Maišiagala Manor — Attraction in Maišiagala

Small, but mighty - Maišiagala. With Vilnius being so large and full of interesting things to see and do, it’s easy to oversee its surroundings that aren’t less interesting or beautiful. Maišiagala - a small town and centre of a namesake eldership - is one of them. It’s located just some 26km from the city centre of Vilnius, just off of the Vilnius-Panevėžys highway, but not many have actually visited it. The town was first mentioned in written documents in 1254, which is almost 70 years before the foundation of Vilnius! Later it had a large defensive castle, which was part of the defensive network around Vilnius against the Teutonic Knights. According to Jan Długosz, Grand Duke of Lithuania Algirdas died in this castle in 1377. The castle hasn’t survived until nowadays, but the old hill fort, also sometimes known as Bona's Hill named after Queen of the Lithuania-Poland who used to summer there, survives and it’s huge and truly impressive. After extinction of the Jagiellon dynasty, Maišiagala lost its status as royal summer residence and began to decline. It became property of various nobles and the last rulers were an aristocratic German noble family the Houwalds. They built the currently standing manor in the Classical style. Quite recently the manor and the surrounding park have been reconstructed and look great. The main palace now houses a branch of the Vilnius Regional Ethnography Museum, Maišiagala Traditional Crafts Center and various cultural events are organized there. The park is also well kept, has new hangout spots, big beautiful shady trees and is a lovely place for a walk. I think the manor and the entire town of Maišiagala are overlooked, there’s plenty of interesting history and beautiful sights here, so...

Nice manor, recently renovated. Owned by the municipality. Surroundings are very nice with a well preserved park. Manor is right in the centre of Maišiagala, which is one of the oldest towns mentioned in historical documentary. Worth visiting. Though was...

a wonderful center for both children and adults, good, friendly teachers. clean, cozy, interesting. We went to a historical exhibition and learned about the history of...