Discover Plungė: Park, Palace and Cultural Heritage

Plungė brings together parkland, striking architecture and a multifaceted cultural history. If you are looking for a hotel in Plungė, you can plan your trip around whether you are most interested in the history of the estate, church architecture or the city’s cultural heritage.

Park and Estate History

The visitor route through the park begins at the main entrance near the Plungė District Tourist Information Centre. Along the way, views open up across cascading ponds, old trees and shrubs, and the Neo-Renaissance palace visible among the trees. The route therefore takes in both the park’s design and the palace.

At the order of Duke M. Oginskis, seven cascading ponds were created in the park of the Plungė estate. Stone bridges or sluices connect the ponds, and the Babrungas flows through the park. In the central part of the park, near Oginskis Palace, stands the Perkūnas Oak. It was declared a natural monument in 1960. A monument to Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis also stands in the park, beside the palace. It symbolises the connection between Čiurlionis and Mykolas Oginskis.

Clock Tower and Palace

The Plungė Clock Tower is twelve metres high and is considered the city’s oldest red-brick building. Its clock has just one hand, and the bell is triggered every hour. In appearance, the tower resembles a small version of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. These details give the building a distinctive architectural character, setting it apart from Plungė’s Neo-Romanesque church architecture.

Following restoration and reconstruction work in 2012, the Plungė Clock Tower Library moved into the castle. The Žemaičiai Art Museum is located in Mykolas Oginskis Palace and preserves and nurtures the traditions of the estate. Guided tours for groups of no more than 25 people are offered there in English or Russian.

Cultural History and Churches

The connection between the estate and the city’s cultural history is also reflected in M. K. Čiurlionis. From 1889 to 1892, he studied at the orchestra school at the M. M. Oginskis estate in Plungė; in this setting, he also played the flute in the orchestra. M. K. Čiurlionis and Sof. Čiurlionienė-Kymantaitė lived in Plungė’s old rectory in 1909.

The buildings of the Church of St John the Baptist are considered the main attraction of the old town. The church is Neo-Romanesque, has a Latin-cross floor plan and two towers. The present stone church was built between 1902 and 1933 to a design by engineer Steponas Stulginskis, who had revised the original design by Karl Strandman. The bell tower is an integral part of the church complex; Count P. Zubov had it built in 1850.

Smaller religious buildings are also part of Plungė’s history. The stone Catholic chapel in the old cemetery is known as the All Saints Chapel or Zubov Chapel. It was built in 1858 in the Romantic Classicist style. The restored Lourdes Grotto, with a copy of the statue of the Virgin Mary, was solemnly consecrated on 20 October 1990.

Places of Remembrance in Plungė

The Monument to Freedom commemorates a decade of Lithuanian independence: it was erected in 1928, dismantled after the Second World War and rebuilt in 1992. Its eventful history offers another way to get to know the city, alongside the older traces of the estate and the religious buildings.

Discover more destinations: Luokės Seniūnija, Rapaliai, Ubiškė, Telšiai, Gečaičiai, Plateliai, Mažeikiai, Varniai.

For the wider travel overview: Telšiai District.