Evolution of wooden architecture of manor houses in Lithuania (from the middle of the 16th century till the middle of the 19th century) ; Medinės ponų namų architektūros raida Lietuvoje XVI a. vid. – XIX a. vid

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VYTAUTAS MAGNUS UNIVERSITY Dal ė Puodžiukien ė EVOLUTION OF WOODEN ARCHITECTURE OF MANOR HOUSES IN LITHUANIA TH TH(From the middle of the 16 century till the middle of the 19 century) Summary of Doctoral Dissertation Humanities, Art Criticism (03 H) Kaunas 2011 The right of doctoral studies was granted to Vytautas Magnus University jointly with the Architecture and Construction Institute on July 15, 2003, by decision No. 926 of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania. The research was carried out in 1995 – 1999 at Architecture and Construction Institute. The dissertation is defended in an extramural way. Scientific Consultant: prof. habil. dr. Vytautas Levandauskas (Vytautas Magnus University, Humanities, Art Criticism 03 H). Chairman: prof. dr. Nijol ė Lukšionyt ė (Vytautas Magnus University, Humanities, Art Criticism 03 H). Members of Council of Defence of the Doctoral Dissertation: Prof. dr. Jonas Glemža (Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts, Art Criticizm 03 H) Doc. dr. Vytautas Petrušonis (Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Humanities, Art Criticism 03 H) Dr. Marija Rupeikien ė (Kaunas University of Technology, Humanities, Art Criticism 03 H) Doc. dr. Nijol ė Taluntyt ė (Vytautas Magnus University, Humanities, philology, 04 H) Official Opponents: Prof. dr. Jūrat ė Kiaupien ė (The Lithuanian Institute of History, Humanities, History, 05 H) Doc. dr.

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• Art criticism

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• Publié par: vytautas_magnus_university
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 20
• Langue: English

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VYTAUTAS MAGNUS UNIVERSITY             DalPuodiukien     EVOLUTION OF WOODEN ARCHITECTURE OF MANOR HOUSES IN LITHUANIA  (From the middle of the 16 TH century till the middle of the 19 TH century)    Summary of Doctoral Dissertation Humanities, Art Criticism (03 H)          Kaunas 2011

The right of doctoral studies was granted to Vytautas Magnus University jointly with the Architecture and Construction Institute on July 15, 2003, by decision No. 926 of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania.  The research was carried out in 1995  1999 at Architecture and Construction Institute. The dissertation is defended in an extramural way.   Scientific Consultant: prof. habil. dr.Vytautas Levandauskas  (Vytautas Magnus University, Humanities, Art Criticism 03 H).  Chairman: prof. dr.Nijol Lukionyt (Vytautas Magnus University, Humanities, Art Criticism 03 H).  Members of Council of Defence of the Doctoral Dissertation:  Prof. dr.Jonas Glema(Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts, Art Criticizm 03 H) Doc. dr.Vytautas Petruonis Gediminas Technical University, Humanities, (Vilnius Art Criticism 03 H) Dr.Marija Rupeikien(Kaunas University of Technology, Humanities, Art Criticism 03 H) Doc. dr.NijolTaluntyt  (Vytautas Magnus University, Humanities, philology, 04 H)   Official Opponents:  Prof. dr.Jrat Kiaupien Lithuanian Institute of History, Humanities, History, (The 05 H) Doc. dr.Rasa Butvilait(Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts, Art Criticizm 03 H).   The official defence of the dissertation will be held at public meeting of the Council of scientific Field of Art Studies in the Art Institute of Vytautas Magnus University in Laisvs av. 53, Art Gallery 101, at 3 p.m. on June 10, 2011.   Address:K. Donelaičio 58, LT 44248, Kaunas, Lithuania Phone:[phone], fax: (+ 370 37) 203858 The summary of doctoral dissertation was distributed on May ____, 2011.  The dissertation is available at the National Martynas Mavydas library, library of Vytautas Magnus University

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VYTAUTO DIDIOJO UNIVERSITETAS             DalPuodiukien     MEDINS PONNAMARCHITEKTROS RAIDA LIETUVOJE XVI A. VID.  XIX A. VID.        Daktaro disertacijos santrauka Humanitariniai mokslai, menotyra (03H)

Kaunas 2011

Doktorantros ir daktaro mokslo laipsni teis suteikimo suteikta Vytauto Didiojo universitetui kartu su Architektros ir statybos institutu 2003 m. liepos 15 d. Lietuvos Respublikos Vyriausybs nutarimu Nr. 926  Disertacija rengta 1995  1999 metais KTU Architektros ir statybos institute. Disertacija ginama eksternu.    Mokslinis konsultantas:  prof. habil. dr.Vytautas Levandauskas  (Vytauto Didiojo universitetas, humanitariniai mokslai, menotyra 03 H)  Disertacijos gynimo tarybos pirminink: prof. dr. (hp)Nijol Lukionyt (Vytauto Didiojo universitetas, humanitariniai mokslai, menotyra 03 H) Disertacijos gynimo tarybos nariai: prof. dr.Jonas Glema dail (Vilniauss akademija, humanitariniai mokslai, menotyra 03 H) doc. dr.Vytautas Petruonis (Vilniaus Gedimino technikos universitetas, humanitariniai mokslai, menotyra 03 H) dr.Marija Rupeikien(Kauno technologijos universitetas, humanitariniai mokslai, menotyra 03 H) doc. dr.Nijol Taluntyt  (Vytauto didiojo universitetas, humanitariniai mokslai, filologija 04 H)  Oficialieji oponentai: prof. dr. (hp)Jrat Kiaupien (Lietuvos istorijos institutas, humanitariniai mokslai, istorija 05 H) doc. dr.Rasa Butvilait (Vilniaus dails akademija, humanitariniai mokslai, menotyra 03 H).    Disertacija bus ginama vieame Menotyros mokslo krypties tarybos posdyje, kuris d. 15 val. Vytauto Didiojo universiteto Menvyks 2011 m. birelio 10  galerijoje 101, Laisvs al. 53.   Adresas: K. Donelaičio g. 58, Kaunas 44248. Tel.: [phone], faksas: (8 37) 203858. Disertacijos santrauka isista 2011 m. gegus ____ d.  Su disertacija galima susipainti Lietuvos nacionalinje Martyno Mavydo, Vytauto Didiojo universiteto bibliotekose.

