The Duke Mykolas Oginskis Stable
Coordinates: 55.919533 21.844154
Object address: Parko street 2, Plunge, Lithuania
Municipality: Plungė district
In the Plungė park, in front of the Oginskis Mansion, stands an unusually beautiful Neo-Gothic red brick building – the former stable of Duke Mykolas Oginskis, built in 1879.
According to the memoirs of the former servants of the manor, this stable was like a large mansion with partitions, which housed horses and ponies and where the chariots and the harnesses were kept.
There were various breeds of horses in the stable, but most of the horses were of the Žemaitukas (Eng. the Little Samogitian) breed. Duke M. Oginskis really loved and cherished his horses. He loved the Žemaitukas horses the most. The horses were brushed and fed fresh hay every day. The eldest stableman wore a white, hard-collar shirt. During the winter, he did not have a lot of work, but the summer season was full of trips to the Mažeikiai train station and to Palanga – wherever the Duke needed the horses. The stablemen lived on the right side of the stable. The horses were kept in the left section of the building.
During World War I, the German military officials requisitioned the Duke’s horses. Between 1922 and 1934, the School of Agriculture restored the stable and continued to raise the Žemaitukas horses. However, this did not last long. In 1934, the Oginskis Manor became home to the Lithuanian artillery regiment and the school was moved to the Plinkšiai Manor, while the stable was believed to have been moved to Gruzdžiai.
The now former stable building houses a sports complex. The interior of the building is restored and restructured to meet current needs. The only location within the building that was left unchanged was the central space of the stable, the former manège, where the sports hall is presently established. The young Plungians partake in sports activities here.
The International Mykolas Oginskis Classical Music Festival takes place in the large former stable. It attracts a huge audience and it has become an inherent part of the Samogitian music culture. Some other events also take place in this building. For example, two international photograph exhibitions were held here, namely Plungė’s Fotobienalė 2010 and Fotobienalė 2012.
Source: Eleonora Ravickienė. – Plungė, 1997. – p. 89–90.