Lielauce Manor

Address: Lielauce

Can be viewed only from outside!

The ensemble of the buildings of the former Lielauce Estate is located on the shores of the Lielauce Lake, 7km away from Auce. Estates have been here already at the beginning of the 17th century when the estate complex included the manor, the servant’s house, a barn, feedlots, stables. Lielauce Estate then belonged to the Duke of Courland Friedrich Kettler who with all his court had settled down here in 1624.

Lielauce castle was built  at the beginning of the 19th century in the Empire style as a two-storey building with a tile roof. At Christmas of 1900  a fire broke out in the castle and it burnt out, but already in 1901 its renovation started, according to the desighn of German architect Ivers. During the reconstruction the castle got a French roof and an asymmetrical cross block. Only one of the castle and facades with the so-called Palladio type window remained unchanged.

The castle facade with its rustique, pilasters,stilted balustrade and meander frieze corresponds to the Neo-classicism taste of the beginning of the 20th century but elements of the Empire style were used again in the interior decoration, in which several stoves and fireplaces occupy an important place.

At the beginning of the 20th century the castle was the summer residence of the Earl Palen who lived in Petersburg. Castle is surrounded by a  open-plan park with picturesque plantations that were created at the beginning of the 19th century during the Earls Medems.
www.auce.lv

Lielauce Manor (Latvian: Lielauces muiža, German: Groß-Autz) is a manor house built in late classical or Empire style in the 19th century for Count Medem on the south shore of Lielauce Lake, in the historical region of Zemgale, in Latvia.

History
Lielauce manor in 17th century was owned by Duke of Courland and Semigallia Friedrich Kettler who in 1624 together with all his court lived in the manor. Current manor building is built in the beginning of 19th century when it was bought by von Medem family. At the end of the 19th. century property was bought by count von Pahlen as his summer residence. During Christmas of 1900 manor building was heavily damaged by fire. In 1901 restoration works started. As a result building got more Neo - Classical appearance. After Latvian agrarian reforms of 1920 manor building was used as a school. Today building is owned by Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies. Interiors are preserved in several rooms.
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