VILNIUS - In Your Pocket
VILNIUS - In Your Pocket
VILNIUS - In Your Pocket
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60 what to see<br />
being almost completely rebuilt in 1864 only to suffer major<br />
fire damage during WWII. Reconstructed in 1949, the building<br />
closed in 1961, opening a year later as a museum of painting<br />
before being returned to the Orthodox Church on May 31, 1991.<br />
Unusually for a Russian Orthodox Church in Lithuania, services<br />
are conducted in Lithuanian once a week on a Sunday. J<br />
Orthodox Church of the Holy Spirit (Stačiatikių Šv.<br />
Dvasios Cerkvė) C-5, Aušros Vartų 10, tel. (+370) 5 212<br />
77 65. Dating originally from the mid-16th century but predominantly<br />
now the combined work of the city’s most renowned and<br />
prolific religious architect Johann Christoph Glaubitz (Jonas Kristupas<br />
Glaubicas, ca. 1700-1767) who spent four years on the<br />
rococo design between 1749 and 1753 and later 19th-century<br />
Neo-Byzantine modifications, the entire ensemble is comprised<br />
of the church, a free-standing bell tower, monastery and convent<br />
although it’s the church interior that’s of most interest, being<br />
positively bursting with frescos, icons, a magnificent cupola and<br />
rich blue and green colours. A particular quirk of the church’s<br />
crypt saw it being chosen in the middle of the 19th century as<br />
the final resting place of the supposedly incorruptible Saints<br />
Jonas, Eustachius, and Antanas, couriers of Algirdas whose<br />
remains are displayed dressed in white at Christmas, in black<br />
during Lent, in red on all other occasions with the exception of<br />
June 26 when they’re put on display entirely naked. Q Service<br />
08:00, 17:00, Sun 07:00, 10:00, 17:00. J<br />
Reformed Evangelical Church (Evangelikų<br />
Reformatų Bažnyčia) A-3, Pylimo 20, tel. (+370) 5 279<br />
10 52. The origin of the Protestant Church in Lithuania, whose<br />
three traditional strongholds still exist in Biržai, Kėdainiai and<br />
Vilnius, dates back to John Calvin’s lifetime in 1557, although<br />
this particular church, considered one of the finest examples of<br />
Neo-Classical architecture in the country, was built considerably<br />
later between 1830 and 1835. The work of one of the best<br />
local Neo-Classical architects of his day Karolis Podčašinskis<br />
(Pol. Karol Podczaszyński, 1790-1860), the church was closed<br />
by the Soviets in 1953, eventually becoming a cinema, a fact<br />
the church now betrays courtesy of the cinema seats still in<br />
use. Q Service in Lithuanian Sun 11:00. J<br />
St. Anne’s Church (Šv. Onos Bažnyčia) D-3,<br />
Maironio 8. Unquestionably one of the city’s most famous<br />
landmarks and quite rightly so, the history of St. Anne’s starts<br />
with the alleged construction in the 14th century of a wooden<br />
house of worship on this spot in honour of Ona, the wife of Vytautas<br />
the Great. The first historical records of a church here<br />
date from 1394, although the current Gothic masterpiece is<br />
believed to have been built between 1495 and 1500 to a<br />
design by the Bohemian architect Benedikt Rejt (1453-1534),<br />
most famous for designing parts of Prague Castle. Unlike<br />
other historical churches in Vilnius, St. Anne’s has managed<br />
to escape the ravages of time almost unscathed and is arguably<br />
the least changed of them all. Composed of 33 different<br />
styles of brick assembled into a delicate and intricate whole,<br />
the effect is simply quite stunning. It’s been said the façade<br />
incorporates the Pillars of Gediminas, one of the country’s<br />
earliest symbols, although this is hardly clear from looking<br />
at it. The interior is surprisingly free of ostentation, although<br />
this is hardly needed due to the spectacular design of the<br />
structure. The free-standing bell tower has nothing to do with<br />
the original design, being built only in 1873. A visiting Emperor<br />
Napoleon in 1812 famously if somewhat apocryphally noted<br />
he’d like to take the building back to Paris in the palm of his<br />
hand. Q Mass 18:00, Sun 09:00, 11:00. J<br />
St. Casimir’s Church (Šv. Kazimiero Bažnyčia)<br />
C-4, Didžioji 34, tel. (+370) 5 212 17 15. St. Casimir’s<br />
