Tyzenhaus Palace

Tyzenhaus Palace (Lithuanian Tyzenhauzų rūmai) is a notable 18th century manor located in the city of Vilnius, Lithuania.

History

The historical sources of 1579 mention a Gothical building in the same place. However, it later fell into disuse and fell into ruins. Around 1765 the parcel was bought by Antoni Tyzenhaus (Antanas Tyzenhauzas in Lithuanian translation), a treasurer of Lithuania, starost of Grodno and a close friend of the Polish king Stanisław August Poniatowski. A notable personality of the epoch, Tyzenhauz was a manager of royal grounds in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and was responsible for a major industrialisation effort in the area of Grodno. By early 1770's he ordered a construction of a new, classical style palace.

The manor was most probably constructed by a Venetian architect Giuseppe de Sacco. After Tysenhaus was went bankrupt and was dismissed in 1777, the palace fell into disuse. After Tysenhaus' death in 1785 it was sold to general Fitinhof's widow. She bought the palace in 1789 and the following year she ordered its reconstruction and refurbishment. The works were most probably carried out by German-born architect and professor at the Jesuit academy of Wilno Martin Knakfus. The new simplistic façades were added and a so-called Silver hall was built. After the reconstruction the palace had 30 halls and 16 smaller rooms and was one of the biggest aristocratic residences in Lithuania. In 1807 yet another refurbishemnt was carried out by Mikołaj Szulc, after which the interior was modernised and a new staircase was added to the palace.

Despite that, in 19th century the palace yet again fell into disuse and was parcelated between various shops and stores. Many doors and windows were added on the ground floor and the luxurious part of the palace deteriorated. In early 20th century the palace was bought by E. Bortkiewicz, who ordered the reconstruction of the second floor. Later, after the city of Vilnius/Wilno became a part of Poland in 1922, the 2nd and 3rd floors were yet again reconstructed to house a Hotel Sokołowskiego, named after its owner. During the German bombings of Wilno during the Polish Defence War the building was heavily damaged, as well it was damaged during the Operation Ostra Brama of 1944 and only the cellars, ground floor and outer walls were preserved. Unlike many buildings on Vokiečių street, the palace was rebuilt in 1945. In 1957 the total reconstruction of the palace was led by Algimantas Umbrasas. As most of palaces then, it was reconstructed by the Soviet authorities to house small apartments, as back then there was a shortage of living space in Vilnius because of great deal of residential buildings being destroyed. In addition, a fourth floor was added, yet it is invisible from the side of the outer façade.

After Lithuania regained her independence, the downtown Vilnius became a prestigious place, and therefore many inhabittants used the possibility to sell their flats for high price. Now out of 40 flats that were carved out of the palace, most currently serve as either offices of companies or as shops.

The building

Building is 3 floors of street side and 4 floor of courtyard side. Courtyard is fully enclosed by the building and is accessable through 2 gates, which are from both of the streets enclosing building. It is of trapezoid form. On street side building also has a tall attic. It has 2-level gothic cellar, which is currently unused. One of more interesting elements are sculpures which can be seen immidietly beneath attic out of street side; there are many different barelyefs. The rooms in the sides of buildings which goes to street are in two lines, that means, one room has windows to street and another to courtyard. The sides which go just to the courtyard are narrower and has only one room in their width. The other side of these sides of the building goes to other courtyards. Attic was previously unused after rebuilding since WW2, but was privatised after collapse of the Soviet Union.

Address

It is on corner of two streets thus has two addresses:

• Vokiečių street 28
• Trakų street 17