Jurbarkas District Municipality: Discover Castles and Manors

Key facts

• Raudonė Castle was completed around 1600; its tower is 33.5 metres high.
• Panemunė Castle is a Renaissance residence dating from 1604 to 1610.
• The “Castles and Manors” route includes two manors and Raudonė and Panemunė castles.
• Skirsnemunė is home to a Neo-Gothic church and an old, cracked bell.
• The Viešvilė educational hiking trail is 4 kilometres long and has several information boards.
• Jurbarkas Manor Park covers about 9 hectares and can be accessed via a footbridge beside the outdoor stage.

Castles with different stories

Raudonė Castle dates back to the late 16th century. It was built by Krišpinas Kiršenšteinas, a scribe at Kaunas Castle who had grown wealthy through the timber trade. Construction was completed in 1600. The 33.5-metre-high tower has an observation platform offering views of the park and surrounding area. Here, history and a viewpoint come together in a single building.

Panemunė Castle offers a different perspective: it was built between 1604 and 1610 as a manor’s Renaissance residence. A 15-hectare landscaped park with five ponds surrounds the castle. The museum features an exhibition of the interiors of the representative apartments of the rulers of the Duchy of Žemaitija. It also has the only surviving and restored 18th-century manor kitchen in Lithuania. Visitors interested in the use and furnishings of a historic manor will find different themes here than in Raudonė’s architectural history.

Routes to help orient your trip

Along a 70-kilometre stretch of Road 141 from Seredžius to Viešvilė, Jurbarkas District is home to cultural heritage sites such as hill forts, manors, castles and churches. This road reference provides a broad framework for exploring the region’s history. The national “Castles and Manors” cultural route offers another thematic point of reference: established in 2025, it includes Veliuona and Jurbarkas manors and Raudonė and Panemunė castles.

The cultural route combines manor culture and gastronomy with nature, history, educational activities and entertainment. Its themes therefore extend beyond individual buildings. When planning your trip, you can consider whether to focus on castles and manors or also include the route’s other themes. The two route references offer different ways to orient yourself: one is a stretch of Road 141, the other a cultural route with named places and themes.

Church and bell in Skirsnemunė

St George’s Church in Skirsnemunė also tells the story of the town. The brick Neo-Gothic church was built in 1903 at the initiative of parish priest Kazimieras Žekevičius (1840–1926). Visitors can see an old bell in the church, cast by H. Bedeker in 1632. It is cracked and no longer in use. Its condition and history give the visit a tangible connection to a specific historic object.

Parks and an educational hiking trail

The parks offer a different perspective on the destinations in Jurbarkas District Municipality. In addition to the landscaped park at Panemunė Castle, there is Jurbarkas Manor Park, which covers about 9 hectares. A footbridge beside the outdoor stage provides access. When planning your trip, you can consider this park as a separate point of focus alongside castles, churches and exhibitions.

In Viešvilė, the educational hiking trail runs for 4 kilometres, with several information boards along the way. This lets you combine a walk with learning, without focusing your plans solely on buildings. The variety of options helps you choose the kind of stay you want: historic buildings and exhibitions, parks or a hike with information boards. This personal preference is a useful starting point when choosing accommodation; which places you include will depend on the themes you want to explore during your trip to Lithuania.

For the wider travel overview: Kaunas District.