Tyzenhaus Palace (Lithuanian

Lithuanian language

Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...

 Tyzenhauzų rūmai) is an 18th century mansion located in the city of Vilnius

Vilnius

Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...

, Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

.

History

The historical sources of 1579 mention a International Gothic

International Gothic

International Gothic is a phase of Gothic art which developed in Burgundy, Bohemia, France and northern Italy in the late 14th century and early 15th century...

 building in the same place. However, it later fell into disuse and then into ruin. Around 1765 the parcel was bought by Antoni Tyzenhaus

Antoni Tyzenhaus

Antoni Tyzenhaus was the noble from the Tyzenhaus family, son of Benedykt Tyzenhaus. As a personal friend of Stanisław August Poniatowski, the last King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, Tyzenhaus became Treasurer of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and administrator of royal estates...

 (Antanas Tyzenhauzas in Lithuanian translation), a treasurer

Podskarbi

Podskarbi in Poland then in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was minister responsible for the treasury. Since 1569 also a senatorial office. The title although meaning treasurer can be deconstructed as "under[King]-treasury" - treasury as an old-fashioned adjective...

 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

Grand Duchy of Lithuania

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 12th /13th century until 1569 and then as a constituent part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1791 when Constitution of May 3, 1791 abolished it in favor of unitary state. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic...

 and was responsible for a major industrialisation effort in the area of Grodno. In the early 1770s he ordered the construction of a new, classical

Classicism

Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. The art of classicism typically seeks to be formal and restrained: of the Discobolus Sir Kenneth Clark observed, "if we object to his restraint...

 style palace.

The house was most probably constructed by a Venetian

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

 architect Giuseppe de Sacco. After Tyzenhaus went bankrupt and was dismissed in 1777, the palace fell into disuse. After Tyzenhaus' death in 1785, it was sold to General Fitinhof's widow. She bought the palace in 1789 and she ordered its reconstruction and refurbishment the following year. The work was most probably carried out by German-born architect

Architect

An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

 and professor

Professor

A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

 at the Jesuit Academy of Vilna Martin Knakfuss. The new simplistic façade

Facade

A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....

s 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 refurbishment 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 Defensive War

Invasion of Poland (1939)

The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...

 the building was heavily damaged. It was further damaged during Operation Ostra Brama in 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 with most of the palaces at that time, it was reconstructed by the Soviet authorities to house small apartments. This was due to the shortage of living space in Vilnius caused by a great deal of residential buildings having been destroyed. A fourth floor was added, yet it is invisible from the outside of the palace.

After Lithuania regained her independence, downtown Vilnius became a prestigious place, and many of the occupants of the palace took the opportunity to sell their flats for a high price. Out of 40 flats that were carved out of the palace, most currently serve as either offices or shops.

The building

The palace has 3 floors on the street side and 4 floors on the courtyard side. The courtyard is fully enclosed by the building and is accessible through 2 gates, one on each of the adjacent streets. The palace is of trapezoid

Trapezoid

In Euclidean geometry, a convex quadrilateral with one pair of parallel sides is referred to as a trapezoid in American English and as a trapezium in English outside North America. A trapezoid with vertices ABCD is denoted...

 form. On the street side, the building has a tall attic. It has 2-level gothic cellar, which is currently unused.

One of more interesting elements are sculptures which can be seen immediately beneath the attic on the street side; there are many different bas-reliefs. The rooms on the sides of building facing the street are in two lines: each room has windows opening on both the street and the courtyard. The walls facing the courtyard are narrower. Other exposures of the palace face other courtyards. The attic was unused following the rebuilding after World War II, but has been put to commercial use since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Address

It is on corner of two streets, and has two addresses:

• Vokiečių street 28
• Trakų street 17