What to see
Panemunė Castle is the best-preserved Renaissance residential castle in Lithuania, revealing rich layers of the history and culture of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. This impressive castle complex consists of four wings forming an enclosed courtyard. Adjacent to the castle are five cascading ponds and a park.
Panemunė Castle stands out for its impressive size and preserved wall paintings dating back to the times of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. A special feature is the harmony of different eras and their corresponding styles: Renaissance, Baroque, and Classicism. This variety of art styles, along with the ever-changing exhibitions by the Vilnius Academy of Arts, captivates visitors of all ages:
- The representative apartments of the ruler of the Duchy of Samogitia, the Elder of Samogitia
- Classicist wall paintings
- The 18th-century castle kitchen with an apothecary exhibit
- Archaeological finds
- The castle prison
- An observation tower
- The park
Observation Tower
Panemunė Castle originally had four towers. Currently, two towers remain. One of them invites visitors to ascend to a height of 26.5 meters and admire the views of Panemunė Castle’s park and the Panemunių Regional Park.
Legendary Prison
On the first floor of the tower, through a hole in the floor, you can see a dungeon nearly six meters deep. During the early periods of the castle’s history, this dungeon likely served as a prison. Various legends surround this dungeon and its surroundings, which you can hear about during guided tours.
Gelgaudas Library
On the tower’s second floor was the Gelgaudas family library. Originally, there were no stairs leading from the first floor to this room because the library was part of the private apartment of the castle’s owner, Gelgaudas. This apartment consisted of four rooms: an antechamber, a bedroom, a wardrobe, and the library. Today, this historical apartment of the castle’s owner is divided into two parts – the wardrobe and the library, both accessible by climbing the tower. The antechamber and bedroom have been converted into a hotel room, where visitors can stay overnight.
Viewing Platform
From Gelgaudas Library, after climbing an additional five floors, you reach the viewing platform situated at a height of 26.5 meters. From here, you can enjoy panoramic views of Panemunė Castle’s park and the Panemunių Regional Park.
The Park
The compositional center of Panemunė Park features a historical castle emerging from dense foliage, situated atop a hill and mirrored in ponds. The aesthetic of the area is accentuated by a system of five sculpted ponds, which are fed by several streams.
Surrounding this picturesque valley are wooded hills, scenic viewpoints, and recreational areas interconnected by winding paths. It is an open-style park, seamlessly blending internal spaces with its surroundings. The woodlands predominantly feature local flora with exotic accents, highlighted by trees on the hills, centuries-old lime trees, rows of maples in the southern part of the park, as well as pine, oak, and decorative shrubs near the ponds. The oldest oak tree near the castle is a relic of the historic oak grove.
This park represents a legacy spanning multiple epochs, with older structures partially preserved in its newer fabric:
- In the 17th and 18th centuries, gardens, ponds, a menagerie, and forests surrounded the residence.
- Towards the end of the 18th century, an English landscape park was created, featuring several pavilions, sculptures of ancient deities, a bridge, greenhouses for rare plants, and other elements reflecting the cultural perspective of the Gelgaudas family.
- After the confiscation of the castle following the 1830–1831 uprising, the park fell into neglect.
- Between the wars, the park was revived by the Salesian monks, who added a chapel on the hill and original passages between the ponds. This project was interrupted by World War II.
- In the second half of the 20th century, the park underwent restoration.
- Currently, the park is undergoing restoration in four stages, with the first stage completed in 2021.
Symbolic accents in the park have evolved over time: from prominent European park iconography in the 18th and 19th centuries to a focus on religion and Lithuanian history in the 20th century – purportedly, Grand Duke Vytenis of Lithuania and his wife Vikinda are buried in two mounds located in the southern part of the park.
Reprezentative Apartments
The representative apartments of Panemunė Castle, which were dedicated to the receptions and daily life of the Gelgaudas nobility who ruled the castle from 1759 to 1832, are unique in reflecting the historical periods of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Many estates in Lithuania were renovated in the 19th century, making Panemunė Castle’s representative apartments, reminiscent of the times of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, exceptional and allowing visitors to experience the daily life of Lithuanian nobility.
When Antanas Anupras Gelgaudas acquired Panemunė, later becoming the administrator of Žemaitija and Žemaičių eldership, the castle underwent renovations. Instead of the enclosed castle, the northern wing was demolished to create a French-style honor court, known as the “cour d’honneur.” In the southern wing, representative apartments were planned, also following the French example.
The representative apartment, accessed by stairs from the vestibule to the second floor, consisted of the following rooms:
- Antechamber,
- Celestial salon,
- Salon of Twelve Columns,
- Pink cabinet (boudoir),
- Gallery,
- Dining room,
- Credenza,
Fragments of wall paintings (50-70%) have survived in Panemunė Castle’s representative apartments, largely reflecting the decorative styles of Neoclassicism, Empire, and Biedermeier:
- Neoclassical painters drew inspiration from the newly rediscovered ancient monuments in Italy during the 18th century, often faithfully replicating their decor, reveling in the plasticity and rhythm of ornaments, but without overemphasizing the meanings of their predecessors.
- The representative Empire ornamentation at the beginning of the 19th century was promoted by the artists of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte’s court in France. Their followers occasionally highlighted ideas of power and authority with very small ornamental or symbolic details. Neoclassical and Empire styles coexisted simultaneously, and their ornamentation is rarely found in a “clean” form. In interiors, both styles merged into a harmonious combination.
- The cozy vision of family life began to spread in the 19th century, particularly from German lands – Prussia and Austria. Today, the art of that time is known as the Biedermeier style. This period is also associated with the popular European idea of universal gardening, which Biedermeier creators applied both in wall painting and in the creation of new types of furniture. Many surviving elements of the interior decoration of Panemunė Castle have direct allusions to garden art.
Castle Kitchen
The kitchen of Panemunė Castle is a unique exhibition showcasing the characteristics of late 18th-century Lithuanian manor kitchens.
Located in the southern wing of the castle, the kitchen was established in the second half of the 18th century during the rule of the Gelgaudas nobility. The previous kitchen, traces of which were discovered by archaeologists, was situated in the old Eperješai residence in the eastern wing of the castle (restoration works are planned for this wing).
Thus, this new Gelgaudas nobility kitchen could already accommodate the new French direction of cuisine, known as “cuisine nouvelle,” which spread in Lithuania from the mid-18th century onwards. Kitchens, or more commonly separate kitchen buildings known as “kitchen offices” in Lithuania, were used to prepare food for the noble families and guests. Often, chefs and their assistants lived in these buildings. The kitchen of Panemunė Castle is integrated into the overall structure of the castle, but its layout is typical of kitchens in other manors.
The kitchen comprises:
- The main kitchen area, known as “kuknia,”
- The bakery, known as “piekarnė,”
- The food storage room, known as “spižarnė,” which also includes an exposition of a Pharmacy,
- The kitchen chamber, known as “kuknios stancija.”
Intrigued? Visit the kitchen exhibition and uncover the ancient secrets of Lithuanian manor kitchens!