Mezotne Palace

Mežotne, Latvia

Mežotne Palace was built in Classicism style during 1798-1802 for a teacher and governess of the grandchildren of Russian Empress Catherine II, Charlotte von Lieven (1742–1828). Architects of the palace were famous Italian Giacomo Quarenghi and Johann Gottfried Adam Berlitz, architect of the Durbe Manor and the Kazdanga palace. Simultaneously with the palace there has also been developed an English style landscape park and complex of subsidiary buildings, creating one of the most impressive Classicism style ensembles in Latvia.

The palace suffered heavily in the First and later in the Second World War. The Lieven family owned the palace up to agrarian reform in 1920. Palace and park underwent reconstruction in 2001 and since then a hotel is located there.

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Address

Lielupes iela 12, Mežotne, Latvia
See all sites in Mežotne

Details

Founded: 1798-1802
Category: Palaces, manors and town halls in Latvia
Historical period: Part of the Russian Empire (Latvia)

More Information

www.latvia.travel
www.ambermarks.com
www.mezotnespils.lv
en.wikipedia.org

Rating

4.3/5 (based on Google user reviews)

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User Reviews

Ikars Ūdrēns (3 years ago)
Ok
C Hagelberg (3 years ago)
Beautiful place and friendly staff. We got married here
Crimson Mustache Hamil (3 years ago)
Beautiful place to stay.
Remco Jonker (3 years ago)
Situated in the countryside this former small summer Palace has been converted to a hotel. Rooms are nicely decorated in the style of the era. The standard rooms are small the special rooms very spacious. Bathrooms are fine. I would have appreciated a coffee/tea maker and a small fridge. Public spaces are a bit staid. At the time my visit there was very little staff who were a bit reserved. Dinner and breakfast in the restaurant were a reminder of communist times, a dinner menu with one of the two main courses not available for instance. Free parking.
Viktor Platonov (3 years ago)
Hotel is not good, as museum - very bad guide, very bad exposition
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The Palazzo Colonna is a palatial block of buildings built in part over ruins of an old Roman Serapeum, and has belonged to the prestigious Colonna family for over twenty generations.

The first part of the palace dates from the 13th century, and tradition holds that the building hosted Dante in his visit to Rome. The first documentary mention notes that the property hosted Cardinal Giovanni and Giacomo Colonna in the 13th century. It was also home to Cardinal Oddone Colonna before he ascended to the papacy as Martin V (1417–1431).

With his passing, the palace was sacked during feuds, and the main property passed into the hands of the Della Rovere family. It returned to the Colonna family when Marcantonio I Colonna married Lucrezia Gara Franciotti Della Rovere, the niece of pope Julius II. The Colonna"s alliance to the Habsburg power, likely protected the palace from looting during the Sack of Rome (1527).

Starting with Filippo Colonna (1578–1639) many changes have refurbished and create a unitary complex around a central garden. Architects including Girolamo Rainaldi and Paolo Marucelli labored on specific projects. Only in the 17th and 18th centuries were the main facades completed. Much of this design was completed by Antonio del Grande (including the grand gallery), and Girolamo Fontana (decoration of gallery). In the 18th century, the long low facade designed by Nicola Michetti with later additions by Paolo Posi with taller corner blocks (facing Piazza Apostoli) was constructed recalls earlier structures resembling a fortification.

The main gallery (completed 1703) and the masterful Colonna art collection was acquired after 1650 by both the cardinal Girolamo I Colonna and his nephew the Connestabile Lorenzo Onofrio Colonna and includes works by Lorenzo Monaco, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Palma the Elder, Salviati, Bronzino, Tintoretto, Pietro da Cortona, Annibale Carracci (painting of The Beaneater), Guercino, Francesco Albani, Muziano and Guido Reni. Ceiling frescoes by Filippo Gherardi, Giovanni Coli, Sebastiano Ricci, and Giuseppe Bartolomeo Chiari celebrate the role of Marcantonio II Colonna in the battle of Lepanto (1571). The gallery is open to the public on Saturday mornings.

The older wing of the complex known as the Princess Isabelle"s apartments, but once housing Martin V"s library and palace, contains frescoes by Pinturicchio, Antonio Tempesta, Crescenzio Onofri, Giacinto Gimignani, and Carlo Cesi. It contains a collection of landscapes and genre scenes by painters like Gaspard Dughet, Caspar Van Wittel (Vanvitelli), and Jan Brueghel the Elder.

Along with the possessions of the Doria-Pamphilij and Pallavacini-Rospigliosi families, this is one of the largest private art collections in Rome.

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