Cathedral of the Assumption of Our Lady
The Cathedral of the Assumption of the Mother of God ( lit. Dievo Motinos Ėmimo į Dangų katedra ; Russian Кафедральный собор во имя Успения Пречистой Божией Матери ) in Vilnius is the main church of the Orthodox Christians in the Lithuanian Orthodox .
history
The cathedral was built in 1346 under Grand Duke Algirdas . It was built by Kiev architects and was originally dedicated to St. Alexius . St. Mary's Cathedral is one of the oldest churches in the country and was built before the Christianization of Lithuania. It became one of the most important intellectual centers in the Grand Duchy , which was reflected in the marriage of Aleksandras Jogailaitis and Helena Ivanovna Moskiewska . Helena was buried in the church in 1513. After the country was catholized , the princes Konstantin Iwanowitsch Ostroschski and Konstanty Wasyl Ostrogski put the church under protection. They also covered the repair costs after the dome collapsed in 1606. After their death, the cathedral was transferred to the Greek Catholic Church in 1609 and the church was rebuilt in a style typical of the region.
After the great fire in the city in 1748, the cathedral was no longer used for church purposes and was used for other purposes. As early as 1785 it was rebuilt in baroque style and destroyed again by the Russian army during the Kościuszko uprising . The badly damaged building was sold to Vilnius University in 1808 . She modernized the building under Karol Podczaszyński in the classical style. For half a century the church was used as an anatomical theater , library, and other university facilities.
The old Orthodox Church was converted back into a Russian Orthodox Church during the Russification Period on the initiative of Mikhail Nikolajewitsch Muravjow-Wilensky . Nikolai Tschagin was responsible for the reconstruction . The reconstruction took place in the Georgian style from 1865 to 1868 . Why this style was used is unclear.
During the Second World War, the Marie cathedral was badly damaged. Although the restoration began in 1948, the reopening dragged on until 1957. The church, which was last restored in 1998, still belongs to the Russian Orthodox community. Services today are mainly attended by the Russian and Belarusian minority residents of Vilnius.
See also
Sister projects
Web links
- triposo.com (English)
- bratstvoprav.narod.ru (Russian)
Coordinates: 54 ° 40 ′ 51.5 ″ N , 25 ° 17 ′ 32.4 ″ E