Noblesse Oblige: Decorum in the Paežeriai Manor House of the Counts Zabiela

Acta Academiae Artium Vilnensis

Abstract

The article analyses the application of the principles of decorum in manorial architecture in Lithuania in the 1700s. The case study focuses on the manor house of the Counts Zabiela (Zabiełło) in Paežeriai (Vilkaviškis district, Lithuania). Art historian Aleksandra Aleksandravičiūtė was the first to do research into this topic when discussing the sculptural décor of the Paežeriai. This article continues the analysis in the framework of decorum: the plan and functional structure of the Paežeriai manor house, and the relationship between the decoration of the remaining spaces and the function of the rooms. The research aims to assess whether the principles of decorum were applied in the Paežeriai manor house, considering the high status of the Counts Zabiela in society and the functions associated with their status – social, representative, and private. The plan and inventory data of the Paežeriai manor house are unknown, therefore the only possibility to discuss the primary plan and the functional structure of the house is the object itself, as well as analogues and examples which circulated in treatises on architecture.

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