The treasure is not only for culture lovers – almost 900 thousand values ​​of Lithuanian museums have been made public Culture

Since its inception, museums have already made about 900,000 values ​​public. Both culture lovers, scientists, teachers or educators, as well as casual surfers will find useful and interesting materials here.

„LIMS has become my daily work tool for some time now. I open it and use it to prepare for lectures, reports, and prepare texts. And sometimes it’s just nice to wander among the exhibits, collections, and documents stored in Lithuanian museums. It is not uncommon to discover the “end of the thread” and encourage you to go to a specific museum. I often recommend LIMIS to history teachers and students, because it is a great space for getting to know the types of sources, different Lithuanian museums and their specifics, exhibitions, tours”, says historian, doctor of humanities, lecturer at the Faculty of History of Vilnius University dr. Norbert Černiauskas.

The value of virtual cultural repositories has become particularly evident in recent years. In the face of the pandemic, the sudden change in everyday life and restrictions on movement allowed many to discover forms of cultural awareness in the electronic space. And the massive destruction and looting of Ukrainian heritage values ​​carried out by Russia painfully reminds us of the need to take care of the physical protection of values ​​and the creation of their exact images or digital copies. This is especially important to preserve endangered or threatened cultural objects and to make them accessible to a wider public.

More than 8 million valuables are stored in Lithuanian museums. Only 3-5 percent can be presented at expositions and exhibitions. of all protected objects. Internet platforms provide an opportunity to see those collections that would not be possible to see physically due to various limitations. Through the LIMIS platform, people with mobility disabilities who live further from art and culture centers or abroad can get acquainted with the country’s heritage.

According to the general director of the Lithuanian National Art Museum (LNDM), dr. Arūnas Gelūnas, “dissemination of cultural values ​​in the internet space helps to overcome regional and even national limitations, opens cultural and art treasures to every art lover, regardless of geographical or social situation”.

In the Lithuanian integral information system of museums, or LIMIS, you can find more than 110 collections of Lithuanian museums, among them: the National Museum of Art of Lithuania, the National Museum of Art of MKČiurlionis, the National Museum of the Palace of the Rulers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Maritime Museum, the National Museum of Lithuania, the Museum of Trakai History, Šiauliai “Aušros” museum and others. Presentations of museums, their working hours and ongoing events are also presented here, and you can register for excursions and educations.

“LIMIS is unique in that visitors can not only get to know the collections of almost all Lithuanian museums for free in one place, get information about the events taking place in the museums, discover their virtual exhibitions, tours, audio guides or other digital products, but also create and publicize their own content. Users of this repository can prepare digital stories using not only the museum, but also their personal collections,” says Donatas Snarskis, director of the Information, Digitization and LIMIS Center of Lithuanian Museums.

The public is invited to use the treasure trove of Lithuanian heritage accumulated on the LIMIS platform, electronic services and to contribute to the creation of LIMIS content. This can be done by simply visiting platform or by registering and becoming a regular user of LIMIS. LIMIS electronic services are available free of charge in Lithuanian and English.

The LIMIS platform is maintained and administered by the Lithuanian Museum Information, Digitization and LIMIS Center, a branch of LNDM. He takes care of updating the system, organizes seminars during which museum specialists are trained on how to present museum content in an attractive and creative way. The staff of the LIMIS center advises on the digitization of cultural heritage and work with LIMIS.