Page 234 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Estonia Latvia & Lithuania

232  LITHU ANIA REGION B Y REGION

eventually given back to the
friars. The church’s original
16th­century frescoes are being
restored and include depictions
of the sobriety and solemnity
observed by friars, as well as
St Christopher, and scenes from
the Passion of Christ.
Just outside the church
grounds is a statue of Adam
Mickiewicz, created in 1984. In
August 1987, the statue was
the meeting point for the first
public rally under Soviet
occupation that called for
Lithuania’s national rights.
Elegant façade of the Russian Orthodox Holy Mother of God Church
t Holy Mother of were added to the interior. u Church of
God Church However, of these only the St Anne
Skaisčiausios Dievo Motinos cerkvė main altar, carved by Italian Šv Onos bažnyčia
craftsman Daniele Giotto,
Maironio 14. Map 2 E4. Tel 215 3747. remains today. The intriguing Maironio 8/1. Map 2 E3. Tel 6981
@ 10, 11, 33. 5 10am, 4pm Sat, façade combines Gothic 7731. @ 10, 11, 33. 5 5:30pm Mon–
9am Sun. windows and Baroque scrolls. Sat, 9am & 11am Sun.
Both church and friary were According to local folklore, this
The current structure of this closed after the 1863 uprising church charmed Napoleon into
Russian Orthodox church, (see p218), becoming barracks exclaiming how he wished he
designed by Russian architect for Russian troops, but were could take it back to Paris on
Nikolai Chagin, dates from the
19th century. One of the icons,
The Mother of God, was brought
by Tsar Alexander II, who also
gave funds for the reconstruc­
tion work. For over 60 years
before its renovation the church
had been used as dissection
rooms for the Medical Academy
and as a military barracks. Just
like the Church of St Paraskeva
(see p227), it stands where
pagan Grand Duke Algirdas
built a place of worship for his
wife, in the 14th century.
y Bernardine
Church
Bernardinų bažnyčia
Maironio 8. Map 2 E3. Tel 260 9292.
@ 10, 11, 33. 5 7:30am Mon–Thu;
6pm Sat; 9am (in English), 10:30am,
1pm, 5pm Sun.
In 1469, the austere Franciscan
Observant friars, known as the
Bernardines after their founder
St Bernardino of Siena, arrived in
Vilnius. The Bernardine Church,
which they built in around 1525,
still retains the late Gothic
crystal vaulting above the aisles.
In the 1770s, a series of Baroque
wooden altars and confessionals Church of St Anne, a Gothic gem said to have dazzled Napoleon
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp304–305 and pp326–8

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