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VILNIUS  233

Adam Mickiewicz (1798–1855) in vari ous languages. The
museum also houses the first
“Oh Lithuania, my country, thou editions of a number of his
art like good health; I never knew great poems. The museum
till now how precious, till I lost often hosts literary meetings
thee.” So begins Pan Tadeusz, the and poetry evenings.
lyrical masterpiece of the great
Polish Romantic poet Adam p Orthodox Church
Mickiewicz. He was born into a
family of Polish nobles near of St Nicholas
Nowogrodek, in present-day Šv Mikalojaus cerkvė
Belarus, three years after the
partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Didžioji 12. Map 2 D4. Tel 261 8559.
Commonwealth. His nomadic life Open 1–6:30pm Mon–Fri, 7:30am–
was dominated by a strong 3pm Sun. 5 5pm Tue–Sat, 9am Sun.
yearning for an idyllic lost home-
land. His epic poems are full of The serene, candlelit interior
ancient forests, groves and open of the Orthodox Church of St
Statue of Adam Mickiewicz, outside the landscapes. Gražyna (1822), Nicholas contrasts sharply with
Bernardine Church written in his youth, is about the bustle on Didžioji, the Old
the female chief of a pagan Town’s main street. Originally
Lithuanian tribe who outwits the cross-and-sword-wielding Teutonic a Gothic church dating from
Knights. The Byronesque Konrad Wallenrod (1828) describes these 1514, it passed into the hands
battles with even greater mastery. of the Uniates, or Greek
Catholics, in 1609 before
getting a Baroque over haul,
the palm of his hand. St Anne’s that decorate the ceiling. Since including the bell tower. The
is a Gothic beauty; its ornate 2009, the building has housed church was returned to the
façade of flowing ogee arches the Church Heritage Museum, Russian Orthodox Church in
and slender windows is a which displays treasures from 1827. The overtly Russian
unique monument to the style Vilnius Cathedral and other Byzantine façade of the church,
in a city of Baroque. The finials sacred art. together with most of the
and the spires are covered interior, is an example of
evenly with deco rative crockets o Mickiewicz the change that took place in
– bricks made to resemble the city’s religious land scape
flowers or curled leaves and Museum following the doomed January
so favoured by Gothic archi- Adomo Mickevičiaus memoralinis 1863 uprising.
tects. One set of his torians butas-muziejus The domed chapel on the
found 33 different shapes of Bernardinų 11. Map 2 E3. Tel 279 left is dedicated to Count
brick used in the façade. Inside, 1879. Open 10am–5pm Tue–Fri, Mikhail Muravyov (1796–1866),
the three Baroque altars were 10am–2pm Sat–Sun. 8 the governor-general who
designed by Jan Krzysztof dealt harshly with the
Glaubitz (see p237). The free- The legendary poet uprising’s participants.
standing bell tower was built Adam Mickiewicz, who
much later, in the 1870s. romanticized his Polish-
Lithuanian homeland,
stayed at this apartment,
i Church of which belonged to a
St Michael university professor, for
a brief period in 1822. Set
Šv Mykolo bažnyčia inside a lovely enclosed
Šv Mykolo 9. Map 2 E3. Tel 269 7803. courtyard, the museum
Open 11am–6pm Tue–Sat. attempts to re-create the
atmosphere of the era in
The Renaissance-style Church which the poet lived.
of St Michael was built during Period furniture, which
the early 17th century, as a Mickiewicz himself is
convent for Bernardine nuns said to have used while
and a mausoleum for the writing his first folk-
Sapiega family. Its interior inspired ballads, includes
features several of the nobles’ a table and chair from
funerary monuments. These Kaunas and a chair from
include one to Leonas Sapiega, Paris. Portraits of the
whose initials mark some of poet are set alongside
the crests, motifs and rosettes volumes of his works Façade, Orthodox Church of St Nicholas

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