History
Malnava Manor was built in the classical style with Baroque elements. The manor complex is arranged symmetrically around a circular courtyard, which is accessed through a gate at the beginning of the driveway. On one side of the courtyard stands a barn, while at the far end is the manor house.
Originally, it was a semi-manor of Cecina (Saļņeva Manor) and, until 1724, belonged to the Hilzen family, who had settled in Latvia in the early 13th century and had adopted Polish customs. Upon becoming the senior official (starosta) of the Viļaka district in the Inflanty Voivodeship, Jānis Hilzens inherited an estate totalling 163.777 hectares from his father.
When Hilzen’s daughter Jadwiga married Jan Szadurski, Malnava became the property of the Szadurski family, first mentioned in documents in 1774. During their tenure, the manor was transformed—a third floor was added to the main manor building, the North and South wings and the roof were rebuilt, and a park was planted. In the northern corner of the park, about 50 meters from the manor house, stood the Pasiene Dominican wooden church, built in 1710, which was dismantled in 1802 and reassembled at the Naudaskalns Cemetery in Salnava.
During the 1784 general land survey, Malnava was a separate estate owned by brothers Jozef and Ksawery Szadurski, comprising 169 farmsteads 1.743 residents.
In 1842, Ksavery Szadurski’s sons, Nikolay and Vincenty, divided their estate into two parts—the Malnava and Cecina (Saļņeva) manors. After Nikolay Szadurski’s family left Malnava, the manor was managed by the count’s assistant. In 1863, following the abolition of serfdom, the peasants of the Malnava estate refused to perform their corvée labour. In 1878, the Malnava Manor was purchased by Julius von der Ropp.
During the 1905 Revolution, the manor was purchased by S. F. Agarkov in 1906. At the end of 1906, punitive units and dragoons arrived in Malnava, and a campaign of manhunts, beatings, and arrests began. Shortly before the start of World War I, Agarkov sold the Malnava estate to Lyubov Svechina, the wife of Ivan Svechin, Lieutenant General of the Russian Imperial Army. The Svechins themselves did not live in Malnava, but in St. Petersburg. Toward the end of Latvian War of Independence, the Latgale Partisan Regiment captured the Malnava Manor on January 15, 1920.
During the 1920 agrarian reform, the Malnava Manor, with 12.402 hectares, was one of the largest Latvian manors included in the state land fund. The former manor house was converted into the Latgale Agricultural School (now Malnava College). In 1928, side wings were added to the building to accommodate the needs of the agricultural school.
The manor house was destroyed during World War II, and following reconstruction, the original interior decoration has not been preserved.
A barn built in the first half of the 19th century in the classical style, featuring two porticos with four columns on the main façade, has been preserved, as well as several outbuildings, including a wine house. The manor complex is complemented by a park where exotic shrubs and trees still thrive.
