Gothic in Lithuania
The Gothic architectural landscape in Lithuania has few, partly very different, partly unique, examples of this architectural style.
conditions
Lithuania, on the border between the Greek and Roman Churches, had developed into a state in the assertion of its paganism (especially in relation to the Teutonic Order ) and in the 14th century to a great power. The area of today's republic was, with the exception of today's Lithuania Minor (1919–1939 Memel area ), which belongs to the monastic state, the Lithuanian-speaking part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , whose subjects were mostly Orthodox Slavs. The power center of this empire extended from Kaunas via Trakai to Vilnius .
The personal union between Lithuania and Poland began with the marriage between Grand Duke Władysław II. Jagiełło , who had only recently been baptized Catholic, and the Polish Queen Hedwig of Anjou . After the Battle of Tannenberg (1410) and the Peace of Melno Lake (1422) there were no more attacks by the Teutonic Order. After the Second Peace of Thorn in 1466, the monastic state was no longer a serious competitor of the states united under the Jagiellonians.
buildings
Brick castles
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The castles in Lithuania made of stone and bricks, time information for the first stage of development according to wooden predecessors:
- Kaunas Castle, built in the middle of the 14th century, spied on by knights of the order in 1361 and conquered in 1362, conquered a second time by the order in 1384 and then from Lithuania.
- Peninsula castle in Trakai 1350–1377.
- Trakai island castle , fortification walls and defense towers were also built in the second half of the 14th century, but the palace was not built until 1410.
- Medininkai Castle , 1392, residential palace from the middle of the 15th century
- Gediminas Tower over Vilnius, completed in 1409.
Almost all other Lithuanian medieval castles were made of wood and earth.
First churches
Vilnius Orthodox Cathedral
The oldest brick church in Lithuania is the Orthodox Cathedral of the Assumption of Our Lady in Vilnius . Erected in 1346 in a Byzantine-Gothic transition style, it is considered the first work of the Belarusian Gothic , see below. After several external redesigns, it appears today as a predominantly plastered brick building in neo-Byzantine style .
Brick gothic
After Grand Duke Władysław II Jagiełło was baptized in 1384/85, the country officially became Christian, and churches were built for the Lithuanian population in the center and in the north-west of the Grand Duchy, the most important of them in the brick Gothic style :
- Nikolaikirche (Vilnius) , 1387
- Vytautas Magnus Church in Kaunas, around 1400
- George's Church in Kėdainiai , 1403
- Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul (Kaunas) , 1410, many times rebuilt and baroque
- Franciscan Church of the Assumption of Mary (Vilnius) , after a wooden church built from 1387–1392 made of brick from 1410, destroyed several times, since 1671–1675 mostly baroque.
Late Gothic
Flamboyant in brick
In the late Gothic two buildings were built in which shapes from the lush French flamboyant style were executed in brick:
- The so-called House of Perkūnas (Perkūno namas) in Kaunas was built as a Hanseatic office in the middle of the 15th century and served this function until 1532. It was then used by Jesuits . The name refers to a figure found on its wall that romantic historians interpreted as the Baltic god of thunder.
- The St. Anne's Church in Vilnius was built from 1495 to 1500.
"Belarusian" Gothic
Several churches and other buildings, as in the Slavic parts of the Grand Duchy, today predominantly Belarus , were built in the first half of the 16th century in a transition style from Gothic and Renaissance with Byzantine influences, also known as Belarusian Gothic . This includes:
- Gertrud Church in Kaunas, 1503
- old church of St. John the Baptist (Šv. Jono Krikštytojo bažnyčia) in Zapyškis
- Francis and Bernard Church in Vilnius
Footnotes and web links
- ↑ It was not until 1448 that the Russian Church split from the Greek with the election of the Metropolitan of Kiev .
- ^ Lithuania network: Gediminas Tower
- ↑ National Museum of Lithuania: History of Gediminas Castle Tower ( Memento of the original from December 28, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Triposo: Cathedral of the Theotocos
- ↑ Вильнюсский Пречистенский Кафедральный Собор
- ^ Kaunas Cathedral Basilica of the Apostles Saints Peter and Paul
- ^ Lithuanian register of monuments: Namas, vad. Perkūno
- ↑ sightseeing Vilnius: Church n St. Anne and St. Bernadine (article on two churches, the original title is wrong.)