INTRODUCTION  Manorial architecture is a unique part of wooden Lithuanian heritage. Manor houses intertwined ethnic tradition with the images of cosmopolitan Western European styles. They were examples that influenced style of peasants and townspeople buildings. Therefore, knowledge in architecture of wooden manor houses plays an important role in studies of both  professional and ethnic architecture. Relevance of the thesis.Wooden architecture of manors, as well as nobilitys culture, hasnt been properly explored till the seventh decade of the 20 th  The century. reasons for the rejection of manorial culture as well as late beginning of its architectural studies lay in Lithuanias social evolution processes of the end of the 19 th  and the beginning the of 20 th  Russian colonization policy, abolition of serfdom in centuries. 1861 undercut the ethnic, social and economic roots of the nobility, led it to denationalization, cultural and political decline. In the beginning of the 20 th  century, progressively minded, economically strong, enterprising peasantry emerged. Therefore, the national culture of the State of Lithuania, restored in 1918, has been formed upon the basis of peasant subculture, and manorial culture was rejected as a "foreigner". Soviet cultural studies disassociated from nobilitys heritage as the opposing class, so in the first decades of the Soviet period, manorial culture has been ignored as well. Manorial studies have started only in the sixth decade of the 20 th  while century preparing theList of Cultural Monuments well as series of publications (e.g.,, as Lithuanian folk architecture,History of Lithuanian architecture,List of Cultural Monuments in Lithuanian SSR). TheList of Cultural Monumentsincluded 128 manors: whole ensembles, fragments or individual structures have been entered. There were 63 manor houses among all, but only 10 of them  wooden. In history of Lithuanian architecture, masonry manorial architecture was considered to be the most important (research works on residential development by Kl.Čerbulnas, T. Adomonis, I. Vaivilait Minkevi J.čothers was based on the examples of masonryius and the architecture). Wooden manorial architecture hasnt been explored. Meanwhile, due to adverse historical and social circumstances of the 20 th  century, it became the worst extant part of Lithuanian wooden architectural heritage. During the period 1990-2005, the author itself performed examination of approximately 600 wooden buildings built on manors in the current territory of Lithuania (excluding Klaipda region). The results of examination stated that: only 1.6% of manors have kept authenticity and complexity, the state of most buildings is bad or very bad, worn-out household structures numbers up to 90%, only about 300 buildings are in satisfactory technical condition. Over the past 50 years, all of the most valuable manor houses of the 18 th  century (Panemunlis, Kazliklis, Blinstrubiks, Kavolikis, antekliai) have been demolished. The situation of manorial wooden architecture can be named as critical: unrecorded and unexplored wooden manors are vanishing. While architectural studies are meaningful as long as buildings or their fragments are still in physical form.  Object of the studyis wooden residential buildings of Lithuanian nobility from the middle of the 16 th century up to the middle of the 19 th century.  The termpon namas (En.house of lords,i.e. house manor), used in the thesis, has been chosen for the most precise determination of the objects function, while emphasizing the historic tradition at the same time. The worddom (Lit.namas; En.  houseused to name nobilitys dwelling buildings in scripts and literature) has been

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during all the examined period. In the inventories of the 16 th century, nobilitys dwelling building has been named as,kawiselat  светлочка, dom, while in inventories and printed works of the 17 th  19 th centuries it was called dom. As this word refers only to function, for ease of use, the second wordpon(En.lords) specifying who lives in the house was added. Since the 17 th century all the nobility have been named asponai(En. lords), and since the 18 th  century this word has been also used as the concept of an independent and self-sufficient citizen. The nobility has been small (in the 18 th  it has formed 5.9 % of all century Lithuanian inhabitants) but the most influential (had the political freedom and was the ruling class) class of society. The wealth of a nobleman used to depend on the possessed territory which determined the amount of incomes.Minor nobility,who lived in villages and had little or no land (so-calledčinininkai), have formed 2/3 of all nobility. Usually they used to do farming themselves and hardly differed from peasants.Middle-class nobilityabout 20% of all the nobility. Their, which was difficult to define, formed up to livelihood was established on a 150  1,000 ha domain. Their annual income ensured comfortable life, but not luxury.Great nobility domains which exceeded 1,000 ruled hectares in size.Grandeesandmagnatesruled several dozen domains in various locations of the Great Duchy of Lithuania, as well as managed manufactory industry, trade and financial transactions. Their incomes provided a luxury way of life. Architecture ofmanor houses of great, middle-class and minor nobilityhas been analyzed in this thesis. Chronological limits of the researchThe thesis analyses architecture of wooden. manor houses inSerfdom period. This period has started in the middle of the 16th century sinceWallachreform and ended up in 1861 afterPeasantsreform. During Serfdom period, the manor has formed the basis for political, economical and cultural activities in caste society, due to it manorial architecture distinguished itself as rich in building types, forms and shapes. The study revealed that Wallach reform doesnt set the date for the beginnings of manorial structure and architecture, which could be related to manors of the early 15 th  But it was Wallach century.  reform after which manors inventories have appeared, later becoming important historical sources of manorial architectural evolution. Therefore the threshold chosen of the research period is set in the middle of the 16 th  century. The end of research period  Peasant reform, outlines abolition of serfdom, which has changed a well-established system of farming and undercut the roots of nobilitys mentality. Since then, manors cultural decline has started. Geographical borders of the study area. The ethnic origins of manorial wooden architecture commit the geographical borders of a study area that have been chosen close to those of the 16 th  Lithuanian ethnic boundaries (without the part of centurys Lithuania Minor), and have been set on the basis of Z. Zinkevicius and K. Paktas works. It included Trakai province, most of Vilnius, a small part of Nowogrudok province and emaitija (Samogitia). The northern border ranged along Daugava, the eastern  along Drisa and Dokčiai region, south-eastern border reached Nowogrudok, th the southern  Bialystok. The area in the second half of the 17 century and the beginning of the 18 th  has been devastated by  centurywars and plague, and in the beginning of the 19 th century ravaged by Napoleon's army. Up to the middle of the 19 th  century eastern and southern parts of the country became denationalized, but the research has indicated the ethnic tradition that has remained in manorial architecture. This explained the fact that: 1) in Slavonic eastern and southern parts remained

