FROM TUESDAY TO FRIDAY (Pre-booked guided tours)
Individual visitors, families or groups visiting the museum from Tuesday to Friday and wishing to learn more about the topics that it represents are invited to book guided or thematic tours in advance. The guided tours are conducted on working days (from Tuesdays to Fridays) in Lithuanian, English and Russian.* One has to pre-book the guided tours in advance by email muziejus@9fortomuziejus.lt or by phone +370 686 26243. The maximum number of participants in one group is 25 people.
Descriptions of the guided tours are below.
ON SATURDAY AND SUNDAY (Organised guided tours) **
Individual visitors, families or small groups of friends are invited to join organised guided tours at weekends. After purchasing a special ticket for a participant of an organized tour (11 Eur or with a discount – 6 Eur per person), visitors can not only visit the museum expositions, but also join the thematic or guided tours organised at certain times. There is no pre-booking for these organised tours. The person who purchased the ticket earlier acquires the priority right to participate in the organised tour. The maximum number of participants in one tour is 25 people.
TIMETABLE OF THE GUIDED TOURS:
In English:
12:00 Guided tour THE NINTH FORT: FROM FORTIFICATION TO THE MUSEUM (120 mins)
15:00 Extended thematic guided tour THE DEFENSIVE WALL OF THE NINTH FORT: THE UNDERGROUND (70 mins)
In Lithuanian:
11:00 Extended thematic guided tour THE DEFENSIVE WALL OF THE NINTH FORT: THE UNDERGROUND (70 mins)
13:00 Guided tour THE NINTH FORT: FROM FORTIFICATION TO THE MUSEUM (120 mins)
14:00 Extended thematic guided tour THE DEFENSIVE WALL OF THE NINTH FORT: THE UNDERGROUND (70 mins)
16:00 Extended thematic guided tour THE DEFENSIVE WALL OF THE NINTH FORT: THE UNDERGROUND (70 mins)
* In order to book a tour in other languages, please contact the accredited museum guides
** Except for the last Sunday of every month
DESCRIPTIONS OF THE GUIDED TOURS
THE NINTH FORT: FROM FORTIFICATION TO THE MUSEUM
Guided tour (2 h, 30 Eur + entrance tickets)
The guided tour presents the different historical periods of the Ninth Fort:
• The history of Kaunas Fortress and the construction of the Ninth Fort. During the tour visitors are introduced to the armament used at the Ninth Fort, as well as to the other forts of Kaunas Fortress, German and Russian empires’ armies during WWI. The visit to the Defensive Wall of the Ninth Fort is included.
• The Ninth Fort as the division of Kaunas Hard Labour Prison is presented at the prison and punisment cells and the meeting room.
• The tour also presents the Ninth Fort as the NKVD transit prison, which operated during the first Soviet occupation.
• The period of Nazi occupation in Lithuania is presented in the museum expositions. During the tour visitors learn about massacres in Lithuania and the Ninth Fort, prisoners’ escape from the Ninth Fort, Kaunas Ghetto and the destinies of its residents, and the people who saved Jews.
• During the guided tour the field of mass murders and the memorial are visited.
KAUNAS FORTRESS IN 1879-1940
Thematic guided tour (1 h 30 min, 20 Eur + entrance tickets)
Why and how was the Ninth Fort of Kaunas Fortress built? What made it different from others? Who were its defenders and what military equipment were they equipped with? The answers to these and many other curious questions related to Kaunas Fortress will be revealed to the participants of the tour.
During the tour, the exhibition in the Ninth Fort’s defensive fortification (semi-caponier) will give an insight into the prehistory of Kaunas Fortress, its construction, modernisation, weaponry and garrison. Later, the defensive wall (underground communication galleries) is visited, where the positions of the artillery guns and the garrison are examined. The tour continues with a visit to the building of former barracks, where the entire structure of the defensive fortification is presented. Having returned to the exhibition spaces, the visitors will find out more about the modernisation of the fortress buildings and the history of the capture of Kaunas Fortress.
THE DEFENSIVE WALL OF THE NINTH FORT: THE UNDERGROUND
Thematic guided tour (45 min, 20 Eur + entrance tickets)
The visitors of the excursion are introduced to the structure of defensive fortifications of the Ninth Fort: underground galleries used for reaching different parts of the Fort are visited; the positions of former ordnance, garrison, and artillery armament are presented. One can see the well of drinking water used by the garrison of the Ninth Fort, ammunition depots, and ordnance and garrison shelters.
THE NINTH FORT AS A DIVISION OF KAUNAS HARD LABOUR PRISON
Thematic guided tour (45 min, 20 Eur + entrance tickets)
During the excursion, visitors are introduced to the division of Kaunas hard labour prison, which operated in the Ninth Fort during the Interwar period: the changes in the Ninth Fort are presented which were necessary in reconstructing the defensive fortifications to a prison; a meeting room of prisoners is visited, as well as the yards, cells, and punishment cells of the former prison; life and work conditions of the prisoners are presented.
HOLOCAUST IN LITHUANIA
Thematic guided tour (1 h 20 min, 20 Eur + entrance tickets)
During the excursion, visitors are introduced to the destruction of the Jewish nation by Germany during WWII: the expositions about mass murders in the Ninth Fort and in Lithuania in 1941-1944, the history of Kaunas Ghetto and the destinies of its residents, and the Lithuanian saviours of Jews are presented. Mass destruction of foreign Jewish citizens, foreign diplomats who saved Jews during WWII, the destruction of the remains of the people killed by Nazis, and the legendary escape of prisoners (burners of corpses) from the Ninth Fort are focused on. The field of mass murders and the memorial are visited.