The Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture is opening a new branch next to Millenium Park at the heart of Chicago, reports the Draugas newspaper.
The museum’s president and chairwoman of the board of directors Sigita Balzekas has confirmed to the paper that the institution has recently purchased a building on Michigan Avenue.
The third biggest city in the United States is the hub of the Lithuanian diaspora in North America. Lithuanian-American Stanley Balzekas founded the Museum of Lithuanian Culture back in 1966.
According to Sigita Balzekas, opening a cultural centre dedicated to the Lithuanian culture at the heart of Chicago was Stanley’s old dream. Stanley Balzekas passed away in 2020.
“No other national diaspora, even the most influential one, has done that in Chicago,” commented Marijus Gudynas, Lithuania’s ambassador in Ireland, in a Facebook post.
“Even the descendants of people who emigrated a century and a half ago have not stopped radiating their love for Lithuania, working for Lithuania, creating Lithuania here and in the world,” he continued. “The power of the Lithuanian diaspora in the United States is also a special testimony to all of us, and to the newly emerging Lithuanian communities, of the power of instilling in our children and grandchildren a love for the land of their parents.”
The Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture is located at 6500 S. Pulaski Rd. in Chicago’s West Lawn neighbourhood. It boasts a collection of publications, manuscripts, and artefacts linked to Lithuanian diaspora and Lithuanian culture.
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