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sufficiently large number of Lithuanians and 2) after periods of wars and upheavals manors remained in hands of the same noble families of the Great Duchy of Lithuania, which used to rebuild them in accordance with the old regions and familys traditions. In Lithuania Minor, which didnt belong to the Great Duchy of Lithuania, the nobility was foreign-born and used to build manors according to the understanding of their own culture. Culturological and architectural perception of the manor house. Manor houses presented the lifestyle of free, welcoming, active, eager for fame and open to innovation nobility. Manor house was the main building on the manor, so-called the house of lordsresidence a nobleman, his family, children and, was designed to grandchildren as successors of a noble family. Architectural distinction and value of the building were exhibited in the requirements of its construction. Such requirements have been based on ideas of ancient philosophers, which have been reformed and spread out by renaissance theorists (e.g., Leon Battista Alberti, Andrea Palladio). They were  solidity, utility and beauty, for the first time presented in literature of PolishLithuanian Commonwealth in the middle of the 17 th century by Lukasz Opalińhis book "A brief study on construction. Theski, in requirements set in the book, though varying in interpretation due to time and cast of nobility, had influenced manorial architecture till the end of the 19 th century (the same requirements have been declared in architectural books of the 18 th  19 th century written by W. Bystrzonowski, K. Zdzański, P.Świtkowski). Solidity (stability) of the building linked to use of traditional materials and evolution of constructions. In Lithuania, wood has been always the cheapest and most available building material. Most of the forests have been felled only in the 18 th  19 th  centuries. The wood of pine and spruce suited very well for residential construction in wet and relatively cold climate. It had influenced the formation of a high-level carpentry school in the region. On the manors of grandees, wooden buildings dominated till the middle of 17 th  century,manors of great nobility  till the end of the 18 and on the th  century. While on the manors of middle-class and minor nobility they have been common till the end of the 19 th rtyu.enc Utility(convenience) of the building relied upon appropriate ground-plan. Layout of a ground-plan used to be conditioned by nobilitys lifestyle, which in larger manors have been regulated by etiquette, in smaller ones  by custom and tradition. Manors have always been open to visitors of the same rank. Suitable for good entertainment of guests, albeit in a small building  as has been written by W. Bystrzonowski in his book on management and architecture of manors, in 1747. Representational rooms and halls used to be the largest and best equipped premises in the manor house. Apartments have been designed to satisfy daily life of the family and servants. Utility rooms and kitchens, till the middle of the 19 th century, have been located only in manor houses of middle-class and minor nobility. On bigger manors, there has been an individual kitchen house, so-calledoficina. Only in the middle of the 19 th century, kitchens have been incorporated into manor houses, due to changes in nobilitys lifestyle, heating system and food preparation technology. Perception ofbeautyhas been extremely relative. Noblemans place in a hierarchical system and annual incomes allowed communication only with neighbours, relatives and friends of the same rank. Desire to flaunt but not to raise oneself above the crowd kept them following the fashionable innovations of the time. Magnates and great nobility, as the Great Duchy of Lithuania got integrated into Europe, gradually have

