Šakiai District Municipality
Suvalkija
Šakiai-region manor ensemble with palace, stables, and cultural activity
Beržų g. 3, Tubeliai, Lukšiai Eldership, Šakiai District
54.95050, 23.17300
1-2.5 hours; longer with a full-complex ticket and guide
during opening hours, when exhibitions and manor-complex buildings are open
Zypliai Manor Homestead
New Zypliai: from Poniatowski to Bartkovskis
The history of Zypliai Manor is tied to the creation of New Zypliai. Old Zypliai was granted in 1806 to Prince Józef Poniatowski for military service in Napoleon's army. After his death in 1813, the holding passed to his sister Maria Teresa Tyszkiewicz, who sold Zypliai to Jonas Bartkovskis, a landowner from Polotsk Governorate.
The official manor page states that Jonas Bartkovskis founded a new manor near Lukšiai and in 1845-1855 built modest, one-storey masonry Classicist palace buildings with two service wings, a kitchen, and wooden farm buildings. After Bartkovskis died in 1855, the manor passed first to his stepdaughter and later to his daughter.
Count Tomas Potocki and the Neo-Baroque reconstruction
At the end of the nineteenth century Zypliai was purchased by Count Tomas Potocki. Through his efforts, at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the palace was rebuilt, decorated, and given original Neo-Baroque forms. The present palace appearance therefore combines the manor's earlier modest beginning with later representative ambition.
After Potocki's death, the manor was held until the First World War by his wife Pelagija Brzozowska-Potocka. This layer of owners - Poniatowski, the Tyszkiewicz family, Bartkovskis, and the Potockis - makes Zypliai one of the richest manor-history stories in Suvalkija.
The restored Zypliai Manor ensemble
Zypliai Manor matters because visitors see not only a facade but a restored complex. The buildings were transferred to Lukšiai Eldership in 1993, restoration began in 2002, and the restored palace was ceremonially opened on September 22-23, 2012. It is a cultural heritage object of national significance, listed under Cultural Heritage Register code 1616.
The ensemble consists of the palace with two symmetrical service wings, a kitchen, stables, granary, other farm buildings, and a park of about 21 ha with ponds and exotic trees. A smithy and ceramics workshops have been installed in restored farm buildings, so it is worth choosing a fuller complex ticket or guide.
Exhibitions, culture, and twentieth-century history
Zypliai Manor hosts exhibitions, displays, events, and educational activities. It is an active cultural place, so each visit can differ depending on the programme. The first folk-art exhibition here opened on March 26, 2003.
The manor also has an interesting twentieth-century history: in 1919-1922 it housed a priests' seminary moved from Sejny; in 1924-1944, a lower agricultural school; later, a military hospital and collective-farm institutions. When travelling through the Šakiai region, Zypliai works both as an independent destination and as an axis between Gelgaudiškis, Kiduliai, Lukšiai, and Kudirkos Naumiestis.
Opening hours and tickets
At the time of research, the official manor page listed seasonal hours: from October to April, Monday-Thursday 8:00-17:00, Friday 8:00-15:45, Saturday 10:00-15:30, and Sunday only for groups of at least 15 people; from May to September, Sunday 10:00-15:00. Tickets were 4/3 EUR for an independent visit, 5/4 EUR with a guide, and 7/5 EUR for the whole complex. Check the official page before travelling.
Allow 1-2 hours for a basic visit, and up to 2.5 hours with the full complex and a guide.
