The project is developed using the experiential education method “Time Travel”, pioneered in Sweden, to which Klaipeda University has added an original sound dramaturgy. The tour stands out for its musical and linguistic diversity, as well as its unexpected forms of engagement: history is conveyed not only through facts but also through sensory experience, enabling participants to connect their personal memories more closely with the city’s past.
“This is not an ordinary tour – it is musically and linguistically diverse, and unexpectedly engaging. Each participant assumes a new identity, becoming a contemporary of the era’s station, carrying their destiny and an object from the past in a suitcase. Migrant invites you not only to hear history but to experience it – to live through a variety of emotions and build a stronger connection with your city,” says project leader, KU researcher Dr. Raimonda Nabažaitė.
Mažeikiai – a Migrants’ Crossroads Since 1871
The historical text for this experiential journey was created by well-known Mažeikiai region historian Vytautas Ramanauskas, weaving together key episodes, personalities, and stories of everyday life. The tour will reveal Mažeikiai as a crossroads of migration – from the founding of the railway station in 1871 and the settlement that grew around it to the cultural and linguistic polyphony brought by new arrivals.
Special attention is given to the city’s Jewish culture and the theme of the Holocaust. Participants will journey through episodes of the interwar period, war, Soviet occupation, and independence: concerns about the church, the construction of the Martyrs’ Cross, the success story of a local doctor, the experiences of occupation, the first Soviet demonstrations seen through children’s eyes, dilemmas of collaboration, partisans’ memories, and the realities of socialism. The finale captures the spirit of the Sąjūdis movement, the raising of the historic tricolor flag, and a vision of the future of Mažeikiai being shaped today.
Local Voices Will Bring the Stories to Life
The prepared script has been handed over to Mažeikiai Theatre director Airida Lementauskienė, who, together with volunteers, is overseeing the search for narrators and the creative process – ensuring that dialects, different languages, and authentic characters are heard. The sound design of the experiential tour is crafted by Marijonas Breitmozeris (Mario Breit Mozer), a long-standing creator of digital content for cultural projects.
Residents Invited to Share Suitcases and Migration Stories
Residents of Mažeikiai and surrounding areas are invited to share old suitcases, which will serve as attributes and symbolic companions of migrants during the tour. Participants are also encouraged to contribute the stories and photographs of the suitcases’ owners. Family migration stories and personal testimonies about Mažeikiai are especially welcome – your voice will become part of the project. Those who have old suitcases or compelling stories are invited to call +370 602 31 812.
Premiere Later This Year
Updates about the creative process and the first tours can be followed on the Facebook page “Migrant – Experiential Tour in Mažeikiai”. Later, according to project leader Vaidas Andrijaitis and coordinator Gabija Vaičiurgė, the tour will be widely presented in schools, local businesses, and cultural spaces, so that as many residents as possible can rediscover – or even help create – a new bond with the city’s history.
Project funded by: Lithuanian Council for Culture, Mažeikiai District Municipality
Partners: Klaipeda University, Mažeikiai Museum, Mažeikiai Tourism and Business Information Centre, Būdas.lt, Mažeikiai Bus Park Ltd., Mažeikiai Cultural Centre
Organiser: Active Entertainment in Mažeikiai (VšĮ „Aktyvios pramogos Mažeikiuose“)
