Zabiela family palace

Zabiela family palace is a creation of three epochs and includes a Gothic western wing cellar and first floor wall, a central Renaissance part, as well as a Classical volume and eastern wing.

The main facade is asymmetrical. Windows of the first floor are small, with segmental lintels and wooden shutters. Windows on the second floor are much larger and almost rectangular. Entablature with smooth white plaster, second floor window frames and reveals clearly stand out in the background of coarsely textured dark plaster. The eastern wing is evenly plaster and painted in a greenish colour. Other facades are even and crowned with a large cornice of many mouldings. The roof has four slopes and a wooden construction, and is covered with tiles.

The building has four staircases: two in the western wing, two in the northern wing and one in the eastern wing. The Gothic cylindrical vault and walls of the cellar are not plastered. Its narrow staircase with a cylindrical vault is also not plastered. Niches of various sizes are asymmetrically arranged in its walls.

There is an expressive vault on the first floor, decorated with intersecting edges and circles of plaster. The large first floor hall is decorated with niches, reinforced concrete beams imitating wooden ones, a fireplace, hunting trophies and massive furniture.

There is a White Hall on the second floor. It has parquet flooring and white painted walls. The bottom of the walls is lined with painted, wooden, panelled shields. The palace also has a Black Hall. It has parquet flooring and walls decorated with the paintings of Lithuanian artists.

The house belonged to the dukes of Zabiela family in the second half of the 17th century and almost during the entire 18th century. Out of all the former owners of the palace, this family left the most significant mark in both the history of Kaunas and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Therefore, to this day, to highlight the historical importance of the building, scientific discourse refers to this building as the house of Zabiela family. The building is better known by the wider public as "Medžiotojų užeiga" (Hunters' Inn) cafe which was established here since the end of the seventh decade of the 20th century.

Zabiela family house was reconstructed in 1961–1964. Its facade has traces of the Renaissance period, and the house itself is covered in blackish crushed carbon and ash plaster. "Medžiotojų užeiga" (Hunters' Inn - opened in 1965) cafe was designed on the first floor of the building by architect Vytautas Parčiauskas. In 1973–1974, Black and White Halls were installed on the second floor according to the project of the same architect.

On 23 January 2002, the building was added to the Register of Immovable Cultural Property of the Republic of Lithuania.

Sources:

1. Jolita Butkevičienė, www.autc.lt