Adakavas, Tauragė District Municipality
Samogitia
brick manor estate with a pond system and park
Adakavas village, Skaudvilė Eldership, Tauragė District
55.40350, 22.66210
1-1.5 hours for the park, ponds, and church exterior
late spring to autumn, when the ponds and park are most attractive
Adakavas manor estate
Adakavas Manor: Manor and Church Ensemble
Adakavas Manor stands in Adakavas village, about 5 km east of Skaudvilė, in Tauragė District. It is a coherent 18th-19th-century manor and church ensemble made up of manor buildings, the nearby church, a landscape park, and a rare pond system.
The manor-estate complex is a state-protected cultural heritage object listed in the Register of Cultural Values. Its most impressive feature is the chain of eight interconnected ponds around the palace, a water system rarely encountered today in other Lithuanian manors.
Owners: from the Adakauskiai to the Chlevinskiai
The manor was begun by the Adakauskiai family, Polish Odakowski, from whom the locality took its name. In the 19th century it passed to the Chlevinskiai family, later to the counts Anrep from 1886, and to Baron von Tornau. In 1858, after a wooden manor burned, brick buildings were erected.
After the interwar land reform the manor was parceled out. In 1925-1945 a lower girls' agricultural school operated here, and from 1945 a social-care institution has occupied the manor buildings and still operates. This is therefore not a museum but an active social-services site.
Pond System and Park
Adakavas Manor's pride is the chain of eight interconnected ponds surrounding the palace. Together with the landscape park, established in the mid-18th century and redesigned in the 19th century, it creates an exceptional manor landscape worth seeing slowly.
The full ensemble consists of about eleven structures: manor buildings, including the palace, farm buildings, and smithy, plus the neighbouring church-complex buildings. The exact boundaries and building list are defined by the Register of Cultural Values.
Church and the Dionizas Poška Trace
Beside the manor stands the wooden St John the Baptist Church, built in 1793. It is important not to confuse its title: this is St John the Baptist Church, not Holy Trinity Church. It has a rectangular plan, sacristy, small tower, and four Baroque altars; the churchyard has a stone masonry fence and wooden belfry.
Several 2nd-3rd-century, Roman-period barrows are found in the Adakavas area. The nearby writer and collector of antiquities Dionizas Poška is linked with them, because in the early 19th century he studied graves in the surrounding area. This link should be presented cautiously, since some sources also connect Poška's excavations with other places.
How to Visit Adakavas Manor
Adakavas Manor combines well with a Tauragė-region route, including nearby Skaudvilė, Tauragė Castle, and the Dionizas Poška Baubliai in Bijotai. For the park, ponds, and church exterior, 1-1.5 hours is usually enough.
Note that a social-care institution operates in the manor buildings, so interior visits are not organized. Visitors use only the freely accessible surroundings: park and ponds. Arrange church interior access with the parish, and respect the institution's privacy while on site.
