Cultural heritage sites in Šalčininkai district to be renovated

The mayor of Šalčininkai district municipality, Zdzisław Palewicz, inspected the cultural heritage sites in Turgelių seniūnija and Jašiūnų seniūnija which are being renovated and the ones to be renovated in the near future.

On May 2^nd of this year the agreement on renovating the palace in Vilkiškės has been signed. Construction works on the building will start next week. That is the first stage of the project including renovating the wooden palace that belonged formerly to the Dmochowski family, as well as adapting it to the needs of young people. The first stage of renovation involves replacing the windows and the doors, renovating the roof and the walls, rebuilding the entrance to the building and installing a lightning protection system. Its value amounts to over 940,000 litas.

A complex of historic buildings situated in the former Paulava Republic is waiting to be visited. The site renovated a year and a half ago thanks to the endeavor made by the local government of Šalčininkai district is a popular destination for domestic and foreign tourists as well as the most favorite place for photo shoots. The employees of Turgelių seniūnija keep the area of the buildings in the Paulava Republic in order.

In the immediate future the chapel of the Paulava Republic will begin to be rebuilt. At the end of the previous year the local government of  Šalčininkai district municipality initiated and financed a renovation of the chapel’s roof and a placement of an authentic cross built in accordance with existing archival documents. The chapel of Christ carrying the Cross is situated to the north of the route to the Merkinė Manor. It dates from the end of the 18^th and the beginning of the 19^th century and has been renovated a few decades ago.

The last place to be inspected was Jašiūnai Manor, where the palace and the historic park are being renovated. The local government of Šalčininkai district was striving for funds for the renovation of the historic Balinski Palace in Jašiūnai for 18 years.

The palace that remained unscathed during the Second World War and was a seat of the eminent Śniadecki and Baliński family started to decay in the Soviet times when it was seized by the administration of the local sovkhoz. In 1996 the palace became a property of the local government of Šalčininkai district. From that time the local government was striving for funds to restore the palace to its former glory. The two-storey palace in the style of late classicism built in 1828 in accordance with the project of Karol Podczaszyński has started to be rebuilt in April of 2013. Research and construction work as well as archaeological excavations are carried out by the company “Ekstra statyba”.

The first stage of the project “Renovating the Jašiūnai Palace–the cultural heritage site in Šalčininkai district, and adapting it to the tourists’ needs” includes renovation of the palace’s façade elevation, basic renovation works inside the palace embracing redeveloping one of the rooms as a meeting room as well as carrying out archaeological, construction and polychromatic research. The budget of the first stage of the project amounts to5,063,000 litas.

The next stage of renovation works includes renovating the walls, vaults, ceilings, furnaces and fireplaces. 2,600,000 litas will be allocated for this aim.

While the palace is being renovated, the park around the former seat of Baliński family in Jašiūnai is being redeveloped.

The renovation of the Jašiūnai Palace is expected to be completed until October of 2015. A restored building will be adapted to the needs within culture, tourism and organizing conferences.

– The works carried out on the cultural heritage sites within our district are our pride and joy as well as a great achievement. None of the Lithuanian local governments has managed to renovate so many historic buildings and raise so much money within the European Funds over the last years. I am convinced that in several years, after completing the renovation of the manors and other historic sites in Šalčininkai district, we will be not only a popular tourist destination, but also the hosts of history which we will be honored to pass down to the future generations – the mayor of Šalčininkai district Zdzisław Palewicz said recapping on the inspection of the cultural heritage sites.

Irena Kołosowska