Vytautas' the Great Church of the Assumption of The Holy Virgin Mary is a Roman Catholic church in the Old Town

Centras (Kaunas)

Centras is an elderate in the city of Kaunas, Lithuania, based on two neighbourhoods of Kaunas - the Old City and the New City. It lies at the confluence of two major Lithuanian rivers, the Nemunas and the Neris....

 of Kaunas

Kaunas

Kaunas is the second-largest city in Lithuania and has historically been a leading centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the biggest city and the center of a powiat in Trakai Voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since 1413. During Russian Empire occupation...

, Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

, and is one of the oldest churches in the city.

History

The church was built in the right bank of the Neman River

Neman River

Neman or Niemen or Nemunas, is a major Eastern European river rising in Belarus and flowing through Lithuania before draining into the Curonian Lagoon and then into the Baltic Sea at Klaipėda. It is the northern border between Lithuania and Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast in its lower reaches...

 around 1400

1400s in architecture

-Buildings:* 1402 - Seville Cathedral is begun.* 1403** The Gur-e Amir Mausoleum is built in Samarkand by Timur.** The Temple of a City God is built in Shanghai.* 1405 - The Changdeokgung of Korea is completed.* 1409...

 for Franciscan

Franciscan

Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....

 monks and foreign merchants. It was ordered and funded by Vytautas the Great

Vytautas the Great

Vytautas ; styled "the Great" from the 15th century onwards; c. 1350 October 27, 1430) was one of the most famous rulers of medieval Lithuania. Vytautas was the ruler of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania which chiefly encompassed the Lithuanians and Ruthenians...

 as a commendation to the Blessed Virgin Mary for saving his life after a major defeat in the Battle of the Vorskla River

Battle of the Vorskla River

The Battle of the Vorskla River was a great battle in the medieval history of Eastern Europe. It was fought on August 12, 1399, between the Tatars, under Edigu and Temur Qutlugh, and the armies of Tokhtamysh and Grand Duke Vytautas of Lithuania...

.

Being quite close to the river the church has many times suffered from spring floods. In 1812 it was burned by French troops. The Franciscan monastery

Monastery

Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...

 was closed by Russian administration after the November Uprising

November Uprising

The November Uprising , Polish–Russian War 1830–31 also known as the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in the heartland of partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. The uprising began on 29 November 1830 in Warsaw when the young Polish officers from the local Army of the Congress...

. In 1845 the Catholic church was closed and later it was rebuilt and reopened as an and Orthodox church. Since 1903 it served as military barracks

Barracks

Barracks are specialised buildings for permanent military accommodation; the word may apply to separate housing blocks or to complete complexes. Their main object is to separate soldiers from the civilian population and reinforce discipline, training and esprit de corps. They were sometimes called...

. In 1915 Germans organised a warehouse here. The building, returned to the Catholic Church in 1919 underwent major renovation works in 1931-1938 and again in 1978-1982.

Architecture

The church was constructed in Gothic

Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....

 style and is an example of the Lithuanian Brick Gothic

Brick Gothic

Brick Gothic is a specific style of Gothic architecture common in Northern Europe, especially in Northern Germany and the regions around the Baltic Sea that do not have natural rock resources. The buildings are essentially built from bricks...

 architecture. The church layout of the Latin cross is unique in the Lithuanian Gothic. After the ground level around the church has been raised significantly, the façades became lower and the windows were shortened, as well as the side portals were removed. The bell tower

Bell tower

A bell tower is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. When attached to a city hall or other civic building, especially in...

 was added later and probably has been used to guide ships navigating Neman River.

Lithuanian writer Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas

Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas

Juozas Tumas, also known by the pen name Vaižgantas , was a prominent Lithuanian writer, Roman Catholic priest, social activist, literary historian, and one of the founders of the Party of National Progress. He wrote novels, short fictional pieces, and non-fiction...

 (1869-1933) is buried in the crypt

Crypt

In architecture, a crypt is a stone chamber or vault beneath the floor of a burial vault possibly containing sarcophagi, coffins or relics....

of the church.

External links

• Church's website
• Image gallery from the church's website