Buried Secrets: Tuskulėnai Manor

Tuskulėnai Manor, a neoclassical manor in Vilnius, Lithuania, is perhaps best known as a burial ground for people executed by the KGB in 1944-1947. After Lithuania regained independence in 1990, the manor was reconstructed and the park was transformed into a memorial to the victims of Soviet repressions. The present Tuskulėnai Manor was built in 1825 by the Governor General of Lithuania, Alexander Rimsky-Korsakov, following a design by Karol Podczaszyński in the neoclassical style.

The manor consists of the principal building - the palace, a storage house, and several adjacent buildings, including a small eclectic chapel of St. Theresa. The palace is the main architectural accent of the ensemble, showing clear influence of Palladian layout. Diana, Juno, and Venus used to stand on the front of the palace, but they were removed and restored in 2007. The interior was decorated with works of Dutch painters including Isaac van Ostade, Adriaen van Ostade, and Gerard Dou.

Numerous frescoes have been discovered and restored in the palace. The manor was held by various noble families and high-ranking state officials under the Russian Empire in the 19th century. Julian Titius transformed the main palace into a guesthouse in the mid-19th century. Titius' guesthouse became a cultural center in Vilnius, often visited by Stanisław Moniuszko and Józef Ignacy Kraszewski. Julia Safranovich held the manor in 1886. The Melentjevy family held the manor until World War II.

The manor was nationalized in 1940. The manor was used as KGB officers' apartments and as a kindergarten. Soviet secret police carried out 767 death sentences (18 Latvians, 9 Ukrainians, 38 Germans, and 559 Lithuanians) in the basement cells of the NKVD/MVD prison between 1944 and 1947. During excavations between 1994 and 1996, the remains of 706 bodies were found in the manor's territory. 40 of the found bodies were identified. The remains from the mass grave were placed in a columbarium built underground, beneath an artificial hill, and consecrated in 2004.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons