiddles, (including a bass fiddle called the ), a kind of
whistle called the and, similar in sound to
clarinet, ; recent importations, beginning in the late 19th century, including the
concertina,
accordion and .
Sutartinė is accompanied by the , a form of
panpipes played by a group of people, as well as wooden trumpets ( and ). The is an extremely important folk instrument, which differs in the number of strings and performance techniques across the country. Other traditional instruments include the (whistle),
drums and (a percussion instrument like a
gong), (
bagpipe) and the (a
musical bow made from a
pig's bladder filled with dried peas).
Rock In the 1980s, rock bands
Foje,
Antis, and
Bix made a big impact in Lithuania.
Cinema and theatre , regarded as godfather of American
avant-garde cinema Lithuania has a lively drama scene. Many
film festivals exist, such as Kino Pavasaris and the AXX Commercial Film Festival Contest. Film tradition has emerged throughout
Lithuania's occupation by the Soviet Union. A popular Lithuanian film classic is
Velnio Nuotaka, which is based upon folk tales. Actors are being taught in the
Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, which was founded in 1919 by
Juozas Naujalis as the Kaunas Music School. The academy was renamed in 2004. Several directors are important to Lithuania's theatre scene.
Eimuntas Nekrošius is a major part of Lithuania's theatre movement and has a theatre company,
Meno Fortas. He has produced
Shakesperian plays, such as
Macbeth,
Othello, and
Hamlet.
Oskaras Koršunovas is another acclaimed contemporary director, producing musicals, studio performances, and plays, including
Hamlet and ''
Midsummer Night's Dream''. Lithuania's National Olympic Committee supports Lithuania's
Olympic athletes and is led by Arturas Poviliunas.
Discus throw Olympic athlete
Virgilijus Alekna is a two-time gold winner and medalist. Alekna was named
UNESCO Champion for Sport in 2007. '' by
Martynas Mažvydas was the first Lithuanian book and was published in 1547. Lithuania's
national basketball team,
football team and
rugby union team compete internationally. The country has produced several world-class
basketball players, such as
Arvydas Sabonis,
Žydrūnas Ilgauskas and
Linas Kleiza.
Literature and journalism Lithuania's literature is based upon folklore tradition. Song books began publishing in the sixteenth century. The first Lithuanian book was
Katekizmas (
Simple Words of Catechism) by
Martynas Mažvydas in 1547. Newspapers and magazines are popular in Lithuania. Lithuania's biggest selling newspaper is
Lietuvos Rytas. Whereas,
Respublika and
Vakaro Zinios are
tabloid magazines. == Architecture and housing ==