Merkinės Manor / Merkinės Dvaras
Coming Soon, the rebirth of a legendary Lithuanian Manor
At Feniks, we are currently finishing the research and modelling of the main building of one of the most important and iconic manors in whole Lithuania: Merkinės Dvaras.
Mostly known as “Paulavos Republic”.
It was a small self-governing farmer community founded in 1769 by the Catholic priest Paweł Ksawery Brzostowski.
An advanced community with revolutionary ideas for those times, recognized by the Grand Duke and King Stanisław August Poniatowski himself and the Great Sejmas as a micro-state within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with its own parliament, army, currency and laws.
Brzostowski implemented various progressive policies, abolished serfdom and granted personal freedoms to the peasants, replaced corvée with a land tax paid in cash, established a school and a pharmacy, encouraged more profitable agricultural activities.
Roughly 10-15% of the original building by volume, or 25-35% of the wall footprint, standing in some form.
Everything above the first-floor level has mostly gone, and nothing of the roof or interior survives.
Preview images of the ongoing research:
