Užulėnis, Ukmergė District Municipality
Aukštaitija
interwar modern manor and presidential memorial museum
Dvaro g. 3, Užulėnis village, Taujėnai eldership, Ukmergė District
55.42530, 24.56380
1-1.5 hours; 2-3 hours with the school-museum and birthplace
late spring to autumn, when the park by Lake Lėnas is at its best
Užugiris Manor, Užugiris Courtyard
President Smetona's Manor in Užugiris
Užugiris Manor stands by Lake Lėnas in Užulėnis village, Ukmergė District, just about a kilometre from the place where Lithuania's first president, Antanas Smetona, was born in 1874. Today it operates as a memorial museum and a branch of the Ukmergė Regional Museum, telling the story of the interwar Lithuanian leader's life.
Do not confuse two nearby places: Užugiris Manor was the estate given to the president, while his birthplace is a separate memorial site with a homestead model and commemorative stone. Both can be visited on the same trip.
A National Gift to the President
The manor story began in 1934, during the celebration of Antanas Smetona's sixtieth birthday, when it was decided to give the president a farm in his native area. In 1935 about 80 ha of land were bought by Lake Lėnas with donated funds; part of the land came from the Lėnas folwark of nearby Taujėnai, a Radziwiłł manor.
Engineer-architect Feliksas Vizbaras designed the homestead and buildings in 1935 and supervised construction. The manor house was finished in 1937, and that summer Smetona and his family spent their first holiday there. Before the 1940 occupation, the president spent only a few summers at the manor.
Modern Manor Architecture
The Užugiris palace is a two-storey, masonry, plastered interwar modernist building with a basement. Its main facade faces Lake Lėnas. Granite columns mark the entrance, two balconies occupy the second floor, the walls are white, and the roof is covered with red tiles.
For its time it was a comfortable and modern estate, with water supply, sewerage, and telephone connection. A park around the house and the lake panorama create a calm, representative manor setting.
Soviet Period and Museum
After the 1940 occupation the manor was nationalized: the land went to an agricultural unit, while the palace housed a children's sanatorium and later an addiction-treatment hospital. The building was vacated only in 1991 and transferred to Ukmergė District Municipality in 2008, becoming a museum branch.
After restoration the memorial museum opened to visitors in 2014. Nearby, in Smetona's native Užulėnis, the school he funded now houses the Užugiris School-Museum. Both sites belong to the Ukmergė Regional Museum.
How to Visit Užugiris Manor
The manor is best visited together with the nearby school-museum and Smetona birthplace site, making a 2-3 hour memorial route. For the manor alone, 1-1.5 hours is usually enough.
This is an operating museum, so access follows museum hours. Summer and winter hours differ, and the last Sunday of the month is often free. At the time of research, visitors were advised to check exact hours and ticket prices on the official Ukmergė Regional Museum page because they can change.
