Pažaislis Monastery
The Pažaislis Monastery (Lithuanian: Pažaislio vienuolynas , Polish: Klasztor w Pożajściu ) is a Catholic monastery on the southeastern outskirts of Kaunas , on the Memel in Lithuania, which is dammed up to the Kaunasser Sea . It was built in 1664 by Camaldolese monks and has one of the most beautiful baroque churches in the country. Since 1992 it has been looked after by the Order of the Sisters of St. Casimir.
architecture
History of origin
The construction of the Church of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary (lit. Švč. Mergelės Marijos Apsilankymo bažnyčia ) goes back to the wish of the then Chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania Krzysztof Zygmunt Pac (lit. Kristupas Zygmantas Pacas ) to leave a splendid legacy. He brought the Camaldolese, with whom he had come into contact during his studies in Perugia , to Lithuania in 1664 and donated a monastery for them with a magnificent church, which was to be his final resting place. Krzysztof Zygmunt Pac was thus in competition with his cousin Michał Kazimierz Pac (lit. Mykolas Kazimieras Pacas ), who at the same time had the Peter and Paul Church built in Vilnius . Pac did not live to see the completion, he died in 1684. According to his will, he is buried with his wife Claire de Mailly-Lascaris in the crypt of the church. Similar to his cousin, the Pac concentration camp also had a memorial plaque placed on his person at the church entrance, with the text Whoever you read this plaque knows that there is a sinner lying here . The original name of the monastery was Mons pacis ( mountain of peace , but also an allusion to the name Pac ).
Work on the monastery and the Church of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary (lit. Švč. Mergelės Marijos Apsilankymo bažnyčia ) began in November 1667 (half a year before the Peter and Paul Church in Vilnius). The church building was completed by 1676; the interior decorations lasted until 1712. The builders were the Italians Giovanni Battista Frediani and, from 1674, the brothers Pietro and Carlo Puttini.
description
The church is one of the most beautiful baroque structures in Lithuania. It impresses with the strict symmetry of the central building . Four chapels, the chancel and the entrance surround the unusual, hexagonal building with the mighty dome. The central building divides the extensive monastery complex into a public western part and a private eastern part, which is reserved for the hermit monks.
From the west, the concave facade above the portal creates an impression of lightness in interaction with the slender, towering side towers. The facade is divided horizontally by a mighty cornice and a stone balustrade . The decoration of the facade and the towers was designed by the German builder Michael Wollscheidt. The group of figures "Visitation of the Virgin Mary" designed by him above the balustrade was lost around 1870.
The bright interior of the church impresses with the colored frescoes by Michelangelo Palloni (1678–1685), the walls and cornices made of red and black marble and the huge dome (54 m high) with the fresco Coronation of Mary in Heaven (by Giuseppe Rossi, from 1692) . The frescoes are framed by stucco work by Giovanni Merli (1674–1676). They follow two thematic complexes: Stations from the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary and from the life of the saints Romuald (founder of the Camaldolese order) and Benedict (the Camaldolese live according to his order rule). A painting in the chapel to the right of the altar shows Saint Maria Magdalena de Pazzi , to whom the Pac 'believed themselves to be largely related. The chapels to the left and right of the entrance show the patron saint of the founder, Saint Christopher , and Francis de Sales , an important figure of the Counter Reformation , canonized by Pope Alexander VII in 1665.
In 1791/92 the church received an extension in the classical style (architect Rossi) on the rear (eastern) wing of the monastery.
The church has an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary with her child, regarded as miraculous . It was a gift from Pope Alexander VII to Krzysztof Pacas in 1661 and was already known then as a miracle worker. With the donation of the picture Pacas wanted to increase the attraction of his church. It was also honored by the Orthodox monks (see below) and taken to Russia by them during the First World War. It was only returned to the monastery in 1928. After 50 years of exile in Kaunass Cathedral , it has been on display again in the Church of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary since 2000. Every year on July 2nd (Feast of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary) there is a solemn procession with the image of Mary.
The passage from the church to the cloister and the sacristy are decorated with elaborate ceiling paintings depicting the life of St. Bruno , the first Lithuanian missionary.
History of the monastery
Camaldolese monastery (1664–1831)
In 1664, a Pac Foundation established the Camaldolese arrival in Lithuania. Along with the monastery in Wigry (now Poland , then Grand Duchy of Lithuania ) founded in 1667 by King John II Casimir , it was one of two Camaldolese monasteries in Poland-Lithuania . The Camaldolese are an order with a vow of silence, accordingly separate cells were built for the monks in the monastery wing of Pažaislis . Of the originally planned 24 cells, however, only 13 were built by 1720. A high wall separates the actual monastery wing from the rest of the complex.
In 1812 the monastery was sacked by Napoleon's troops.
Orthodox monastery (1831-1917)
After the Polish-Lithuanian uprising of 1831 against Russian supremacy, Tsar Nicholas I closed the monastery and handed it over to the Russian Orthodox Church . The valuable archive and numerous art objects were lost. The interior of the church was rebuilt, the main altar and the side altars were removed and numerous frescoes (including the dome fresco) were painted over.
In 1842 the Orthodox Dormition Monastery ( Uspenski monastyr ) was opened. Despite the activities of the monks, the monastery cells fell into ruins, only three have survived to this day.
The monastery was badly damaged during the First World War when the Germans set up a hospital here.
Monastery of the Sisters of St. Casimir (1920–1948)
In 1920 Sister Marija Kaupaitė came to Pažaislis with four of her nuns from the Order of the Sisters of St. Casimir from Chicago and revived the Catholic monastery tradition.
After the communists came to power in 1948, the order was expelled and the monastery was given to various purposes (archive, old people's home, mental hospital, holiday camp). With the construction of the Kaunasser reservoir in 1959, the monastery above the Memel river bend became a monastery on the lakeshore, and the cemetery was swallowed up by the water. In 1967 the monastery was finally transferred to the State MKČiurlionis Art Museum in Kaunas and some renovations were carried out.
Monastery of the Sisters of St. Casimir (since 1992)
In 1992 it was returned to the Order of Sisters, which has been looking after the monastery ever since.
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.lcn.lt/bzinios/bz0121/121bl15.html On the history of Pac's grave (lit.)
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from September 17, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the links between the Pac family and the Medici
Web links
- History / architecture / photo gallery (lit.)
- History / architecture (lit.)
- History of the monastery / Marienbildnis (lit.
- Pažaislis Music Festival (Eng./Lit.)
Coordinates: 54 ° 52 ′ 33.6 ″ N , 24 ° 1 ′ 19.2 ″ E