For almost one and a half centuries, Prienai was ruled by the Butler family. In 1661, Count Gothard Wilhelm Butler, a Lithuanian nobleman of distant Scottish descent, built the Prienai castle. However, in 1701, during the Great Northern War, the castle together with its amenities was completely destroyed. In the early 18th century, the city somewhat recovered from the devastation of the Great Northern War and in the place of the former castle, the Butler family had built a spacious two-storeyed Baroque styled manor house. On the ground floor there was a large guest-hall and 16 rooms. On the first floor there were 11 additional rooms and a sizable great hall. Yet over the course of the next century, the Prienai manor house was gradually abandoned. At the onset of the 20th century, only rubble remained.