Radvilas Palace (, ) is a

Late Renaissance Mannerism is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, when the Baroque style largely replaced it. ...

palace in the

Old Town of Vilnius The Old Town of Vilnius (), one of the largest surviving medieval old towns in Northern Europe, as inscribed within UNESCO World Heritage Sites, has an area of 3.59 square kilometres (887 acres). It encompasses 74 quarters, with 70 streets and ...

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 ...

History

It is likely that a wooden mansion of

Mikołaj "the Black" Radziwiłł Mikołaj is the Polish cognate of given name Nicholas, used both as a given name and a surname. It may refer to people: In Polish (or Polish-Lithuanian) nobility: * Mikołaj Kamieniecki, Polish nobleman and the first Grand Hetman of the Crown * ...

stood in the same site in the 16th century. The current building was constructed by the order of Janusz Radziwiłł from

1635 Events January–March * January 23 – 1635 Capture of Tortuga: The Spanish Navy captures the Caribbean island of Tortuga off of the coast of Haiti after a three-day battle against the English and French Navy. * January 25 & ...

1653 Events January–March * January 3 – By the Coonan Cross Oath, the Eastern Church in India cuts itself off from colonial Portuguese tutelage. * January – The Swiss Peasant War begins after magistrates meeting at Lucern ...

according to the design of Jonas Ullrich. The building fell in ruin after the Muscovite invasion 1655–60 and remained mostly neglected for centuries. It was further devastated during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and only the northern wing of the palace survived. Eventually, it was restored in the 1980s and a division of the

Lithuanian Art Museum Lithuanian National Museum of Art () is the largest national museum in Lithuania collecting, restoring, and conserving art as well as historical objects of cultural value while presenting artefacts of national importance in an astonishing number o ...

is located there today. A part of the palace is still in need of renovation today. Currently, this branch of the Lithuanian National Art Museum contains Old Master paintings by

Ludovico Lipparini Lodovico Lipparini (February 17, 1800 – March 19, 1856) was an Italian painter. Biography He was born at Bologna, and was instructed in that city, where he brought himself into notice at the age of fifteen. In 1820 he was in Rome and Naples, ...

, Giuseppe Rossi, Antonio Bellucci,

Carlo Dolci Carlo (or Carlino) Dolci (25 May 1616 – 17 January 1686) was an Italian Baroque painter, active mainly in Florence, known for highly finished religious pictures, often repeated in many versions. Biography He was born in Florence, on his mother' ...

Giovanni Paolo Panini Giovanni Paolo, also known as Gian Paolo Panini or Pannini (17 June 1691 – 21 October 1765), was an Italian Baroque painter and architect who worked in Rome and is primarily known as one of the ''vedutisti'' ("view painters"). As a painter, Pani ...

and

Bartholomeus Spranger Bartholomeus Spranger or Bartholomaeus SprangerBartholomeus Spranger
at the Netherlands Institute for Art H ...

.The Palace currently is under the restoration process during which lost parts of the building will also be rebuilt. Restored buildings will be used as new exhibition halls. The project is expected to be completed in ~2023, commemorating the 700 years jubilee of the first mention of

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

in 1323.

Architecture

Being the only surviving Renaissance palace in Vilnius, it has features of the Netherlands Renaissance as well as Manneristic decorations native to the Lithuanian Renaissance architecture. Its original layout and symmetry of structural elements was distinctive to the palaces of the Late French Renaissance resembling that of

Château de Fontainebleau Palace of Fontainebleau ( , ; ), located southeast of the center of Paris, in the commune of Fontainebleau, is one of the largest French royal châteaux. It served as a hunting lodge and summer residence for many of the French monarchs, includ ...

and

Luxembourg Palace The Luxembourg Palace (, ) is at 15 Rue de Vaugirard in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was originally built (1615–1645) to the designs of the French architect Salomon de Brosse to be the royal residence of the regent Marie de' Med ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

References

External links

Official website
Palaces in Vilnius Renaissance architecture in Lithuania Houses completed in 1653 Museums in Vilnius 1653 establishments in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Castles and palaces of the Radziwiłł family Vilnius Old Town {{Lithuania-struct-stub