Sapieha Palace is a High Baroque
palaceA palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word itself is derived from the Latin name Palātium, for Palatine Hill, one of the seven hills in Rome...
s in Sapiegos str.,
AntakalnisAntakalnis is an elderate in the Vilnius city municipality. Antakalnis Antakalnis is an elderate in the Vilnius city municipality. Antakalnis Antakalnis is an elderate in the Vilnius city municipality. Antakalnis (literally 'the place on hills', is one of the oldest historical suburbs of Vilnius...
district of
VilniusVilnius Vilnius Vilnius as of 2008. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the...
,
LithuaniaLithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the southernmost of the three Baltic states. Situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, it shares borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland, and the Russian exclave of...
. It is the only surviving of several palaces formerly belonging to the
SapiehaThe Sapieha is a Polish-Lithuanian princely family descending from the medieval boyars of Smolensk. The family acquired great influence in the sixteenth century.-History:...
family in the city.
The palace, ordered by the Great Hetman of Lithuania
Jan Kazimierz Sapieha the YoungerJan Kazimierz Sapieha the Younger was a Grand Hetman of Lithuania since 1682. He held the title of a Duke since 1700. In 1681 he became Field Hetman of Lithuania, the following year he also became the voivode of Vilnius....
was built in
Baroque styleBaroque architecture, starting in the early 17th century in Italy, took the humanist Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical, theatrical, sculptural fashion, expressing the triumph of absolutist church and state. New architectural concerns for color, light and...
in
1691-Buildings:* 1690 - The Sindone Chapel in Turin, designed by Guarino Guarini is completed.* 1699 - Castle Howard , designed by Sir John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor, is begun....
-1697 in the place of former wooden mansion of
Lew SapiehaLew Sapieha . He was born in what is now Vitsebsk Voblast, Belarus. He became Great Secretary of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1580, Great Clerk of the Grand Duchy in 1581, Court Chancellor of the GDL in 1585, Grand Chancellor of the GDL from 1589 until 1623, Voivode of Vilnius in 1621, Great...
(who died here in 1633). The palace was designed by Giovanni Pietro Perti and decorated with
frescoFresco is any of several related painting types, done on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Italian word affresco which derives from the adjective fresco , which has Latin origins...
s by
Michelangelo PalloniMichelangelo Palloni was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, who worked in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1674 onward. In 1688, Palloni became a court painter of the Polish king Jan III Sobieski...
. The
piano nobileThe piano nobile is the principal floor of a large house, usually built in one of the styles of classical renaissance architecture...
has initially displayed
DutchThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
tiles and
mosaicMosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...
s representing
blazonIn heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of, most often, a coat of arms or flag, which enables a person to construct or reconstruct the appropriate image...
s, churches, castles, and palaces owned or built by the Sapiehas. Originally, the palace had multi-floor
arcadesAn arcade is a succession of arches, each counterthrusting the next, supported by columns or piers, or a covered walk enclosed by a line of such arches on one or both sides....
on its sides, which were later built up to gain more space inside the building.
In 1809 the palace was acquired by the Russian government and restructured (according to Józef Poussier's design) into a military hospital in 1843. Much of the rich interior was destroyed throughout the 19th century. The exterior of the palace was restored only in 1927-1928 and the building housed
UniversityVilnius University , is one of the oldest universities in both the Baltic states and Europe...
's
ophthalmologyOphthalmology is a branch of medicine which deals with the diseases and surgery of the visual pathways, including the eye, hairs, and areas surrounding the eye, such as the lacrimal system and eyelids. The term ophthalmologist is an eye specialist for medical and surgical problems...
institute until
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Since the war it has been used as military hospital again and fell into disrepair. Today the complex houses the Sapiega Hospital .
The palace is surrounded by the remains of the 17th-century formal park, with
parterreA parterre is a formal garden construction on a level surface consisting of planting beds, edged in stone or tightly clipped hedging, and gravel paths arranged to form a pleasing, usually symmetrical pattern. Parterres need not have any flowers at all...
s, ponds, and avenues. The impressive Baroque gate secures the entrance to the park from the Antakalnis street and the other gate is in the opposite side of the park, near the palace. Both of them have been recently restored.
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