The Upyna Folk Crafts Museum

Near the Upyna Church of the Holy Name of the Virgin Mary a folk crafts museum was founded.  Its initiator and founder is a local historian Klemensas Lovčikas. Currently, the museum has about 3,500 exhibits from the Upyna area. Many of the items were collected in the 1970s, when land reclamation accelerated in the area and old farmsteads were destroyed.

The main exposition is located in the former parish priest barn. The ground floor of the museum exhibits various archaeological artifacts (stone and iron axes, brass ornaments, etc.), numerous folk art works, and exhibits reflecting the history of the church and school. Exhibitions are held here and regional study works are filed.

On the first floor of the museum there are workplaces, tools and goods of various craftsmen: carpenters, blacksmiths, furriers, tailors and weavers.

The exposition continues outside. Many ancient forged crosses are attached to the walls of the museum; chapel pillars and roof posts are lined up along the southern wall. Next to the museum’s exhibits there is a chapel pillar made by a craftsman Jonas Žukauskis. Various larger implements and mechanisms, such as plows, harps and diesel engines used in farms are stored in the other building of the museum. These exhibits reflect development of agriculture in the 19th and 20th centuries.