Page 231 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Estonia Latvia & Lithuania

VILNIUS  229

High Altar
The marvellously VISITORS’ CHECKLIST
intricate tabernacle door
on the High Altar, which Practical Information
was created in the 1620s, Katedros aikšė 1. Map 2 D3.
is fashioned from gold Tel 261 0731. Open 7am–7pm
and silver. Two biblical daily. 8 guided tour mandatory
scenes, the Last Supper to visit the crypt. Enquire at the
and Christ Washing the souvenir shop at the cathedral’s
Disciples’ Feet, are northern entrance for timings
beautifully depicted and prices. =
on the panel.

. St Casimir’s Chapel
Italian masters created this
superb chapel, one of the major
Baroque jewels of Vilnius, from
1623 to 1636. Its main highlights
are the marble columns,
magnificent stucco figures and
colourful frescoes.

St Casimir (1458–84)
Casimir was the second
son of a Grand Duke,
whose siblings became
kings and queens of
European states
through lineage and
marriage. Pious Casimir
shunned the luxuries of
court life and would
often go to the cathedral
to pray. When he died of
tuberculosis aged 25, it was
rumoured that his coffin
could cure disease. A fresco
. Crypt in St Casimir’s Chapel shows
A sombre mausoleum holds the remains of two how a sick orphan, who
Grand Dukes and two wives of Sigismund prayed beneath the coffin, Richly decorated altar of
Augustus (r.1548–72), the last descendant of was miraculously cured. St Casimir’s Chapel
Gediminas (r.1316–41).

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