Radziwill Palace, Vilnius, Lithuania

Radziwiłł Palace is a Late Renaissance palace in the Old Town of Vilnius. It had been the second palace of Radziwiłłs by importance in Vilnius and the largest one. It is likely that Mikołaj 'the Black' Radziwiłł"s wooden Vilnius mansion was on the same site, but the current building was constructed by the order of Janusz Radziwiłł from 1635 until 1653, according to the design by Jan Ullrich. The building fell in ruin after the Muscovite invasion 1655-1660 and remain mostly neglected for centuries. It was further devastated during World War I and only the northern wing of the palace survived. Eventually, it was restored in 1980s and a division of the Lithuanian Art Museum is located there today. A part of the palace is still in need of renovation today.

Being the only survived Renaissance palace in Vilnius it has features of the Netherlands Renaissance as well as Manneristic decorations native to the Lithuanian Renaissance architecture. Its original layout and symmetry of structural elements was distinctive to the palaces of the Late French Renaissance resembling that of Château de Fontainebleau and Luxembourg Palace in Paris.

References:

Wikipedia

Palaces, manors and town halls in Lithuania

User Reviews

W K (12 months ago)
Amazing building and art museum, very interesting art from old to modern! Will definitely come again! ???????????????????????

Aras Kriauciunas (15 months ago)
Eh, too esoteric for me

Mateusz Nowicki (15 months ago)
Love it!

Sveta Matveenko (18 months ago)
Modern place with intetrsting exhibition

Marius Gorochovskis (18 months ago)
Once posh palace by one of the very famous Radvila (Radziwill) now partly destroyed, partly abandoned building. In one of the flangs a newly refurbished museum is conquering spaces and interestingly combines 17th century, Soviet era and modern white hall.

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Photo from Flickr, copyright Noémie 59

Historic Site of the week

Château d'Olhain

The Château d'Olhain is probably the most famous castle of the Artois region. It is located in the middle of a lake which reflects its picturesque towers and curtain walls. It was also a major stronghold for the Artois in medieval times and testimony to the power of the Olhain family, first mentioned from the 12th century.

The existence of the castle was known early in the 13th century, but the present construction is largely the work of Jean de Nielles, who married Marie d’Olhain at the end of the 15th century.

The marriage of Alix Nielles to Jean de Berghes, Grand Veneur de France (master of hounds) to the King, meant the castle passed to this family, who kept it for more than 450 years. Once confiscated by Charles Quint, it suffered during the wars that ravaged the Artois. Besieged in 1641 by the French, it was partly demolished by the Spaniards in 1654, and finally blown-up and taken by the Dutch in 1710. Restored in 1830, it was abandoned after 1870, and sold by the last Prince of Berghes in 1900. There is also evidence that one of the castles occupants was related to Charles de Batz-Castelmore d'Artagnan, the person Alexandre Dumas based his Three Musketeers charictor d'Artagnan on.

During the World War I and World War II, the castle was requisitioned first by French troops, then Canadian and British soldiers. The current owner has restored the castle to its former glory.

Do you know an ancient castle or magnificent church near you?

Why not share it with other people interested in history? You can add your own historic sites and attractions to SpottingHistory.com.

It's absolutely free, easy, and doesn't even need registration!

Upload data

Radziwill Palace

Address

Details

More Information

Rating

Interesting Sites Nearby

User Reviews

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

House of the Dragon Filming Locations

Historic Landmarks of Sicily

Rhodes, The Island of Knights

Historic Site of the week

Château d'Olhain

Looks like you are a history fan!