The Lipčiai family Homestead

The structure of the homestead was finally shaped after the changes in the third decade of the XX century. During the years of the 1^st World War, when the old Mačiuliai homestead was destroyed by fire, Maironis sister’s Kotryna’s family (the Lipčiai) conveyed an old house from Didžkaimis and built a place to live. They wanted to rebuild an old Mačiuliai house, yet they lacked finances to do that. At present, Maironis homestead consists of two parts: on the east side there are fragments of a former homestead of Maironis parents with foundation-stones of the main house, a substructure of a barn, an orchard, and a pond, and on the west side there are three buildings of the Lipčiai homestead. The first building is a residential house where Maironis stayed during his visits. Currently, an exhibition is being held there. The second building is a granary serving as a venue for different events, and if one climbs the stairs to the attic, he or she will be surprised by video projection that recreates images of the past and the stanzas of Maironis’ poems. The last building is a barn where the owners kept pigs, sheep, and geese. A visitor can now see some exhibits here such as an old one-horse cart and a sled. It seems that a horse will be harnessed and a family will pay a visit to someone.

Poet Maironis sister’s Kotryna’s residential house was patronized by Mary, Our Lady of Grace. When the old Mačiuliai homestead was destroyed by fire, the Lipčiai family conveyed an old house from Didžkaimis and built a place to live in Bernotai. In the representational part of the manor house, the largest and best-equipped premises in the manor house, there was a long table and chairs made by a woodworker, with portraits of Jonas Mačiulis and his parents on the wall. Near the representational rooms, there was a small rectangular table at which Maironis used to sit and write dipping a pen into a wooden inkwell made by Maironis himself. There are also beds the poet’s parents used to sleep in. Whereas on the side for the family, ordinary life was lead.