Rietavo dvaro oranžerijos augalų likimas

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Augalai; Bagdonas Oginskis; Irenėjus Kleopas Oginskis; Oginskių giminė; Rietavo dvaras; Rietavo dvaro oranžerija; Vytauto Didžiojo universiteto botanikos sodas Kaune; Bogdan Oginski; Botanical garden of Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas; Conservatory of Rietavas manor; Ireneusz Kleofas Oginski; Oginski family; Plants; Rietavas manor.

ENFollowing the 19t h century trend among other European courts, in 1859 Ireneusz Kleofas Ogiński (1801-1863) founded a conservatory in his Rietavas Manor. Later, in 1871, it was developed and reconstructed by his son Bogdan Ogiński (1848-1909), who inherited the manor. After passing of Bogdan Ogiński, the situation of Rietavas Manor got worse, it was seriously damaged during First World War, and after the independence of Lithuania the palace of the manor was auctioned off and soon demolished. In 1924, the dwindling conservatory of Rietavas Manor attracted attention of botanists from the developing Lithuanian University in Kaunas. Constantin von Regel (1890-1970), professor and chair of the Department of Botany took the initiative to preserved exotic plants and decided to move them to the Botanical garden of the university. The article follows the destiny of plants from the conservatory of Rietavas Manor by employing archival documents of the Lithuanian University. For a while, there was no possibility to move the plants to the Botanical garden of Lithuanian University, and decision was made to preserve the plants locally in Rietavas. Local gardener Bronius Saponka was hired, and he took care of the plants up to 1937. In 1938, when appropriate conservatories were built, some of the plants, after they had been assessed and recorded by the botanists of the university, were moved to Kaunas. The article reviews plants from the conservatory of Rietavas Manor recorded in this list. It is worth mentioning that one of the transferred plants - Chestnut Dioon (Lat. Dioon edule) - still grows in the conservatory of the Botanical garden of Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas. [From the publication]