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Dominican Church of the Holy Spirit (read)



Sound background: Leopoldas Digrys (organ)

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Projekto parneris keitykla TOP EXCHANGE

All panoramas of this object: St. Spirit Church (9)

Description

The original Vilnius Church of the Dominicans or the Church of the Holy Spirit was wooden but it burned in 1323. Kazimieras Jogailaitis built a brick church in 1441. Duke Alexander after rebuilding it in 1501 allocated it to the Dominicans. The church suffered many fires. After the fire of 1748 the Dominicans built a new church (1753-1770). The same fire burned the oldest organ too. The Dominicans created a completely new interior of later baroque style under J.K.Glaubicas project; Adamas G. Casparini made a new baroque organ in 1776. At first, two graceful towers similar to the towers of the Missioners church decorated the church façade. Later the monks, being afraid that the tower could fall, demolished them. The façade without the towers remained until today. Russians closed the monastery in 1844 and the church became a parish church again.

The church contains 16 altars. The worship service is always led only in Polish. Pope John Paul II made a special visit to the church in 1993 09 05. The restoration of the organ began in 1994. Its damaged wooden parts were conserved. In 2001 the restoration was completed. The French transformed the church into a hospital in 1812 and used its cellars for burying the dead. They were not the ones who died of plague as it was thought previously. The remains dried naturally due to the adequate conditions. A special imitation portraying Mother with her baby on the hands was created when ordering the remains. During 1930-1932 the students of medicine were clearing the cellars and put many of the remains into the coffins that had an inscription JHS. The letters were inscribed on coffins since 1774 when criminals and prisoners were buried here. Though the remains were put in order several times, but the more spacious rooms of the cellar still contain piles of skeletons. Moreover, it is thought that there might be another cellar under the foundations. The suppositions still need to be proved by investigations. No one can enter the cellars at the moment in order to avoid the change of the balanced microclimate. Vytautas Šiaudinis visited the cellars in 1957 and witnessed the dried remains in the cellars.

Vytautas Šiaudinis

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