In the former Houwalt manor in Maišiagala – Centre of Traditional Craft

In Maišiagala the renovation of the Houwalt manor is continuing, where in a year a Centre of Traditional Craft will come into being. In the framework of realization of a couple of projects i.a. a basement and a part of chambers of a former manor will be reconstructed, and also the roof will be repaired.

After the renovation, the former Houwalt manor will be a place for meetings with folk authors and educational classes. Seminars, conferences, publishing projects and folk festivals will be organised here.

The Houwalts bought the estate in Maišiagala  towards the end of 18^th century, in the manor they lived till the outbreak of the Second World War. Jerzy Houwalt, a participant of the Bolshevik war and fightings with Soviets in September 1939, a major in the Home Army during the Warsaw Uprising, was the last owner of the manor.

After the Second World War, during the Soviet rule, a sovkhoz was operating on the territory of the former estate. Then there was a Lithuanian school, and after a new school building was erected in the town, the manor building was passed for cultural purposes.

Before the war the family of Anna Aleksandoriwcz was connected with the Houwalts, the woman who is now a retired Polish teacher from Maišiagala. Ms Anna’s mother was a nanny and after that a chambermaid for the Houwalts.