Norviliškės Castle (a former monastery, also called Norviliškės Manor) is a

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

style castle in

Norviliškės Norviliškės ( pl, Narwiliszki, be, Норвілішкес or ) is a small village in the so-called Dieveniškės appendix, Šalčininkai district municipality, Lithuania. It is located about northeast of the town of Dieveniškės near the bord ...

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), 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. Lithuania ...

. The Norviliškės Castle is first mentioned in 1586. In 1617 the owners donated part of the real estate land to

Franciscans , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

. Around 1745 they built a monastery and a church in

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 ...

. 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 A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

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 Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

. The project is supported by funds from the

PHARE The Phare programme is one of the three pre-accession instruments financed by the European Union to assist the applicant countries of Central and Eastern Europe in their preparations for joining the European Union. Originally created in 1989 as ...

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 Be2gether or B2G was the largest annual music and arts festival in Baltic countries. Established in 2007, it took place in Norviliškės, Lithuania, just a few meters from the border with Belarus. In 2007, attendance was estimated at around 7,00 ...

References

Norviliškių pilis
Retrieved on 2007-08-23 Castles in Lithuania Roman Catholic monasteries in Lithuania Buildings and structures in Vilnius County Tourist attractions in Vilnius County {{Lithuania-struct-stub

See also

References