MARKUČIAI MANOR MUSEUM

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About

The life of Markučiai, which is tucked between the Vilnelė River and the high hills, has revolved around the nearby manors since the 16th century. The last surviving manor house was built in 1868 and belonged to the engineer Alexey Melnikov, who came to Lithuania to build the Tsarist railway from Saint Petersburg to Vilnius.

Markučiai Manor Museum is one of the best-preserved wooden country villas of mid-19th-century architecture in Lithuania. It follows the fashion of the time of building wooden summer houses (the villa was adapted for permanent residence only some decades later), along with a preserved park, a pond and a stone chapel.

From the outside, the villa’s style is modest, and it now lacks the marquises that gave it its resort splendour a century ago. Inside, however, the building has a modern (Secession) interior with authentic furniture, wall hangings, stoves and a vast number of details. The clever layout of the building, with a technical corridor interspersed between the rooms, allowed the owners to live comfortably served but not disturbed by servants.

Having preserved its authenticity and uniqueness, the building of the Markučiai Manor Museum was included in the list of the most beautiful wooden houses in Vilnius in the summer of 2020 in a competition organised by the Museum of Urban Wooden Architecture.