Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture

This is an under heated, dimly lit museum that is frankly a little depressing. But if you’ve got Lithuanian heritage or an interest in Lithuanian folk art (both of which I do) it’s worth the trip. They have a beautiful collection of amber jewelry, geometrically embroidered textiles and clothing, wooden wayside shrines, straw ornaments, and decorated eggs. I loved seeing all of this.
The history exhibits were not well presented and fairly forgettable.
If you do make the trip you should absolutely not miss the hilariously hard to follow film, which represents one of the most confusing 45 minutes of my life (random pasture, someone eating, random pasture, random town, someone eating, without any context whatsoever about what we were seeing or why).

This is a great museum, particularly considering its size. The current exhibition on occupation and resistance is especially interesting and well-​presented. Definitely worth visiting — by Lithuanians and non-​Lithuanians alike — for a few hours and discussing over Lithuanian food at the nearby Grand Duke’s.

OK. My mother is full on Lit-​vak (as they call it in her family) and on one of her trips to visit me I realized I had pretty much taken her to every touristy place in Chicago. So I decide it is high time for the woman to celebrate her culture. Balzekas here we come!
First off, it is dark, and dusty, and chock full of the most boring stuff imaginable. Creepy old pictures, strange chotchkies… honestly the most interesting thing to me was the embroidered clothes, but there weren’t that many of them.
I made the mistake of then putting my mother on the mailing list, and she STILL gets mail from these people (90% of them asking for donations) even after 7 years and 2 moves! Damn, the Lithuanians are a persistent people!
I wanted to take her to a Lithuanian restaurant afterwards but she refused, saying that museum was enough heritage for the next 10 years or so.
To me, the best part about being half Lithuanian was when the Russians owned the country and I could tell people I was half-​Communist. But hey, if you like dusty, drawn out, super boring tales of a country about the size of West Virginia, this is probably the place for you! laba diena!

Culture and just beauty! I think balzekas should be another one of those «come see» while visiting Chicago. Its different and you will find that they are a quite cultural experience.
«Lithuania Through the Ages» takes you back to when development of Lithuanian history and culture from prehistory to the present and you will definietley get something out of this exhibit. Stanley Balzeka (owner and creator of Museum) created this place because the original location on Archer was too small. Seriously a nice place to see some culture.