When you are in Utena and want to learn more about the history and customs of this region, drop in at the Utena Museum of Local Lore. In the museum's exhibition of crafts and trades you will see the tools that people of Utena used to work the land and practise crafts in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Authentic ploughshares, threshing, sowing and harvesting tools are kept here. The blacksmithing exhibition features bellows, a forge, an anvil, sledgehammers, hammers and all kinds of objects made by blacksmiths. Stepping into the exhibition of ethnography and old sculpture, you find yourself right inside traditional Aukštaitija living quarters: the so-called "stancija" – the better part of the farmhouse, where guests were usually received and seated at the table – and the "pirkia", with its stove, where the main life of the family went on. Thanks to the museum staff, these rooms look exactly as they did a hundred years ago: not only furniture of the period has been gathered here, but also all kinds of household utensils, authentic tablecloths, bedspreads, curtains and woven runners. In the neighbouring hall much space is given to tools for processing and spinning flax. There are also implements for storing and processing milk and grain and for baking bread. You can also see the herding gear used by village herdsmen and shepherds: a wooden horn, pipes and whips. Next to them you will see old wooden sculptures of various saints and the Pensive Christ (Rūpintojėlis), as well as masterpieces of blacksmithing – decorated metal crosses. The archaeology exhibition is full of ancient artefacts found around Utena and the neighbouring districts, from the very earliest times. Flint axes and bronze jewellery, potsherds and spearheads, battle-axes and sickles – a wealth of exhibits that speak of the rich history of this region and take visitors centuries back into the past. The museum also has a modern exhibition on the history of the town of Utena. At its heart is a smart terminal that is constantly updated with new photographs, texts, educational videos and games for children. Here you can see how the town of Utena changed and grew from the 15th century to the present day – its buildings, squares and cultural monuments, as well as its spirit, events, people, their way of life and occupations. Exhibitions of folk art and professional art are regularly held in the exhibition hall. The Utena Museum of Local Lore also has several separate branches in the town and the district: the Museum of Freedom Struggles and the "Svirnas" Traditional Crafts Centre in Utena, the Art Centre and the Vytautas Valiušis Ceramics Museum in Leliūnai, the A. and M. Miškinis Literary and Ethnographic Homestead in Juknėnai, and the regional museum in Tauragnai.