"Medžiotojų užeiga" - the only restaurant in Kaunas open since Soviet times, located in a former palace.
History of the building at Rotušės aikštė 10
The coat of arms of Zabiela family hangs in the courtyard of "Medžiotojų užeiga" today.
People. In the inscriptions of the Old Town explorers, this building is called Zabiela house, because its most famous owners in the 17th and 18th centuries were wealthy Kaunas citizens Zabielos.
At the beginning of the 19th century, Zabiela family property passed to the doctorJuozapas Kovalskis, who lived there for 20 years. But Kovalskis was not as famous as his neighbor. Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz lived and worked as a teacher in the adjacent building of Jesuit Gymnasium from 1819-1823. At that time, he was used to visiting the home of the doctor J. Kovalskis and was quite close friends with his wife Karolina, he was simply in love with her. Apparently, this was not a big secret for the whole of Kaunas, because this house has retained the reputation of A. Mickevičius’ “love nest” until now.
Kovalskiai family did not stay here for long, as in 1832 the family sold the house to Fisher’s family, which owned it for more than a century, renting apartments to Kaunas residents. One of them was inhabited by the classic of Lithuanian literature Antanas Baranauskas at the end of the 19th century. He spent there 13 years. It was in this house on the Town Hall Square that A. Baranauskas composed the first Lithuanian mathematical terms.
Building. Zabiela house has changed its appearance several times before the present days.
The former Renaissance house was reconstructed at the end of the 18th century into a Classicist house, with a change of plan and the addition of a four-column balcony in the middle of the main facade. This facade composition partly reproduced the shape of the porch of the Town Hall that stood in front of the square. At the same time, a similar balcony with columns was added to the Siručiai Palace (now Maironis Lithuanian Literature Museum). All of them formed a harmonious combination of classical elements. Unfortunately, this composition has not survived to this day.
The building was reconstructed in Soviet times in 1961-1964 according to the project of the architect Dalija Zareckienė. The classical balcony was demolished, other elements of the facade were replaced, and the Renaissance facade of a residential house was restored.
Zabiela house is valuable as a building with significant architecture of three epochs – Gothic, Renaissance and Classicism.
Classical facade of Zabiela house (before reconstruction of 1961).
The expressive vault over the former entrance is cylindrical with lunettes, decorated with intersecting edges and circles of plaster. During renovation in 2002, the original vault paintings were discovered and preserved.
The building's greatest pride is the oldest surviving western wall of the first floor, which belonged to a neighboring building - a classic example of Gothic brickwork.
History of the restaurant "Medžiotojų užeiga"
In 1965, according to the project of an architect Vytautas Parčiauskas, “Medžiotojų užeiga” was built on the first floor, while the second floor was used for apartments. In 1968, the art gallery was established there, which was decorated with paintings by artists such as Vytautas Valius, Sigutė Valiuvienė, Vintis Kisarauskas, Leonardas Tuleikis and Aloyzas Stasiulevičius.
In 2002, the restaurant "Medžiotojų užeiga" was renovated.
The main hall of the restaurant before the reconstruction in 2002
Brown hall in 1968-2002
Land Art yard
The restaurant's inner yard was opened at the end of summer 2020. The only one in Kaunas – with its history and Land Art works by a famous florist Marijus Gvildis. Creatively used authentic space, which is several hundred years old, has become a kind of an open-air art gallery, and the inner yard, which used to be occupied only by the restaurant’s staff, is open to the citizens of Kaunas and the guests of the city for a refreshing beverage or a succulent roast of game meat.
