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At the weekend, the hiking season started at the Ilzenberg mansion in the Rokiškis district. Evaldas Masteikis, the guide who led the first tours of the Ilzenberg mansion and park this season, says the start was successful and several hundred people visited the mansion.
“We did not expect to receive so many visitors when we opened. People yearn for culture and nature, so on the weekend they came to the mansion not only to take a walk, but also to hear the history of the mansion,” said E. Masteikis .
Enthusiast Guides
Ilzenberg Manor currently employs four guides who can be called true enthusiasts.
Evaldas Masteikis of Rokiškis says that he started working on the Ilzenberg mansion even when the mansion was only being rebuilt.
“I have been working in the field of tourism for a long time, and I have been working as a guide for 40 years. When I started transporting groups of tourists to the mansion, I saw that it was a very beautiful place to visit. After a warm connection with the deputy of the mansion, I still lead the excursions, ”said guide E. Masteikis.
Saulius Galvanauskas is also one of the first to start traveling. But his path as a guide began with the maintenance of the park.
„Ilzenberg Manor 2016 was looking for someone to take care of the park and know the details of subsistence farming. You had to take care of the garden, bees. I graduated from the Kaunas Higher School of Agriculture, I have been interested in subsistence farming for 20 years, so I showed up at the mansion, ”said Saulius Galvanauskas, who leads the tours.
At that time, the palace had not yet been fully restored, the estate had only just begun to operate, but it was already possible to visit the park.
“From time to time visitors came to walk in the park. As I supervised it and was familiar with the history of the mansion, I started touring.
There were still few of them at that time, but the flow of visitors increased every year as it was possible to visit the palace itself. At the moment, we are already doing tours in four people ”, said the guide.
According to S. Galvanauskas, conducting tours gives him pleasure.
“It is interesting to introduce visitors to the living conditions of people in the past. He was always fascinated by living in harmony with nature, paid to agree with it, there were no chemicals. So it was good for both man. as for plants.Today, man often tries to conquer nature.
Now I come to the Ilzenberg mansion just for excursions. Still, I hope there are more opportunities for people to travel and visit larger groups in the summer. Therefore, my visits to the manor house would be more frequent ”, said the guide Saulius Galvanauskas.
Guide – history teacher
Rima Šimėnienė, an expert history teacher at Juodupė Gymnasium, came from Onuškis near the Ilzenberg mansion, so she has seen it as a mansion since the Soviet era.
It was abandoned for a long time, but when the reconstruction of the mansion began, R, Šimėnienė along with the students of the Juodupė gymnasium became interested in what the old mansion looked like and how it is now.
Representatives of the Ilzenberg mansion noted his fascination with the mansion, the history, and offered to become a guide to the mansion.
“It was an unexpected offer, but the idea of becoming more interested in the mansion has been around for a long time, so I accepted the challenge. The response was excellent, which encouraged us to continue with this activity,” said R. Šimėnienė.
She was probably the first to lead smart nature and history field trips for students, which weren’t present at the surrounding attractions.
Find happiness at work
Petras Blaževičius from Rokiškės has been leading tours and working as a guide since 1975. While working in the Rokiškis district municipality, the head of the Department of Culture, Tourism and Foreign Affairs became familiar with the activities of the mansion only after its recovery, since he had to accompany Lithuanian and foreign guests to visit him. Later, after receiving the offer, he began touring the mansion.
“I was working in the Rokiškis municipality and I was preparing to retire. At that time, I received an offer to join Ilzenberg Manor activities and lead excursions. As I knew a lot about the mansion, I gladly accepted, ”said Petras Braževičius.
Thirsty for knowledge
According to Diana Jokimčienė, director of Ilzenberg Farm, it is fun when people meet at the mansion again, because that is the only way he comes to life. During excursions, visitors learn the history of the mansion from 1515. to this day. Visit the mansion, an emotionally zoned park rich in sculpture, the Island of Love in the lake. And hungry people can always have a picnic here in the park with the mansion’s natural products.
“Due to the quarantine conditions, we can do tours for individual visitors or small groups, but we are happy