St. Peter and St. Paul's Church, Vilnius

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Basic information
St. Peter and St. Paul's Church Šv. apaštalų Petro ir Povilo bažnyčia
Front view of the church
Location	Vilnius, Lithuania
Geographic coordinates	54.694°N, 25.306°E
Religious affiliation	Roman Catholic
District	Antakalnis
Architectural description
Architect/s	Jan Zaor, Giambattista Frediani
Architectual type	Church
Architectual style	Baroque
Direction of facade	Southwest
Year completed	1701
Specifications
Materials	clay bricks

St. Peter and St. Paul's Church of Vilnius (Lithuanian: Šv. apaštalų Petro ir Povilo bažnyčia) is a Roman Catholic church located in Antakalnis neighbourhood of the city. Its interior, with masterful compositions of stucco mouldings by Giovanni Pietro Perti and ornamentation by Giovanni Maria Galli^[1] of Milan, is considered a Lithuanian Baroque masterpiece.

1 Architecture
2 History
3 See also
4 Image gallery
5 References

[edit] Architecture

The church is a basilica built on traditional cross plan with a lantern dome pouring extra light to its white interior. The freestanding colums in the main facade were used for the first time in the Lithuanian ecclesiastical architecture. The inscription around the basis of the dome (Tu es Petrus et supra hanc petram edificabo ecclesiam meam et portae inferi non praevale buntadversus eam) is the same as in the St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican. The church is decorated with over 2000 figures. The frescos were painted by Martin de Altamonte from Rome. Two female heads opposite the St. Augustine Chapel represent two sister nations: Poland and Lithuania.

[edit] History

Interior of the church with the main altar and the lantern in the roof dome

It is believed that the first wooden church was built in this place already in the times of Jogaila. It was rebuilt at the end of 15th century, but perished in fire in 1594. Another wooden church was built there in 1609-1616 by masters from Kraków but it also did not survive long and was destroyed during the wars with Russia in 1655-1661.

The building of the new church was funded by the Great Lithuanian Hetman Michał Kazimierz Pac in commemoration of the celebration the victory against the Tsardom of Russia. The Latin inscription on the main façade REGINA PACIS FUNDA NOS IN PACE (Queen of Peace, protect us in peace) corresponds with the intention, as well as with the founder's name Pac. Pac demanded to be buried beneath the doorstep of the main entrance with the inscription "Hic Jacet Pecator" (here lies a sinner) on his tombstone, which was parted by the lightning and was set in the wall, right of the main portal. A large Turkish war drum (timpano) is on display in the church. It was taken from the Ottomans in the Battle of Khotyn of 11 November 1673, won by the Commonwealth forces, and granted to the church by Michał Kazimierz Pac.

The construction works of the present church started in 1668 under the supervision of Jan Zaor from Kraków and finished in 1676 by Giambattista Frediani. The decoration works were unfortunately terminated in 1684 due to the founder's death in 1682, which prevented creating the main altar according to the original design. The decoration works were finally completed only in 1704.

The main altar, smaller than planned, was built in the beginning of 19th century by Giovanni Beretti and Nicolae Piano from Milan. It is dominated by the Farewell of St. Peter and St. Paul, a large drawing by Franciszek Smuglewicz, installed there in 1805.