Skuodas

WELCOME TO THE UNIQUE STONE MUSEUM!

Welcome to Vaclovas Intas Republican Museum of Stones and park. This is a unique museum, found¬ed in Mosėdis town, in Skuodas region, on both sides of the banks of the river Bartuva, in a picturesque 14 ha valley.

The whole park territory is a recreational zone. In the valley, there is a field exposition of stones in¬cluding a collection of rare trees and plants, as well as small rest sites. On a small hill, there is a square of stone statues. .

The museum stores a fairly large collection of er¬ratic rocks that were brought to Mosėdis and other parts of Lithuania during the glacial period. It also presents collections of rocks and minerals (gem-stones, semiprecious stones) excavated in Lithua¬nia. .

Mosėdis is one of the oldest settlements in Samogitian (Žemaičių) land, which name was first mentioned in 1253, in the documents of the land division between the military order of the Livonian Brothers of Sword and the Bishop of Riga. .

Mosėdis became well-known throughout the world because of the persistent doctor and the founder of the Stone museum, Vaclovas Intas. He transported the first stone by his bicycle in 1957; later on, he used powerful tractors. .

During vacations, V. Intas visited the most fa¬mous botanical gardens in the former Soviet Union and his nature-loving fellows. By sending packages or using his backpacks, he transported to Mosėdis everything: plants, animals, seeds, sand samples, seedlings. The transported plants naturalized and came into leaf in Mosėdis, and not only in the hospi¬tal yard or the doctor's garden, but also in the town, in the homesteads of Mosėdis' residents. .

In 1984, the implantation of the park of the Stone museum was started. In 2000, the museum's dendrological collection was declared as a natural object under the national protection. It includes 27 extremely valuable plant types and 131 plant taxons. .

Vaclovas Intas has exaltated and elevated to the status of environmental decoration and the item to make boast of the stone that since the old ages has been cursed and banished out of the fields by cultiva¬tors - „kūlis" (in Samogitian dialect - „stone").

Considering the popularity of the park, its sci¬entific, cultural, aesthetical, and sightseeing value, in February 26, 1979, The Republican Museum of Unique Stones was founded. The indoor exposition of the museum is located in a restored old watermill with an age of over 250 years. It presents a clastic rock classification, paleontological findings, fossil¬ized animals, and minerals that were received as gifts from various countries throughout the world. The museum also presents one of the richest collections of sand samples in the country, which the founder of the museum, Vaclovas Intas, collected himself. .

In 2005, on the occasion of 80th birthday of the founder of the museum, Vaclovas Intas, considering his merits to the environmental protection, the mu¬seum was given the name of Vaclovas Intas. .

Currently, Vaclovas Intas Republican Museum of Stones protects and nurtures the area of 14 ha, in which main - the memorial part - the stones are laid out according to the origin. The old concave stones -altars - that were used by the ancient Lithuanians are laid out on the other side of the river. Over 90 % of the stones that are currently found were scattered in the Lithuanian fields by the glaciers from the North¬ern regions, the last of which, while melting 14 500 years ago, sowed that enourmous amount of stones found in our fields. .

In the museum's field exposition, the stones are laid out according to the origin. Those are rock boul¬ders from the East, Middle and Western Finland, the button of the Finnish Gulf, the Aland Isles, the bot¬tom of the Baltic Bay, the South, Middle, and North Sweden that are laid in a consecutive geographical order and that travelled to Lithuania during the gla¬cial period that started approximately 700 000 and ended 14 500 years ago. .

Vaclovas Intas Republican Museum of Stones and its park awaits you, who are interested in the natural, historical and cultural heritage of our region, want to expand personal views, and have some rest from everyday labours and cares. .

If you need more thorough information and want to get to know our museum and the park bet¬ter, get acquainted with the values it protects, meet our museum staff, taste Samogitian cuisine in our cafe „Melniko kamara", call us or write in advance, and we will definitely help you. .

Contact, inquire, call and write: .

The Direction of Vaclovas Intas Republican Museum of Stones .

Salantų gatvė 2, Mosėdis, LT-98271, Skuodas region, Lithuania.

Phone: +370 440 76291 Fax: + 370 440 76352.

E-mail: sekretore@akmenumuziejus.lt .

www.akmenumuziejus.lt