Looking for family activity ideas for Saturday? Come to Klaipeda! Here, on the occasion of World Art Day, the lighthouse year opening in Klaipeda will take place. With various activities, excursions, education, concerts and performances taking place in different locations around the city, there will be plenty of activities for young and old alike.
Klaipeda celebrates the Year of Lighthouses in 2024 – it was 140 years ago, at the end of the Northern Pier, that the White Lighthouse first lit up. The ceremony of lighthouses year opening in Klaipeda “We are Lighthouses”– is on Saturday 13 April, so don’t miss your chance to take part. Many of the activities are free and suitable for families with children.
Lighthouses in Klaipeda
Klaipeda City Council has declared 2024 the Year of Lighthouses. The aim of this is to use various artistic initiatives to update lighthouses – infrastructure objects of great importance to ports and port cities, which also have the mission of promoting marine culture. In 2024, it will be 140 years since the White Lighthouse, the darling of the old Klaipėda community, the symbol of the city and later of the marine state, which became a victim of World War II, was lit up on the Northern Pier.
The opening programme of the Year of Lighthouses
Concert
The event starts on Friday, 12 April at 16.00 with a concert performed by the artistic groups of the Community Centre “While the lighthouse shows the way, a young heart beats in the chest”. Songs and poems about the sea and Klaipeda. Participants: the ensemble of the seniors’ club “Bangele”, the mixed choir “Bociai” of the Klaipeda Seaside Community, the ensemble of the community “Pajurio krantai”, the music group “Spingsule” of the seniors’ club, the men’s trio “Monolitas” (Community House, 48, Debreceno St.)
Exhibition
Saturday, 13 April, 10.00 a.m. Exhibition of prints dedicated to the Year of Lighthouses, “Kad negestu svyturiai”. The exhibition features fiction and scientific books that in one way or another shed light on the history of lighthouses and the daily routine of working in lighthouses. The exhibition will be open until 1 June (Klaipeda City Municipality Immanuel Kant Public Library, Kaunas Branch, Kauno str. 49)
Education
Saturday, 13 April, 10.00, 11.00 Education “Treasures of the Concert Hall”. Duration 35 min. Pre-registration required (Klaipeda Concert Hall, Sauliu str. 36)
Workshops
Saturday 13 April, 11.00-14.00 Open lighthouse-making workshops for children and parents (Children and Youth Department of the Immanuel Kant Public Library of Klaipeda City Municipality, Danės st. 7)
Saturday 13 April 11.00, 13.00 Creative sustainability workshop “Lighthouse” in STEANPUNK style. For children from 9 years old. Registration at edukacijos@etnocentras.lt (Klaipeda City Municipality Ethnocultural Centre, Darzu str. 10)
Educational activity
Saturday, 13 April, 11.00 Educational activity “Lighthouse, night and sea”. After studying maps and learning about the genre of marina painting, you will see stars shining in the night sky and create a three-dimensional postcard with a lighthouse inviting to the harbour (Pranas Domsaitis Gallery, Liepu str. 33)
Tour
Saturday, 13 April, 11.00, 14.00 excursion and modelling workshop “Stories of Klaipeda Lighthouses”. During the walk through the museum you will hear serious, romantic and funny lighthouse stories. After the tour, you will have the opportunity to make a paper model of the White Lighthouse (1:50), specially created for the Year of Lighthouses (Museum of the History of Lithuania Minor, Didzioji Vandens str. 2). Registration by phone +370 601 01 082.
