Stāmeriena Palace

Stāmeriena Palace
Stāmeriena Palace
General information
Architectural style	Neo-Classicism, Art Nouveau
Town or city	Gulbene Municipality
Country	Latvia
Construction started	Beginning of the 19th. century.
Client	Johann Gottlieb von Wolff (1756-1817)

Stāmeriena Palace (Latvian: Stāmerienas muižas pils; German: Schloss Stomersee) is a palace built in Historicist style from 1835 to 1843 in the historical region of Vidzeme,^[1]^[2] northern Latvia.^[3] Its first owner was Johann Gottlieb von Wolff (1756-1817) and subsequently his descendants.^[4]

In 1905, during the Russian Revolution, the manor was burned down, but was later renewed by Baron Boris von Wolff (1850-1917) in 1908. Although it was rebuilt in a different style, it is considered one of the brightest architectural achievements of his time in French Neo-Renaissance style in Latvia. Stāmeriena palace was one of the few manors which were not nationalized after Latvian agrarian reforms in the 1920s. So the von Wolff family continued to live there through the 1930s until 1939. The palace was presented as a gift to Andrei Pilar von Pilchau, the first - and homosexual - husband of the palace's owner Alexandra von Wolff-Stomersee. The Sicilian writer Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa lived in the Stāmeriena palace for a few years in the 1930s as he married the palace's owner Alexandra von Wolff-Stomersee (1894-1982) in 1932.

After the Second World War a technical school of agriculture was located in the palace. Later it was used as the administration building of the local state-owned farm (sovkhoz). After 1992 the palace stood empty for six years, then in 1998 it became a private property and since then the palace and landscape park around it are being restored and open to visitors.

References[edit]

^ Stephen Baister; Chris Patrick (1 November 2007). Latvia, 5th. Bradt Travel Guides. pp. 158–. ISBN 978-1-84162-201-9. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
^ Latvijas Piļu un Muižu asociācija. "Stāmerienas muiža". Latvijas Piļu un Muižu asociācija. Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
^ Alberts Zarāns (2006). Latvijas pilis un muižas. A. Zarāns. p. 171. ISBN 9984-785-05-X. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
^ Latvian Tourism Development Agency. "Stāmeriena manor house". Latvian Tourism Development Agency. Retrieved 19 September 2012.