Jurbarkas Manor (V. Grybas Museum)

The Vincas Grybas Memorial Museum was established in 1960. From 1928 to 1941, one of the most prominent Lithuanian sculptors of the first half of the 20th century, Vincas Grybas (1890–1941), lived and created here. After returning from his studies in Paris, the sculptor searched for a suitable space to model sculptures for his major monuments. He found an appropriate place in Jurbarkas, in the then rather neglected former estate buildings of Prince I. Vasilchikov.

The museum owns three buildings of the former estate of Russian prince Ilarion Ilarionovich Vasilchikov, constructed in the mid‑19th century (completed around 1860): the forester’s office (oficina), the smithy, and the bathhouse. The buildings are located in the western part of the manor park, on the high slope of the Mituva River valley. Vincas Grybas adapted them into a residential house, a sculpture studio, and a plaster casting workshop.

The museum preserves the memorial environment of Vincas Grybas. Visitors can learn about the sculptor’s dramatic life story and creative work. The most valuable part of the exhibition consists of original sculptures: the statue of Lithuanian historian Simonas Daukantas (1929), the statue of Grand Duke Vytautas (1931), the Crucified Christ and Angel statues (1937) from the Sintautai church altar, as well as parts of other monuments, projects, and drawings. The former residential house contains three exhibitions: a hall of photographs, letters, and documents; a hall of traditional Lithuanian folk wooden sculptures; and an exhibition of facsimiles by Lidija Meškaitytė (1926–1993), a unique miniature watercolor artist.

In the former manor bathhouse, the sculptor had set up technical workshops - a plaster casting room. Today, the museum has established art educational‑production workshops in this building, called the “House of Arts.” These workshops offer classes for both children and adults in ceramics, leatherwork, glass jewelry, felting, kimekomi, silk painting, stained glass, and other crafts.

The Vincas Grybas Memorial Museum operates as a modern cultural center. It hosts professional art exhibitions, presents creators, and organizes meetings with painters, writers, art historians, actors, musicians, and composers. The museum has participated in international cultural exchange projects, regularly organizes seminars and lectures, and maintains close cultural ties with Jurbarkas district’s foreign partners. It collaborates with the Vilnius Academy of Arts, the Lithuanian Artists’ Association, Kaunas J. Vienožinskis College, and the Lithuanian Institute of History. Its daily vitality is strengthened by friendships with local artists — singers, musicians, and actors.