Burbiškis Manor

On the picturesque left bank of the Anykšta River, a stylish palace catches the eye from afar – a 19th-century architectural monument and a pearl of the neoclassical era, enchanting with its subtlety and elegance. The park that nestles gracefully beside it, where more than 30 species of trees and shrubs have survived, blends into the landscape like a well-tended oasis of tranquillity. Built in 1853 by the Lithuanian-Polish noble Węcławowicz family, the Burbiškis manor palace remains one of the most beautiful in the Anykščiai area. The whole manor estate has the status of the Burbiškis Landscape Architecture Reserve and is included in the list of European heritage sites. Please do not confuse this manor with Burbiškis Manor in Radviliškis district, which hosts annual tulip festivals, or with another manor in Burbiškiai, Raseiniai district. Burbiškis Manor in Anykščiai district and the neighbouring village were mentioned as early as the 17th century, in the days of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The 1690 list of households of the Vilnius Voivodeship records that Burbiškis, in Ukmergė district, with 5 peasant households, was held by Trojan Niepokojczycki, treasurer of Pinsk. In 1729 it is recorded that the manor, by then belonging to Vilnius University, was run by the Jesuit steward Mateusz Woronicz, and that the villages of Burbiškis, Niūronys and Vosgėliai also belonged to it. In 1752 the Węcławowicz name appears in the manor's history: Stanisław Węcławowicz, an officer of the Grand Duchy's army, commissioned a design for a small manor from the eminent architect Paweł Giżycki. Stanisław's son Jan Węcławowicz is mentioned in documents of the time as the first owner of the manor from the Węcławowicz family. Thus, at the end of the 18th century, the era of the noble Węcławowicz family began at Burbiškis; it lasted about a century and a half and left the deepest mark on the manor's history. After Jan, the manor was run by his son Iwon, during whose tenure, around 1784, Giżycki's design – commissioned by Iwon's grandfather Stanisław thirty-two years earlier – was finally built. In 1853 Iwon's son and Jan's grandson Onufry Węcławowicz rebuilt the manor palace into the late-classicist palace ensemble that survives today. Around the palace, in the Anykšta valley, he planted a 5-hectare park with handsome tree avenues. Onufry had four sons – Daniel, Henryk, Stanisław and Onufry the Younger. Henryk and Onufry the Younger took part in the 1863 uprising. For this, Henryk was imprisoned by the tsarist authorities in Kaunas for three years, and Onufry the Younger was sentenced to death. Thanks to the family's efforts, the death sentence was commuted to 12 years of hard labour in Siberia, but Onufry the Younger lost all the privileges of nobility and never returned to Lithuania after his exile; he lived and died in St Petersburg. After Onufry, the manor was held by his son Henryk and grandson Zygmunt. The latter passed Burbiškis to his uncle Daniel, Henryk's brother. In 1923 Daniel bequeathed the manor to his son Otton, but the real mistress of the manor became Daniel's last wife, Ludwika Węcławowiczowa, Otton's stepmother. People say that relations between Ludwika and her stepson Otton were not good. After his father's death Otton left for Paris; in 1931 he signed a power of attorney for Ludwika Węcławowiczowa to manage all property matters, and he never returned to Burbiškis. In 1932 Ludwika Węcławowiczowa sold the manor, with the 82 hectares of land left after the land reform, to Petras Kriaučionis, a farmer who had returned from the USA. It was not only the main buildings of Burbiškis Manor that went up under the Węcławowicz family. At the end of the 18th century, in the Anykščiai cemetery, the family built a chapel-mausoleum over their family crypt. Its construction was begun by Iwon, and in 1858 the work was continued by Onufry. The chapel was destroyed during the First World War and later rebuilt on the initiative of Ludwika Węcławowiczowa. It survives to this day, has been reconstructed and now serves as a chamber arts centre. Episodes from the Węcławowicz era survive both in archival documents and in local memory. Residents of Burbiškis remember Ludwika Węcławowiczowa and say that she was a kind and friendly mistress who never turned away those who asked for help. Zofia Emilia Jeleńska-Węcławowiczowa, wife of Władysław Węcławowicz, heir to the neighbouring Aknystos and Savičiūnai manors, was also a frequent visitor to Burbiškis. During the tsarist oppression she financially supported the publication of banned Lithuanian books, founded a secret Lithuanian school at Aknystos Manor, supported young people seeking an education and treated local children free of charge. The history of Burbiškis Manor can be reconstructed not only from surviving documents and contemporaries' memories but also from works of fiction. The Anykščiai area, famous as the birthplace of eminent writers, tells us about its past through poems, novellas and legends, and Burbiškis Manor can also boast the attention of literary classics. The well-known Lithuanian writer Antanas Žukauskas-Vienuolis, in his novella "Vėžys" (The Crayfish, 1925), describes in detail the history of the noble Put-Putarlecki family and their rule of Putriškiai manor in the 19th–20th centuries. The setting of the novella in fact corresponds to the real, historical Burbiškis Manor. Even some architectural details match, such as the lookout turret above the palace roof, from which seven church towers in the surrounding area could be seen and from which the owners watched the farmhands working in the fields. Some events described in the novella also match real facts, such as the building of the chapel, and the characters have features of specific historical figures: Countess Kristina strongly resembles the Ludwika and Zofia Emilia Węcławowicz mentioned above. Tomasz Węcławowicz, a member of the family and a professor of art history and architecture living in Kraków, said after reading Vienuolis's work that the history of the Put-Putarlecki family it describes can indeed be regarded as a re-creation of the Węcławowicz family's life at Burbiškis. Petras Kriaučionis, who bought the manor from the Węcławowicz family in 1932, sold it in 1933, together with 8 hectares of land, to the Jesuit priest Pranciškus Zabiela, who had returned from the USA. Zabiela set up a church and a rectory in the north-eastern part of the palace and founded a parish, while the western part went to a primary school. In 1947 the Soviet authorities decided that the sound of the organ and bells had a negative effect on the upbringing of Soviet pupils, so a church and a school could not exist under one roof. The premises were taken from the parish and nationalised. What became of manors in Soviet Lithuania is no secret. The collective farm system turned palace halls into grain stores and manor buildings into mechanical workshops, administrative offices and other abodes of the Soviet paradise. The Burbiškis manor palace became a school, the outbuilding a farm workshop, the cowshed with its yard a pigsty, the granary a storehouse, and other buildings grain dryers, potato stores and so on. In 1990, after Lithuania regained independence, the manor buildings were returned to the Curia of the Diocese of Panevėžys. Unable to maintain the manor, the Church sold it to private investors. The European Union, caring for the cultural heritage of its "newlyweds", contributed to the restoration of the manor from its Structural Funds, and Burbiškis Manor rose to a new life. The Burbiškis manor ensemble has been restored according to the 1853 design. The authentic ceiling and wall paintings and the original brown ash doors have been restored, and valuable decorated wall fireplaces have survived. A special feature of the interior is the authentic 19th-century stoves clad in white glazed tiles. Similar stoves stand in the Presidential Palace on Daukanto Square in Vilnius, but only special visitors can see them. At Burbiškis Manor you have a unique opportunity to see what foreign representatives and distinguished guests see at the Presidential Palace. The manor has been adapted for tourism: it offers accommodation and catering and hosts concerts, seminars and exhibitions. The manor estate has regained its original purpose and has once again become a centre of culture in Anykščiai district.