- Place
- Kamariškiai village, Zarasai District Municipality
- Region
- Zarasai District
- Type
- historicism manor-house and park ensemble
- Address
- Kamariškiai village, Zarasai District
- Coordinates
- 55.92081, 26.04834
- Visit duration
- 60-120 minutes
- Best time
- the warm season and daylight, after arranging access to the manor grounds
Kamariškės Manor, Kamariškiai Manor Estate
The manor house and its park
Kamariškiai Manor is in Kamariškiai village in Zarasai District, near the Latvian border. It is more than a façade beside a road: the historic ensemble includes the house, park, ponds, and surviving farm buildings. Use 55.920811, 26.048337 for navigation; the coordinates mark the site, while entry to every building is not guaranteed.
The grounds reward a slower look at the relationship between the red-brick house, water, tree avenues, and open park clearings. Restoration work is under way and some areas are not public without an arrangement, so visitors must respect fences, signs, and the instructions of the people caring for the estate.
From a palivark first recorded in 1583
Kamariškės was first recorded in 1583, when the site was described as the palivark of Suviekas Manor belonging to Martynas Komorovskis and Beata Kmitaitė. The name may relate to the Polish form Komoryszki, while a 1634 will by Jurgis Komorovskis already records Kamariškės.
At the end of the 17th century the estate passed to the Zaranka-Horbovskis family, and mortgage and inventory documents from 1696 reveal a network of nearby villages and holdings. These early records matter because the history of the estate begins long before the red-brick house that visitors see today.
The Brinken period and the manor architecture
In the early 19th century the estate belonged to Antanas Kušelevskis. In 1858, Baron Lothar Reingold von Brinken and his wife Irena von Engelhardt bought a holding of about 1,125.31 hectares. The house is associated with this period and its red brick carries historicist and neo-Gothic features.
The Brinkens lived in Riga, although their son Anatolijus was born at Kamariškės. Ownership later changed: Viktor Krauzė acquired the estate in 1882, and Baron Heinrich Wilhelm Berndt von Richter and his wife bought it in 1901. These details present the manor as a succession of families rather than one uninterrupted dynasty.
Estate life, the cemetery, and loss
The Richter period is described as prosperous, with Midsummer celebrations, dogs and horses, and the caramel sweets known as “Karvutė” for guests. The baron, who died in 1936, was buried in a woodland cemetery beside the avenue. The cemetery was damaged after the war, but some headstones survived as separate signs of local memory.
The Soviet occupation in 1940 ended the former estate life; the heirs left, and the house was looted and damaged after the war. A collective farm later used the property, until only the walls of the main building remained. The current revival is therefore a long process of loss and careful return, not a simple cosmetic renovation.
Revival since 2019
In 2019, VšĮ Inovatorių slėnis acquired Kamariškiai Manor and began a new phase. The ponds and park are being cared for, and surviving farm buildings are protected. In 2024, the Cultural Heritage Department reported that research and repair/restoration works on the manor-house remains had been accepted: they included the wing gables, brick masonry, window and niche surrounds, cornices, chimney, a southern-façade opening, door and window reveals, historic paving, surviving interior walls, and the roof covering.
The revival is paired with the idea of a cultural and creative space, so the manor is not simply a preserved shell. Red Book species recorded on the grounds include the hermit beetle, fire-bellied toad, and great crested newt. Part of the garden is intentionally left less managed to preserve habitat and fallen-wood conditions.
Planning a visit to Kamariškės
The manor is most rewarding in the warm season, when the ponds, avenues, and recovering volumes of the house can be seen clearly. Access depends on restoration work and events, and entry into the house may be available only by prior arrangement. Contact the custodians before travelling and do not plan an unscheduled entry.
Allow about 60-120 minutes if you want to see the exterior and walk the publicly accessible parts of the park. The coordinates mark the site, and active restoration makes it worth planning the route in advance.
