Neretas muiža. Zināmā un nezināmā

The former Nereta Manor was located on the border between Latvia and Lithuania and was one of the oldest manors in Sēlija, its name being first mentioned in written sources in the 14th century. Today, the manor centre, a national architectural monument, consists of three buildings grouped around a courtyard, only one of them is partially preserved, while the others are in a ruined state. The article is based on architectural studies of Nereta Manor carried out in 2010, 2011 and 2023. Within the framework of these studies, the existing data on the building’s construction history were analysed, the buildings were surveyed in detail to propose new hypotheses and provide new objective material for the historical-stylistic assessment of the Nereta Manor buildings in the overall picture of the architectural history of Latvia. Today in Latvia, manor buildings of the 17th and especially of the 16th century are rare and little is known about their architecture. Outlines of only a few monuments are more or less familiar to us. Given the old age of the building complex, there will be many more discoveries at Nereta Manor in the future, which will involve excavation and archaeological research. The time of construction of the buildings could be established using modern dating methods. The protective character of the 16th century buildings and the transition to a representative nobleman's residence are a particularly striking feature of Nereta architecture. This typological uniqueness determines the special significance of Nereta Manor in the history of Latvia’s architecture, as well as in the context of the cultural heritage of the Renaissance period.