“The marathon of long, drawn-out problems, court hearings, and unnecessary bureaucracy has finally been finished. Today the City Council has adopted a decision to sign a settlement agreement and we will eventually be able to start the works – the ensemble of Kirdiejai Palace will be repaired and the palace worth the city centre is to revive. The settlement agreement will help speed up the procedures and will significantly accelerate the delivery of results,” Povilas Poderskis, the City Administration Director, commented the decision.
The palace with a long history has been an object of a long-standing dispute between the City and the company, which owns the building. The main disagreements arose over the rental fee and interest on late payments according to the contract signed between the two parties. After the Council of the capital city agreed with the key provisions of the settlement agreement – termination of all lawsuits, withdrawal of claims with regard to EUR 0.5 million and EUR 35,000 which are to be received by the City as a compensation for the failure to pay timely rental fee – the repair and development of the ensemble of the palace will be triggered.
After the signing of the settlement agreement, the tenant of the building, namely, Kirdiejų Rūmai, UAB, will be obliged to restore it. According to estimations, the palace will be completely fixed by 2021.
The ensemble of Kirdiejai Palace is a historical location of Vilnius. The first written records of the palace date back to the first half of the 17th century. Until 1842, when the palace was closed, the building and the appurtenant territory was one of the richest botanical gardens in Eastern Europe.
During the Soviet period, the palace was used for public needs. After the restoration of independence of Lithuania, the ensemble was one of the first places in Lithuania where squatting took place (it was called Barbora). In 2005, the palace was included in the list of state protected objects.