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taken over the cosmopolitan values. Middle-class nobility largely followed the local tradition. Manor houses of the King, magnates and great nobility, in accordance with the provisions of international architectural styles, have been designed by professional architects. In the architecture of middle-class nobilitys manor houses new trends have been expressed while copying and adjusting stylish elements of the upper nobilitys architecture.International architectural styles have influenced wooden building in several ways, while changing the structure of the building (ground-plan and shape) or proportions and forms of individual parts and elements, exterior and interior decoration.  Most of the owners of manor houses have been the designers themselves. But it was carpenters who used to realize noblemens ideas as well as projects of hired architects. Masters of Lithuanian carpentry school have created most of buildings of the 16 th  17 th translating the Second Lithuanian Statute (1566),centuries. Therefore, while Latin wordarchitecto has been used for a carpenter(ciesli,дoилиды). Lithuanian carpentry school was based on the experience ofethnic architecture. From generation to generation it has transmitted local habitual proportions and features  characteristics of wooden architecture in Lithuanian ethnic areal: modest forms and decoration, organic blend with the environment. Evolutional periods of the manor house. TheSerfdomperiod was not all in one piece. Economic and political conditions, philosophical dispositions stimulated changes in societys fundamental laws and farming system, lifestyle and architecture. Structure of manors changed at the same pace. Manor houses as well. In the analysed Serfdom period, several stages of evolution in manor houses structure and architecture can be distinguished. These stages evident in the arrangement of living space and the image of the building itself: 1)formation stage (up to the middle of the 17 th  century), as the multifunctionalparterre house has been formed, accommodating all the manor premises: representational, living, and, in some cases, household as well; 2)"baroque" stage(from the middle of the 17th century till the seventh decade of the 18th century), as the architecture of the manor house has been modified in accordance with the international baroque style and etiquette requirements; and 3)"classical" stage (from the end of the 18 th till the middle of the 19century th century), as cohesion of the living space and the aesthetics of the building have been influenced by classicist standards. This periodization is based on the examples of great and middle-class nobilitys manorial architecture. Minor noblemen have always lived in one house and stayed almost untouched by the trends of architectural styles. Therefore, manors of minor nobility, who used to lead sedentary and confined way of life, have been strongly influenced by local traditions, e.g., manor houses in emaitija (Samogitia) and Auktaitija differed a lot. Aim and objectives of the thesis. The aim of this thesis is to explore and present a scientifically based evolution of the wooden architecture of manor houses since the middle of the 16 th century till the middle of the 19 th century. Objectives of the thesis: 1)   To examine the manorial wooden architecture of great, middle-class and minor nobility, extant or mentioned in the historical sources; 2)   To identify different types of buildings that dominated during various periods, setting the reasons for their formation, features of change, territorial distribution;

