Anzelmas Matutis Hollow-Museum

Anzelmas Matutis is one of the most famous Lithuanian poets who has written 32 poem collections for children. He dedicated his whole life for the enrichment and beautification of the magical world of children and the creation of new heroes and tales of their adventures.

In 1971, Anzelmas Matutis built a wooden hexagonal cottage in Pauosupė Village. The cottage was
constructed next to the Uosupis Creek with joyfully churning clear water in Varėna District Forest. The poet would come here as soon as the snow melted and would spend many hours writing poems until late autumn. Surrounded by the beauty of nature and wildlife, A. Matutis wrote verses, poems and fairy tales about the marvels he had witnessed. His creations encourage everyone to love their Homeland and nature and to protect it with everything they’ve got. Anzelmas Matutis invited his friends to take long walks along the forest trails which have now overgrown with shrubbery and was the one to make the log bridge across the Uosupis Creek.

The cottage of Anzelmas Matutis was called the Matutis Hollow. It is now used to exhibit sashes and bedspreads that the poet was gifted with by the local weavers from Pauosupė and other nearby villages and furniture made of hurled and knobbed tree branches. Every visitor of the Matutis Hollow is invited to take part in the sacred ritual of the poet involving hugging the tree hollow in the cottage yard and crossing the Uosupis Creek across the old tree log.

Presently, the biannual Poetry Spring Festival is held near the tree hollow next to the Anzelmas Matutis’ cottage. The Festival announces the winners who are awarded for the best poems for children about nature and Homeland written during the past three years. Drinking the tea of the poet Anzelmas Matutis is also a tradition upheld during the Festival.