The initial hillfort of the Teutonic Knights in Panemunė (erected 1343) was replaced by a present castle built in 1604-1610. It was built by Hungarian nobleman Eperjesh who bought the surrounding lands from Lithuanian local inhabitants. It is a typical 17th century feudal castle with a defensive tackle, living quarters and farm buildings. The castle stands in a park on a high hill and is girdled by five cascading ponds. It was reconstructed around 1759 by Giełgud family.
The Panemunė castle was left to decay in the 19th century. Its valuable library was brought out, the former marvelous park of classicism style became feral. In 1925 Lithuanian government acquired the castle into a national possession. In 1935 the Panemunė castle and its surroundings where taken under responsibility of Lithuanian Culture department.
Nowadays Panemunė castle has 2 corpuses remained – the western including 2 towers and the southern. Panemunė castle belongs to Vilnius Art Academy which takes care about restoration of the castle and fitting it to science, education and tourism purposes. During the summer season the Vilnius Art Academy arranges there expositions of art works.
References:The Pilgrimage Church of Wies (Wieskirche) is an oval rococo church, designed in the late 1740s by Dominikus Zimmermann. It is located in the foothills of the Alps in the municipality of Steingaden.
The sanctuary of Wies is a pilgrimage church extraordinarily well-preserved in the beautiful setting of an Alpine valley, and is a perfect masterpiece of Rococo art and creative genius, as well as an exceptional testimony to a civilization that has disappeared.
The hamlet of Wies, in 1738, is said to have been the setting of a miracle in which tears were seen on a simple wooden figure of Christ mounted on a column that was no longer venerated by the Premonstratensian monks of the Abbey. A wooden chapel constructed in the fields housed the miraculous statue for some time. However, pilgrims from Germany, Austria, Bohemia, and even Italy became so numerous that the Abbot of the Premonstratensians of Steingaden decided to construct a splendid sanctuary.