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3) To examine the expression of professional architectural styles in buildings of different types and their individual parts (decoration, interior); identify amount and nature of professional architectures influence on manor houses owned by different ranks of nobility; 4)   To reveal historicalsocial and formalaesthetic causes of change in manor houses; 5)   To compare wooden manor houses with analogical buildings in other countries, while identify their common features and distinctive features of Lithuanian architecture; 6)   To explore influence of Lithuanian regional ethnic cultures (emaitija and Auktaitija) towards the architecture of nobilitys manor houses; 7)   Viaevolutional analysis of form and structure, to reveal value of wooden manor houses in context of Lithuanian architecture.  Methods employed. Specificity of the study object, aim and objectives of the thesis resulted in different methods employed in different stages of work. In the first stage, while identifying the study object, field survey, studies of iconographic material as well as historical sources and literature have been performed. Employing historical and analytical methods, factors, which have conditioned changes of wooden manor houses, have been identified (characteristics of manors, farming system peculiarities, social structure of the nobility, change of lifestyle, potential influence of buildings structure and style). In the second stage empirical material has been classified according to the periods, social ranks of nobility and volumetricspatial structure of buildings. While employing a method of formal analysis and comparative method, characteristic building styles and types of great, medium-class and minor nobility have been highlighted through different periods of time (the 16 th  mid. 17  th  ctn., second half of the 17 th   seventh decade of the 18 th  ctn., the end of the 18 th   mid. 19 th  ctn.). In the survey of territorial distribution of manor houses the statistical method has been employed. In the third (synthesis) phase, evolution in architectural composition has been explored. Using methods of formal, stylistic and comparative analysis, change of buildings shapes and types has been identified, the relation between international styles and ethnic architecture. While comparing local buildings with analogues in other countries, tendencies of common evolution and local peculiarities have been set. Examples for comparison have been chosen from other European countries, in which wooden architecture of privileged ranks played an important role and which historical evolution was similar to that of Lithuania. Such countries were: Poland, Latvia (former Livonia), Sweden, Finland (the latter had a lot of parallels with the history of Lithuania). From the Western European countries, Normandy, rich in wooden manorial heritage (fachwerk constructions also refer to wooden architecture) have been chosen. To substantiate causality of evolution the historicalsocial method has been employed. The survey of previous research.In Lithuanianacademic   press the analytic articles on wooden architecture of manors started to appear rather late  in 1960s. The first published academic article The homesteads and buildings of the former manors (1968) inLietuvi liaudies architektra by Alg is Jankevičien. It is the only one published Lithuanian article, which attempts to present the evolution of architecture of manor houses. The articles by Juozas Jurginis and Mečys Urbelis provide the results of the studies carried on the manorial inventory of the 16 th  and 17 th  centuries. In the

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introduction of his article about the inventories of manors in Alytus economies, published in 1972, Juozas Jurginis analyses the characteristics of the manorial architecture of that time. Mečthe types of dwelling houses of theys Urbelis investigates 16 th  century and their range. Several articles, which analyze the correlation between wooden architecture of manor houses with style architecture, are presented in the second and third volumes ofLietuvos architektros istorija (The History of Lithuanian Architecture): Jankevičiens article about the wooden buildings of Classicism, and Nijol Lukionyt-Tolvaiiens and Dal Puodiukiens articles on the buildings, which have the features of Romanticism. In Belarus A. Lakotka, V. V. Tracevski, Y. Jakimavich wrote about the wooden architecture of manors. Y. Jakimavich analyzed the architectural evolution of manors and their buildings in the 16 th  17 and th  also the manor houses among them, centuries, and presented the architectural retrospectives of manors made according to the inventory. About 30 from the analyzed manors were located on the lands of the former Vilnius and Nowogrudok  provinces (now they belong to Belarus). In Poland the first works about the traditional manors appeared at the turn of the 20 th  century. Among them the publications by Z. Gloger should be distinguished, which present the descriptions of homestead and their components (among them also the homesteads from the ethnic Lithuanian lands) and explain their origin and evolution. After WWII in Poland the wooden architecture of the manor houses was studied very broadly. The works by A. Miłobędzki, M. Leśniakowska, A. M. Sikorska, and M. Rozbicka are especially important. The collections of historical studies (reference books) take as if an intermediate position between academic analytic literature and sources. These studies are oriented towards the presentation of the knowledge about the individual objects, and the analysis is rare. An exception among the published books in Lithuania isKultros paminkl  enciklopedija (The Encyclopedia of Cultural Monuments). It presents the descriptions of architectural monuments and values  the manors, their outlines and photographs or sketches of elevations with short characteristic of their architectural value. The special value of collections of this kind among foreign authors has the works by famous Polish researcher Roman Aftanazy, which present a lot of information about Lithuanian manors. Abroad in 1964-1968 Bronius Kviklys edited a book of four volumesMs  Lietuva (Our Lithuania), in which there is fragmentary information about the manor history, and some photos of houses. Several tens of local articles, which also present information about the manors, were published in various editions after 1990: in Kupikn enciklopedija by Vidmantas Jankauskas edited, presents a coherent which introduction to all former manors of the region, in serial books Lietuvos valsčiai, published by Versm and in the publications of the Academy of Arts and press, emaiči academy (the seriesemaiči praeitis) etc.. Fragmentary data about the manorial buildings can be found in the works by Algimantas Mikinis. Written and iconographic sources. The main sources, which allow establishing the evolution of the architecture of manor houses in the 16 th  -17 th  are the centuries, manorial inventories. The doctoral thesis uses the collections of manorial inventories of the 16 th -17 th  collected and published by Konstantinas Jablonskis and centuries, Mečislovas Jučas. Besides these main sources, some drawings of manors of that time are known, and the designs by famous architects of the 17 th ent ry (Jan Baptysta  c u Gisleni, Tylman van Gameren) are published in Polish literature. They represent the actual or planned buildings of that time. Some data about the architecture of manors of

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the 18 th -19 th  centuries are presented by the inventories, published in the collections of old acts by Vilnius Archeological Commission, and also by the iconographic material  layouts of manor lands, drawings of buildings, the photographs made at the beginning of the 20 th The plans of the manor landholdings that existed in and graphics.  century, the 18 th  19 and th  centuries are kept at the Lithuanian State Historical Archives and at Kaunas County Archives. The drawings by Napoleon Orda (1807-1883), who recorded some Lithuanian wooden manors, are published in the book by Vytautas Levandauskas and Renata Vaičekonyt-Kepeinskien, and his lithographs  in the albums, published by the artist himself in 1873-1883. The photographs from the first half of the 20 th  century, technical drawings, and drawings were found at the former Archives of Scientific Methodological Board (now the Archives of the Lithuanian Cultural Heritage Centre), at the photograph collection and the Ethnography Section of theAura  Museum in iauliai, at the Folk Art Section of the National M.K.Čiurlionis Art Museum, at the local museums of Kretinga, Kdainiai, Rokikis, the SamogitianAlka  Museum, at the Archives of the Art Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Instytut Sztuki PAN), at the Iconography Department of the Polish National Museum (Muzeum Narodowy), and at the Rare Publications and Manuscripts Section of the Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. The measurements and photographic records of the wooden buildings of the manors made in 1960-1980s by the staff of the Department of History of Architecture at the Architecture and Construction Institute of Kaunas Technological University can also be ranked as an iconographic material. The technical drawings and negatives are stored at the Archives of the History of Lithuanian Architecture, at the Architecture and Urbanism Research Center (AUTC) established at the Institute of Architecture and Construction at Kaunas University of Technology. A separate group of sources, providing some especially valuable insights into the nature of authentic wooden architecture and its construction technology, are the publications from the 16 th to the 19 th century on the economy and construction of manor houses and service buildings by Anzelm Gostomski (15091588), Jakub Kazimir Haur (16321709),Łukasz Opaliński (1612-1662), Jesuit priest Wojciech Bystrzonowski, priest publicist writer PiotrŚwitkowski (17441783). In the periodicals of the 19th century (in the calendars, popular at that time) the professional architects theorists, such as Adam Idźkowski, Karol Martin, Boleslov Podczaszyński, Ksaver Kowalski and others, wrote the articles of educative character about the building construction and architecture. Some data about the interior decor and the equipment of manor houses and household buildings of the period can be also sifted from the housekeeping and cooking guides for ladies. It is also possible to class as sources the works of literary fiction, written at the 19 th century and at the beginning of the 20th century, in which the action takes place in the manor farms, and the authors describe the architectural environment. These are the works by Adam Mickievich, atrijos Ragana, Fabijonas Neveravičius, GabrielPuzinina, Leonas Potockis. Field research of the extant buildings   was carried in the territory of the Republic of Lithuania (in 41 districts). The research objects were sampled on the ground of the district maps of manors andpalivarkai, made at Kaunas Cartography Department of RPI (Republican Institute of Land Management and Design), and the material collected by the architect Ričardas Stulpinas in 1990-1993. 563 homesteads, which have wooden buildings (486 manorial seats, 71palivarkas, 4 villages) were studied. In these homesteads 413 wooden landlords houses or their fragments were found. The material, gathered during the research, consists of photographic records of

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