Vyžuonos manor

In the XIXc. the manor was owned by Count Eduardas Čapskis, who severely exploited his serfs, but supported the rebellion in 1863, for which he was exiled. In 1889 the Čapskiai possessed 1658 tithes of land, half of which was forest. In 1893 they possessed 1520 tithes of land. E. Čapskis used to usurp peasants’ land, which they had acquired after the abolition of serfdom, transferred them to sandy soils, waste lands, took over their pastures. He reduced the land that was given to peasants up to 40%. A long time earlier, in the XVc., the manor belonged to the Lozovskiai, one of whom passed it to his son Michna. In the XVI-XVIII centuries it was the property of the Radvilos family from Biržai. The presence of the Radvilos is testified by burials in Vyžuonos church. Here rest the remains of Kristupas Mikalojus Radvila, called Thunder, who was the Great Ethmon of Lithuania and died in 1603. Radvilos manor in Vyžuonos was at the Gallows Mountain. Over time, Vyžuonos manor’s owners were the Tiškevičiai, then Vaitiekus Puslovskis, whose son, Ksaveras, sold the manor to the aforesaid E. Čapskis in 1856. Later, together with Dobrovolė manor, it was bought by Meištavičius, who tidied the neglected manor, and died in 1911. According to the land reform, the land of the manor was given to the inhabitants of the township. The manor’s peasants, although serfdom had been abolished, were exploited and robbed. E. Čapskis was freed from the fortress of Petersburg by Vl. Veriovkin. In 1904 Vyžuonos’ priest Aleksandras Mileika with his relatives bought the manor. He worked in Vyžuonos as a priest for 37 years (since 1914, as a pastor); in the manor, together with the Jews he owned a brewery of spirits and was a gifted trader. He died in 1944, just after coming back from exile. Till nowadays in Vyžuonos manor have remained: a brick house (now there are two flats), two threshing-floor barns, two granaries, a barn, a house for farmhands, a spirit brewery.