Karaite Ethnographic Museum

Lithuania

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Displaying traditional dress, arresting photographs and items from daily life, this small ethnographic museum traces the ancestry of the Karaites, a Judaic sect and Turkic minority originating in Baghdad, which adheres to the Law of Moses.

Around the year 1400, Lithuanian Grand Duke Vytautas brought 383 Karaite families from the Crimea to Trakai, installing them as castle guards. They later took on occupations including horse breeding, handicrafts and agriculture. Only about 60 Karaite people still live in Trakai and their numbers – fewer than 280 throughout Lithuania – are dwindling rapidly.

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