Klaipėda Museum of Clocks

In 1979, the Lithuanian Art Museum established a clock department, and in 1984, in a restored 19th-century building, a branch of the Lithuanian Art Museum was opened – Klaipėda Museum of Clocks, one of the most truly unique museums in Europe. A sundial park was established in the Museum courtyard.

According to its specifics, it is among the rarest museums not only in Lithuania but also in Europe. The museum displays originals, models and copies - reconstructions of ancient calendars, sun, water, fire and sand clocks, as well as original mechanical clocks of the 17th–20th century. An Educational Centre of the Museum of Clocks was established in 1999. The available material enabled employees of the museum to prepare various educational programmes.

The exhibition at the Clock Museum consists of two parts. The first floor reveals the principles of time measurement and the evolution of clock construction from antiquity to the present day. Visitors are acquainted with calendars and ancient sun, water, fire, sand and mechanical clocks, etc.

The second floor reveals the changes in the shape and design of mechanical clocks from the Renaissance to the modern style (16th-20th century). This exhibition presents the work of famous European and Lithuanian master clockmakers – Theodor Tarasowig of Vilnius, as well as Abraham Louis Breguet and Theodore Perret of Switzerland and others.

The museum displays over 1700 original and rare clocks and reconstructions. The clock exhibition is also supplemented with furniture, interior details, and engravings of appropriate styles.