Raudonė Castle is a residential castle (estate, manor) of the 19th century in

Raudonė Raudonė ( Samogitian: ''Rauduonė''; ) is a town on the Nemunas River in Tauragė County, Lithuania. The town is primarily known for its castle ( Raudonė Castle) and a large park complex. History Raudonė has been traditionally identified ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

.It was used as a public school, but has since become something more like an art gallery/museum.

History

Bayersburg II Castle, an old Teutonic castle, stood here until the 16th century. The original castle is the setting of an

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

n legend known as "The White Maiden of the Bayersburg".

was a royal manor, which Grand Duke

Sigismund II August Sigismund II Augustus (, ; 1 August 1520 – 7 July 1572) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, the son of Sigismund I the Old, whom Sigismund II succeeded in 1548. He was the first ruler of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and t ...

gave to Prussian merchant Krispin Kirschenstein. He built a

Renaissance style Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of Ancient Greece, ancient Greek and ...

manor house with a cylindrical tower on the grounds of the old castle at the end of the 16th century. The 18th-century owners of the Raudonė estate, the Olędzki (Olendskiai) family, members of

Szlachta The ''szlachta'' (; ; ) were the nobility, noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Depending on the definition, they were either a warrior "caste" or a social ...

(Polish-Lithuanian nobility), commissioned Laurynas Stuoka-Gucevičius to renovate the castle. The next owner, the Russian Prince

Platon Zubov Prince Platon Alexandrovich Zubov (; ) was the last of Catherine the Great's favourites and the most powerful man in the Russian Empire during the last years of her reign. Early life The prince was a member of the Zubov Russian noble family a ...

, acquired the estate in the first half of the 19th century and his family transformed the castle yet again. Their architect was Cesare Anichini. The

Neo-Gothic style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

building was built in 1877 as part of the castle building complex. It was used as a warehouse and a living place for servants. In 1923, the building was turned into mill. Today the whole complex is an example of 19th-century Neo-Gothic architecture. The last owner of the castle from 1898 to 1937, was Sophia Waxell, a granddaughter of Sophia von Pirch-Kaiserov who was the niece of Platon Zubov, and her husband from

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

, José (Juozas) Carlos de Faria e Castro. After the early death of Sophia, the castle belonged to her husband, later on to her only son, Joseph Carlo de Faria e Castro, and his wife Olga Kordashevski and their children Nikolai, Vladimir, and Alexander. In 1937 the castle became the property of the

National Bank of Lithuania The Bank of Lithuania () is the national central bank for Lithuania within the Eurosystem. It was the Lithuanian central bank from 1922 to 2014, albeit with a long suspension between 1940 and 1993. It issued the Lithuanian litas between 1922 and ...

. The castle is surrounded by an old park, in which rare trees grow: the

silver fir Silver fir is a common name for several trees and may refer to: *''Abies alba'', native to Europe *''Abies amabilis'', native to western North America *''Abies pindrow ''Abies pindrow'', the pindrow fir, West Himalayan fir, or silver fir, is ...

Swiss pine ''Pinus cembra'', also known as Swiss pine, Swiss stone pine, Arolla pine, Austrian stone pine, or just stone pine, is a species of pine tree in the subgenus ''Strobus''. Description The Swiss pine is a member of the white pine group, ''Pinu ...

, grey walnut, line with nine trunks, Gediminas Oak. The Gediminas Oak, under which according to a legend the

Grand Duke of Lithuania This is a list of Lithuanian monarchs who ruled Lithuania from its inception until the fall of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1795. The Lithuanian monarch bore the title of Grand duke, Grand Duke, with the exception of Mindaugas, who was crown ...

Gediminas Gediminas ( – December 1341) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1315 or 1316 until his death in 1341. He is considered the founder of Lithuania's capital Vilnius (see: Iron Wolf legend). During his reign, he brought under his rule lands from t ...

had a lunch, is no longer putting out leaves. The tower is open to the public as an observation tower of

Nemunas Neman, Nemunas or Niemen is a river in Europe that rises in central Belarus and flows through Lithuania then forms the northern border of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia's western exclave, which specifically follows its southern channel. It drains ...

valley.

Gallery

File:View of Nemunas Valley from Raudonė Castle, Lithuania..JPG, View of Nemunas Valley from the Raudonė Castle File:Original coat of arms of owners of Raudonė Castle Krispin - Kirschenstein and Sophia von Pirch - Kaiserov.JPG, Original coat of arms of owners of the Raudonė Castle Krispin-Kirschenstein and Sophia von Pirch-Kaiserov File:Radaune castle Aerial.jpg, Aerial shot of Radaune Castle

References

* Urban, William. ''The Teutonic Knights: A Military History''. Greenhill Books. London, 2003, p. 133. * Polski słownik biograficzny / komitet redakcyjny Władysław Konopczynski ... 'et al.'' Publisher Kraków : Skład główny w ksieg. Gebethnera i Wolffa, 1935-. (set) {{DEFAULTSORT:Raudone Castle Castles in Lithuania Gothic Revival architecture in Lithuania Buildings and structures in Tauragė County Tourist attractions in Tauragė County

History

Gallery

See also

References