Merkinė Manor (Šalčininkai)

Merkinė Manor was a residential manor in Merkinė village, Šalčininkai District Municipality, Lithuania.[1][2] It was the location of the self-proclaimed Paulava Republic, established by Paweł Ksawery Brzostowski in 1769. In 1770 Brzostowski hired Italian architect Carlo Spampani to build a new manor building in Neoclassical style. The building remained intact until after World War II, when it became a part of a sovkhoz, a Soviet-era farmstead. According to art historian Vladas Drėma, the manor was destroyed when one of the sovkhoz directors set fire to it to hide the traces of his grain thievery.[3] Only ruins remained and the manor has not been rebuilt since, however, the area around it has been cleaned up and turned into a minor tourist attraction, with a memorial stone to commemorate the manor and the Paulava Republic.[4]

Merkinė Manor ruins

References

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  1. ^ Merkinės dvaras – arba tai kas iš jo liko Archived 10 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine (in Lithuanian)
  2. ^ Markinė Manor photos (miestai.net) (in Lithuanian)
  3. ^ Drėma V., Naikinom, nesaugojom. Ar atkursim?, „Švyturys”, 1988, nr. 23, p. 8 (in Lithuanian)
  4. ^ Merkinės dvaras (Paulavos respublika) (in Lithuanian)

54°27′17″N 25°28′23″E / 54.45472°N 25.47306°E / 54.45472; 25.47306