Lithuania · 16th century
Norviliškės Castle (Lithuanian: Norviliškių pilis), also called Norviliškės Manor (Lithuanian: Norviliškių dvaras) is a Renaissance style castle and a former monastery in Norviliškės, Lithuania. The Norviliškės Castle is first mentioned in 1586. In 1617 the owners donated part of the real estate land to Franciscans. Around 1745 they built a monastery and a church in Renaissance style. The monastery was reconstructed at the end of the 18th century by Kazimieras Kaminskis. After the November Uprising of 1831, Russian authorities closed the monastery and turned it into barracks for soldiers, and later to a boarding school for girls. The Church of St. Mary Compassionate Mother was closed at the same time as the monastery. A new wooden church was built in 1929.
For a long time the former manor stood abandoned. In 2005, reconstruction was started by an entrepreneur, Giedrius Klimkevičius, from Vilnius. The project is supported by funds from the PHARE program. The hopes are that the Norviliškės Castle will become a tourist attraction. It offers hosting for business conferences or weddings, hunting, shooting practices, and other activities, including music festival Be2gether.
Text adapted from “Norviliškės Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Norviliškės Castle ranks #3,235 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #20 of the 32 mapped in Lithuania. Founded 1586, it is older than 33% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 891 atlas entries founded in the 16th century. 3 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Vilnius, 60 km away. See how Lithuania compares in the castle statistics.
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