Vaitkuškis, Ukmergė District Municipality
Aukštaitija
ruins of a neo-Gothic manor palace, former Kossakowski residence
Vaitkuškis village, Ukmergė eldership, Ukmergė District
55.20900, 24.79930
30-45 minutes for the ruins and park
late spring to autumn; use caution because the ruins may be unsafe
Vaitkuškis (Pašilė) Manor
A Kossakowski Residence near Ukmergė
Vaitkuškis Manor stands near Ukmergė. It was once a grand residence of the Kossakowski counts, but today mostly ruins remain: the manor tower, remnants of the orangery, and an old park. Even in this condition the place is striking and evokes a lost manor world.
The Kossakowski were an old noble family that owned many estates in central Lithuania, and Vaitkuškis was one of their main seats from the late eighteenth century. The manor is also linked with the Pašilė locality and cemetery, where family members were buried.
The Neo-Gothic Palace
The manor's most impressive form was created by Count Stanislovas Feliksas Kosakovskis (1795-1872), a collector and diplomat who assembled a large library and art collection. In 1857-1862 he designed the neo-Gothic Vaitkuškis palace, with a picture gallery, library, and rooms for the family archive.
The palace included a chapel, billiard room, drawing room, dining room with rulers' portraits, an orangery with exotic plants, ponds, and a park. A popular claim that the palace followed Italy's Miramare Castle appears only in later storytelling, so it should be treated as an unproven version.
One of Lithuania's Early Photographers
The manor's best-known legacy comes from another owner, Stanislovas Kazimieras Kosakovskis (1837-1905), and his passion for photography. Sometime after 1890 he set up a photo studio at the manor and, together with photographer J. Krajewski, photographed family, villagers, travels, the palace itself, and nature.
The archive he created was enormous: 75 photo albums were compiled, of which 67 survive with 6,259 photographs. VLE calls him one of the first amateur photographers in Lithuania. The collection is now preserved at the National M. K. Čiurlionis Museum of Art in Kaunas.
From Palace to Ruins
In the twentieth century the manor lost its treasures. The library and art collections were removed and dispersed: some books entered state libraries, others went to educational societies and museums, while works taken to Warsaw were lost during the 1944 uprising.
The palace itself gradually decayed. Above ground, the main visible remains today are the manor tower, the ruins of the former orangery, and the park. It is a place where historical grandeur and loss are present at the same time.
How to Visit Vaitkuškis Manor
Vaitkuškis Manor is easy to combine with other Ukmergė-area places, especially Užugiris Manor and Ukmergė Hillfort. For the open ruins and park, 30-45 minutes is usually enough.
These are unmanaged, unguarded ruins near private land, so there is no official timetable or ticket system. Visit carefully: walls and the tower may be unstable, do not climb on high structures, and respect private property.
