Tyzenhaus Palace

Tyzenhaus Palace (Lithuanian Tyzenhauzų rūmai) is an 18th-century mansion located in the city of Vilnius, Lithuania.

The historical sources of 1579 mention an International Gothic building in the same place. However, it later fell into disuse and then into ruin. Around 1765 the parcel was bought by Antoni Tyzenhaus (Antanas Tyzenhauzas in Lithuanian translation), a treasurer of Lithuania, starost of Grodno and a close friend of the Polish king Stanisław August Poniatowski. A notable personality of the epoch, Tyzenhauz was a manager of royal grounds in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and was responsible for a major industrialisation effort in the area of Grodno. In the early 1770s he ordered the construction of a new, classical style palace.

The house was most probably constructed by a Venetian architect Giuseppe de Sacco. After Tyzenhaus went bankrupt and was dismissed in 1777, the palace fell into disuse. After Tyzenhaus' death in 1785, it was sold to General Fitinhof's widow. She bought the palace in 1789 and she ordered its reconstruction and refurbishment the following year. The work was most probably carried out by German-born architect and professor at the Jesuit Academy of Vilna Martin Knakfuss. The new simplistic façades were added and a so-called Silver hall was built. After the reconstruction, the palace had 30 halls and 16 smaller rooms; and was one of the biggest aristocratic residences in Lithuania. In 1807, yet another refurbishment was carried out by Mikołaj Szulc, after which the interior was modernised and a new staircase was added to the palace.

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