Avižieniai manor

The manor in Leliūnai neighborhood, owned by the Pomarnackai, where they had 139 tithes of land. The owner of the manor Tadeušas Pomarnackas lived in his larger manor in Alanta, and  Avižieniai manor was cared by Jeronimas Kareiva. Here the lord used to entertain himself with vodka and played cards. It was his summer resort. The manor was surrounded by a linden alley. Behind the alley there was a large garden. Palaces were with attics decorated with stuffed animals’ heads. In 1774 there were 17 yards. In 1833Avižieniai was called estate, there lived 18 people, most Lithuanians. In 1869 Avižieniai manor in Utena parish was given the name of „miza“, in 1881 it was called estate. In 1897 Avižieniai was called manor. In 1897, 6 families (24 residents) were recorded there. Its lands have retained very nice place names: Žiūrakalnis, Degsnelė, Padegsnės, Pamindrynė, Pajuodaraistis, Meškaraisčiai, Grytalaukė. In the middle of the XIXc. the manager of the manor was a collector of folklore Kazimieras Maigys (Moigis), who corresponded with S. Daukantas (their letters have survived). Later the manor was managed by a tenant Randomanskis, who moved to Vaikutėnai manor. At the end of the XIXc. Avižieniai manor was purchased for 18 thousand golden roubles by brothers Juozapas and Liudvikas Žilėnai who moved from Noliškis. In the gates there was a stud made from tin of 4-5m. in height, very similar to Vytis (a knight on horseback); between the poles in the arches there was the coat of arms. In the manor there were 4 ponds (one pond was paved with stones). During the interwar years, people of Avižieniai organized performances in the granary and brewery. In 1928 an ornamented cross made by Kazys Rinkevičius was erected. Till our days there have remained the stone barn, the brewery, the house for farmhands, the summerhouse, workshops, two granaries, the icehouse, fragments of the alley, the ponds.