The Kretinga Manor Park Fountains (II)

From 1875 until 1880, the owner of the Kretinga Manor, Count Juozapas Tiškevičius, took initiative and organised the construction of 5 park fountains. The park was divided by arch-shaped linden tree alleyways into four rectangles, in the middle of which stood a fountain with a statue on it. The central fountain was located in the middle of the flower garden. Footpaths connected the central area and the other four fountains, which were situated on the borders of the park. The sixth fountain could be found in front of the mansion and the seventh one was in the Winter Garden.

The technical drawings of the fountain water supply system and other engineering data, compiled by Jonas Šostakas, the land surveyor of the manor, still remain to this day. It is believed that he may also be the man behind the creation of the fountains.

In 1925, during the land reform, a part of the land that belonged to the manor was redistributed among the newly established farmers, while the rest of the land was nationalised. Unfortunately, the fountains became derelict as a result.

In 1992, a museum was established in the mansion of the Kretinga Manor, which eventually undertook to implement the project to restore the fountain in 2004. Starting in 2004 and continuing until 2006, Julius Kanarskas, the head of the museum’s history department, and Donatas Butkus, the head of the museum’s archaeology department, conducted a study of the locations of the first and second fountains in the south-western part of the park.

The location of the second fountain is approximately 115 metres to the south-east of the first fountain. It was abandoned around the 1910s and destroyed in the mid 20th century. The basin was filled up with dirt, stone, and fragments of the fountain itself.

Source: Kretingos enciklopedija