Urban exhibition “One Hundred Years of Emotions, Togetherness, Dance and Songs”

In 2024, we marked the centenary of the Lithuanian Song Celebrations. Song has always held great significance for us. People sang during the years of the press ban, in exile, and in the diaspora. Even during the Soviet period, when the occupiers imposed mandatory ideology works, Lithuanian songs were still sung and continued to inspire hearts.

The Song Celebration, which grew out of this rich singing tradition, is more than just an annual festival. It is a living tradition that helped preserve Lithuanian identity and language. It is also a forge of music and culture, where various genres of national culture and traditional costumes have developed and flourished.

The first Lithuanian Song Celebration took place in 1924, twenty years after the lifting of the press ban, in the seventh year of independent Lithuania’s statehood. It was held in Kaunas because the capital, Vilnius, was under occupation.

Over the hundred-year tradition, times and people have changed. We have lived through the ambitions of a young state, world war and partisan struggles, occupations, deportation and repression, the Sąjūdis movement and the restoration of Independence. Throughout it all, the Song Celebration has been a living presence, growing, evolving, and reflecting the cultural and political context of each era.

It is impossible to tell capture, so we chose to present the centenary of the Song Celebration in Kaunas. During the centenary year, the exhibition was displayed in places that recall the Kaunas Song Celebrations – in Petras Vileišis Square, in the Song Valley surrounded by oaks, and near the Mikas and Kipras Petrauskas House of the Kaunas City Museum.

From 1 September 2025, the exhibition will move to the home of the composer, conductor and teacher Juozas Gruodis, who conducted at the Lithuanian Song Celebrations on multiple occasions.

Visitors can view the exhibition through guided tours. Registration by phone: +370 611 62 789.

Curator and Project Manager Dr. Aušra Strazdaitė-Ziberkienė

Co-curators Irma Grigaitytė and Deimantė Kondrotaitė

Exhibition Architects MB Baukas

Graphic Designer Evelina Židelevičienė

Editor Aistė Zigmantaitė

Translation Bureau UAB Vertimų karaliai

Partner Lithuanian Audio-Sensory Library

The project was funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture.