Villa “Anapilis”

Villa “Anapilis”, built in 1898, is the most unique villa in Palanga and Lithuania.

At the beginning of its existence, Villa Anapilis belonged to the mother of the last Count of Palanga, Count Feliks Tiškevičius, Countess Sofija Tiškevičius. After her name, the villa was called “Sofija” for a long time.

A legend from Palanga says that the owner of the villa, Sofia Tiškevičić, liked to invite ghosts. The countess is said to have built a secret “mirror” room above the attic, from which the ghosts, once summoned, could never escape and returned to their own world. It is also said that the ghosts of Sophie herself and her hanged maid once haunted the villa. The villa was also avoided by the locals because of the sound of the wind organ emanating from it. It is said that Countess Sophie Tiškevičius was in poor health and whenever she felt unwell, she would go to listen to the sounds of the wind organ to calm herself.

After the First World War, the villa was sold to the Lithuanian Agricultural Bank. During the inter-war period, the villa was famous for its bohemian aura, where the President of Lithuania, Aleksandras Stulginskis, and his wife, as well as well-known Lithuanian cultural, artistic, scientific and political figures (the poet Maironis, the priest Juozas Vailokaitis, the singer Kipras Petrauskas, etc.) stayed.
During the Second World War, the building was nationalised and later the villa was converted into a residential building and later became the home of the Jūratė Sanatorium Club. When Lithuania regained its independence, the building was transferred to the Palanga Cultural Centre (1996). During the first years of the Anapilis revival, it was home to the most famous music club on the Lithuanian coast. In 1992, the building was included in the Register of Cultural Property of the Republic of Lithuania.

Birutės al. 34 A, Palanga