Komorowski’s manor house in Podbirża not to preserve

The director of Birżański’s Administrative Region Government Vytautas Džėja will have to pay a fine of 500 litas, as he did not take care of the preservation of the remains of the manor house in Podbirże. The government authorities of Birżański’s Region claim that the wooden manor house, once owned by the family of the current President of Poland Bronislaw Komorowski is already  impossible to be preserved .

In the seventeenth century the manor house in Podbirże was the property of Rostov’s family, in the eighteenth century it became the property of Leon Borowski. According to some historical sources, Tekla Borowska by marrying Count Komorowski received in dowry the manor house in Podbirże and thus the estate became one of the residences of the Komorowski’s family. In 1929, the property with an area of ​​380 hectares was parceled out and the contemporary owner Maria Komorowska received only the wooden manor house with outbuildings and 70 hectares of land. Podbirże was renamed into Balandiškes.

After World War II the Komorowski’s former mansion was a service station which serviced tractors and agricultural machinery, then – high school. In 1999 the manor house was handed over to the ownership of Birżański’s Local District. The local government was obliged to take care of the historic manor house but within 15 years the building became abandoned and neglected, until it turned into a total ruin.

The specialists in the field of historic preservation demanded the maintenance of the manor house’s remains in Podbirże but without effects. The case was taken into the court which sentenced the Director of Birżański’s Administrative Region Government to pay a fine of 500 litas.

The director of Birżański’s Administrative Region Government Vytautas Džėja claims that the government did its best: the manor house’s walls were propped, doors and windows were secured, the grass around the building was mowed. However, the government has no funds to repair the roof.

The Birżański’s government appealed to the Department of Protection of Monuments of Culture to cross off the manor house in Podbirże from the list of protected objects. According to the district’s authorities it is no longer possible to save the wooden manor house and  it is not worth to spend  the Budget to maintain the manor house’s remains.

Based on: 15min.lt, siaure.lt

Source: http://www.wilnoteka.lt/pl/artykul/dworek-komorowskich-w-podbirzach-nie-do-uratowania

Tłumaczenie by Kasia Ratajek w ramach praktyk w Europejskiej Fundacji Praw Człowieka, www.efhr.eu. Translated by Kasia Ratajek within the framework of a traineeship programme of the European Foundation of Human Rights, www.efhr.eu.