Light installation
Saturday, 13 April, 11.00-22.00 Light installation in the window of the KCCC Exhibition Hall (Klaipeda Culture Communication Centre, Baznycių str. 4)
Educational activity
Saturday, 13 April, 11.00-14.30 Klaipeda City Municipality Centre of National Cultures educational workshop “Let’s create our own Lighthouse” (Klaipėda City Municipality Centre of National Cultures, K. Donelaicio str. 6A):
- 11.00-14.00 Workshop – carving session “I’m creating my own lighthouse”. The workshop will be led by Natalia Didenko, a master of carvings from Ukraine. Workshops for children and adults. Materials provided. Pre-registration is required;
- 11.00-14.00 Children’s lighthouse building in the courtyard of the Centre for National Cultures. Construction materials – used cardboard boxes;
- 14.30 “Lighting of the lighthouse”
Kant’s room exhibition
Saturday, 13 April, 11.00, 13.00, 15.00 Klaipeda – the city of the lighthouse of philosophy Immanuel Kant’s father: presentation of the KANT’S ROOM exposition. Kant’s Tea (Klaipeda City Municipality Immanuel Kant Public Library, Turgaus str. 8)
Tour
Saturday, 13 April, 12.00 guided tour of the exhibition “Visada kelyje” (“Always on the Road”) (Pranas Domsaitis Gallery, Liepu str. 33)
Screening of the film
Saturday, 13 April, 12.00 KUFA and the Arlekinas cinema gift – the documentary film ” Rowing Across the Atlantic”. Tickets or at the door 1 hour before the screening. Price 2 Eur (cinema “Arlekinas”, Bangų g. 5A)
Educational excursion
Saturday, 13 April, 12.00 Educational excursion “Southern Lighthouse of Culture. Discover the undiscovered”. Participants: the Fishermen’s Palace folk dance group “Velunga”, the youth folk dance group “Zilvinas”, the pantomime theatre “A”, the youth theatre “Be durų”, the women’s choir “Dange”, the mixed choir “Klaipeda”, the Klaipeda Castle theatre, and the theatre company “Gliukai”.
Educational activities
- Saturday, 13 April, 12.00 Decorating a lighthouse figurine. For children from 3 years old. Registration at edukacijos@etnocentras.lt (Klaipeda City Municipality Ethnocultural Centre, Darzu str. 10)
- Saturday, 13 April, 12.00 Drawing marine symbols on pebbles. For children from 3 years old. Registration at edukacijos@etnocentras.lt (Klaipeda City Municipality Ethnocultural Centre, Darzu str. 10)
Film preview
Saturday, 13 April, 14.00 screening of the film “The Sea. Lithuanian coastal lighthouses” (LRT media library) and a talk about Klaipeda lighthouses (Art Department of the Immanuel Kant Public Library of Klaipeda City Municipality, J. Janonio str. 9)
Chess game
Saturday, 13 April, 14.00-17.00 “Tournament of Wisdom Lighthouses” – play a game of chess. Participants – children and adults. Organiser – Klaipeda Chess Amateur Club and Library (Klaipeda City Municipality Immanuel Kant Public Library, Kauno atžalyno Branch, Kauno st. 49)
Tour
Saturday, 13 April, 14.00 – excursion to the LNDM Clock Museum and presentation of the original clock “Svyturys”. Later there will be a concert – “Melodies of the classical guitar” with Lukas Isaak (Germany), who is a student at the Klaipeda Faculty of the LTMA (LNDM Clock Museum, Liepu st. 12)
Concert
Saturday, 13 April, 15.00 Traditional 20th anniversary concert “Baltic Culture Wave”. Organiser – Klaipeda County Latvian Association “ATPUTA” (Klaipeda City Municipality, Immanuel Kant Public Library, Melnrage Unit, Molo st. 60)
The event will culminate with a theatrical musical performance
Saturday, 13 April, 19.30 Theatrical musical performance “The Tale of the White Lighthouse”. Programme: greetings by the Mayor of Klaipeda Arvydas Vaitkus, symbolic ceremony of lighting the “Lighthouse Fire”, musical-poetic story “The Tale of the White Lighthouse”, light and music show (Siaurinis pier in Melnrage). A visit to the south and north piers will add new experiences to your walks and deep breaths. The piers are special in the windy season, when your face is touched by the splash of the waves and the feeling of how much a part of nature we are, and in the evenings… the lights of the lighthouses and the silence of the night enchant everyone, as if we are all waiting for the ship of our dreams to return from the sea.
Lighthouses year opening in Klaipėda