in many ways represents a microcosm of Lithuania itself.<br />
Founded by the Jesuits and dedicated to Lithuania’s patron<br />
saint Prince Casimir Jagiellon (1458-1484), construction<br />
on the mighty building began in 1604 and was completed<br />
in 1635. Burnt to the ground just 20 years later when the<br />
Russians invaded in 1655, conflagration visited twice again<br />
within the next century in 1709 and 1749 before the architect,<br />
mathematician and astronomer Tomas Žebrauskas (Pol.<br />
Thomas Zubrówka, 1714-1758) restored it to more or less<br />
the form it’s seen in today. Over the centuries the church<br />
fell into the hands of the Augustinians, Napoleon’s Grande<br />
Armée, the Russian Orthodox Church (who significantly<br />
altered its appearance), the Lutherans (who used it as the<br />
garrison church for the occupying German Army during WWI)<br />
and others, including the Soviets who turned the whole place<br />
into a museum of atheism no less. Returned to the Catholic<br />
Church in 1988, the building was consecrated in 1991 and<br />
has since undergone a massive renovation project, restoring<br />
its predominantly Baroque style with Gothic and Renaissance<br />
touches. Of particular interest inside are three late Baroque<br />
altars and a recently discovered 17th-century crypt containing<br />
dark bas-reliefs featuring miscellaneous religious motifs.<br />
Q Mass 17:30, Sun 09:00 (Russian), 10:30, 12:00. J<br />
St. Nicholas’ Church (Šv. Mikalojaus Bažnyčia)<br />
B-4, Šv. Mikalojaus 4, tel. (+370) 5 262 30 69. Predating<br />
the country’s conversion to Christianity by some seven<br />
decades, Vilnius’ oldest surviving church was built in 1320 by<br />
German merchant immigrants. Mentioned for the first time<br />
in 1387, the impressive, classic red brick Gothic exterior<br />
remains pretty much as it looked the day it was finished with<br />
the interior having received numerous changes and additions<br />
over the centuries. During the disputed annexation of the<br />
Vilnius region during the two World Wars, this was the only<br />
church in the city open to the city’s small Lithuanian-speaking<br />
Catholic community. Q Mass 08:00, 18:00, Sat 09:00, Sun<br />
08:00, 10:00, 14:00. J<br />
St. Nicolas’ Church (Šv. Nikolajaus Cerkvė) C-4,<br />
Didžioji 12, tel. (+370) 5 261 85 59. The forerunner to<br />
this church supposedly dates back to the second decade<br />
of the 16th century, belonging from 1609 until 1827 to the<br />
Uniate Church. At some time during the 18th century the<br />
original church burnt down and was replaced soon after in the<br />
Late Baroque style. At the height of the tensions between<br />
the Russians and several other ethnic communities in the<br />
city, the church was confiscated on the orders of General<br />
Muravyov and converted into a Russian Orthodox church<br />
with several Neo-Byzantine additions made in 1865. With<br />
its predominantly Catholic tower and typically Orthodox<br />
dome the church is one of the most peculiar looking houses<br />
of worship in the capital. Q Services Sat 09:00, 17:00,<br />
Sun 09:00. J<br />
Sts. Johns’ Church (Šv. Jonų Bažnyčia) C-3, Šv.<br />
Jono 12, tel. (+370) 5 268 71 55. Built at the same time<br />
as Lithuania’s conversion to Christianity in 1387, albeit with<br />
numerous radical alterations through the centuries, the<br />
vast and imposing Sts. Johns’ Church was given to the<br />
Jesuit Church in 1571 by Zygmunt II August (Žygimantas<br />
Augustas, 1520-1572). On the dissolution of the Jesuit<br />
Order in 1773, the church was handed over to the adjoining<br />
University. The present building, which contains elements<br />
of all of the major architectural styles associated with Old<br />
Town boasts an extraordinary and predominantly Gothic<br />
interior whose crowning glory is its organ of which parts<br />
date back to an organ that came from the Belarusian city of<br />
Polotsk in 1831. The organ, the largest in country and that<br />
received a complete overhaul in stages between 1974 and<br />
2000, is used extensively in classical concerts the church<br />
is now famous for. Q Mass Tue - Thu 18:00, Sun 11:00,<br />
13:00. J<br />
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