Kelmė District Municipality
Samogitia
manor estate with a local-history museum
P. Višinskio g. 1, Dvarčius village, Užventis Eldership, Kelmė District
55.78750, 22.65420
45-90 minutes for the museum and park by the Venta
late spring to early autumn
Užventis manor estate, Užventis Local History Museum
Užventis Manor and the Šatrijos Ragana exhibition
Užventis Manor stands by the Venta River in Kelmė District. It is an old Samogitian manor estate closely connected with writer Šatrijos Ragana, who spent her youth here; the childhood manor became the prototype for the world of her best-known novella Sename dvare.
The old manor granary houses Užventis Local History Museum with an exhibition devoted to the writer. It is worth noting that the separate Šatrijos Ragana Memorial Museum is in Židikai; Užventis has a local-history museum with a writer's exhibition.
Manor estate and owners
Užventis manor estate is listed in the Cultural Heritage Register and is a rare complex of 13 manor buildings, the only surviving one of its kind in Kelmė District. The estate reaches back to the sixteenth century, when Užventis was a grand-ducal possession; later it was held by the Gorskis, Vaina, and, in the early nineteenth century, Drucki-Lubecki families.
In 1887-1898 the writer's parents, the Pečkauskas family, rented the manor from the prince. In 1909 economist and Independence Act signatory Jonas Smilgevičius bought it and lived here until 1942. He turned Užventis into a model farm with dairy production, a water mill, and other enterprises.
Šatrijos Ragana and Sename dvare
Šatrijos Ragana was the pen name of writer Marija Pečkauskaitė (1877-1930). Raised in a Polish cultural environment, she began turning toward Lithuanian identity at Užventis. In 1891 the young neighbour Povilas Višinskis taught her here and encouraged her to write in Lithuanian.
Her childhood and youth impressions of Užventis Manor appear in her most important novella Sename dvare, published in 1922, and in Viktutė from 1903. Šatrijos Ragana also wrote didactic prose, translated literature, and created works on pedagogy and ethics.
Local-history museum in the granary
Užventis Local History Museum was founded in 1966, though museum data also gives 1965, and since 1973 it has operated in the manor granary. In 2010-2012 the granary was restored, preserving its authentic wooden structure, and it reopened in 2012.
The exhibition has three parts: Užventis-area history, notable local people, and the life and work of Šatrijos Ragana and Jonas Smilgevičius. The writer's section includes a bust by sculptor Vladas Žuklys, and an interactive space lets visitors listen to actors reading her works.
Visiting
During research, the museum worked Tuesdays and Thursdays 14:00-18:00, Wednesdays and Fridays 9:00-13:00, with visits at other times by prior phone arrangement. Check current hours and ticket prices on the official page.
Allow 45-90 minutes for the museum and a walk through the manor park by the Venta. The visit combines well with the nearby Povilas Višinskis homestead in Ušnėnai and the Užventis manor mill.
