Liubavas Manor Museum in Lithuania’s Vilnius District has added two newly restored heritage buildings, a barn and a historic icehouse, to help visitors better understand both the working side of the estate and its formal manor history.
The project was commissioned by the Cultural Infrastructure Centre. The manor complex once included about 20 buildings, and 10 have survived. The estate is managed by the public institution Europos Parkas, which has already helped restore and adapt several buildings for museum use.
Work on the barn ran from 2023 through 2025. Crews restored the foundations and walls, repaired the wooden roof structure, reconstructed and conserved the shingle roof, and fixed gates, doors, and floors. The barn is about 900 square meters and stands 12 meters high. Museum founder and sculptor Gintaras Karosas said the space is planned to host an exhibition on 19th and 20th century activities tied to the manor’s daily economy and technical progress. The value of the barn work was 331,000 euros.
The manor’s icehouse restoration is especially notable for mason contractors focused on preservation. Research describes the building as a stone and concrete masonry structure that sits partly below ground and includes historicist design elements like a portico and a triangular pediment, along with authentic masonry features. The scope included restoration of fieldstone masonry, architectural details, the roof, floors, doors, and windows, plus new fire and security alarms, electrical wiring, and lightning protection. The value of the icehouse work exceeded 157,000 euros.
Officials tied the work to a broader goal of preserving not just showpiece buildings, but also agricultural structures that complete historic manor complexes. Funding came from Lithuania’s program for conservation of immovable cultural heritage, which covered about 75 percent of the total, and from Europos Parkas as the estate manager.
Read the full, original article from Infoerdve.lt here.