Exhibition series in display of Lithuanian art of the first half of the 20th century "Where is Nemunas?", 2026 June 11 - November 8.

In the second half of the 20th century, the Nemunas began to slip away from us. A hydroelectric power plant interrupted its course and broke the river's continuity. Pollution depleted its ecological abundance and dulled the simple desire to swim in its waters on a hot summer's day. Today, we are trying to return to the Nemunas, asking ourselves: where has it gone? This exhibition looks for an answer in interwar Lithuania. Instead of offering a myth of paradise lost, it invites us to see the river's many meanings. The Nemunas is life: a beaver moving through the water, flowers blooming along the banks, a gull nesting on an island, holidaymakers'bodies drying on the sand. The Nemunas is current: carrying timber rafts, steamships and profit. The Nemunas is pulse: the unsettling force of spring ice drift, the unpredictable rhythm of rising and receding waters. The Nemunas is a landscape that binds together and pulls apart the histories of Lithuania, Poland, Germany and Belarus. The Nemunas is living matter: consoling, raging, saving, killing. To ask where the Nemunas has gone is also to ask where it can still be found: not on a map, but in our imagination, in the landscapes we inhabit, in everyday life and in our sense of identity.

This part of the permanent collection exhibition is designed as a temporary exhibition, inviting visitors to discover new stories, themes and artists.

Curators: Rugilė Rožėnė, Tomas Vaiseta

Architect Mindaugas Reklaitis

Designer Ugnė Balčiūnaitė

Exhibits were loaned by: M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art, Lithuanian Central State Archives, Šiauliai Aušros Museum, Lithuanian Aviation Museum, Lithuanian Sports Museum, Birštonas Museum, Kaunas District Museum, Dr Jaunius Gumbis Lithuanian Art Collection, Vilna Gaon Museum of Jewish History, Kaunas Tadas Ivanauskas Museum of Zoology, Museum of the History of Lithuania Minor, Kupiškis Museum, Vytis Ramanauskas.

"What happens when a river is deprived of its natural rhythms? How is its ecosystem transformed when floods are regulated, wetlands drained, and sandy banks gradually overgrown? Does an increase in vegetation necessarily mean greater biodiversity? And what can historical artworks tell us about habitats and landscapes that have since been transformed or disappeared? These were among the questions explored with naturalist Saulius Rumbutis during a walk through „Where is Nemunas?“, an exhibition curated by PAScapes historians Tomas Vaiseta and Rugilė Rožėnė. We spoke about the ecological importance of the Nemunas, the consequences of damming the river, disappearing sandy shores and nesting islands, and species ranging from terns and kingfishers to beavers and freshwater mussels. And we returned to a larger question: are we looking at rivers with renewed attention because we have begun to realise how profoundly we are changing them?"