Description of the attraction
In Vilnius, one of the most ancient Gothic buildings is the Church of St. Nicholas. It is one of the surviving Catholic churches, which is a monument of history and architecture. Before the Second World War, the Church of St. Nicholas was the center of Lithuanian religious life.
The church was founded during the reign of Prince Gediminas - before the adoption of Catholicism in Lithuania. It was built for foreign merchants and artisans.
The stone church was built within five years, starting in 1382. And the first documentary mentions of this sacred building date back to 1387-1397. Like many temples, the church has been reconstructed and restored many times. Historians claim that a documentary act of the consecration of the church in 1514 has survived.
After a fire in 1749, the architecture of the temple was modified in the Rococo style. During the invasion of Napoleon, the temple, like many other buildings, was significantly damaged by the troops of the French army. In the first half of the nineteenth century, a bell tower was added to the temple, bearing the features of classicism, and a stone fence was also built. In 1972, according to the project of the architect Jonas Zibolis, the temple was restored again.
Almost square, small in size, the temple with massive walls, built of red brick, has characteristic features in the Gothic style, successfully combined with elements of the Romanesque style.
The temple is a three-aisled hall-type with a short triangular flap and diagonal buttresses at the corners. The modest temple portal is enlivened by decorative rows of profiled bricks. The triangular pediment is decorated with three groups of niches of different heights. Niches are arranged in the walls of the viper.
In 1957, a statue of the city's patron Saint Christopher was installed in the courtyard near the temple, and the priest, Christulas Chibiras, who died during the bombing of Vilnius, was erected. The statue of St. Christopher with a child in his arms and a text on a pedestal was created by the sculptor Antanas Kmeliauskas, at the request of the prelate Chelovek Kryvaitis.
The interior of the temple is very different from its modest appearance in its elegance and beauty. Four octagonal pylons made of shaped bricks support mesh vaults. A keel arch separates the presbytery from the naves.
The church has three altars. The main altar is decorated with statues of Saint Christopher, Saint Teresa, Saint Clara and Saint Joseph. Figures of babies are located between the columns. The left altar is also decorated with statues of St. Casimir and St. George, and the image of St. Nicholas. The right altar is decorated with a bas-relief of the Sorrowful Mother of God.
To commemorate the 500th anniversary of the death of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vitovt the Great in 1930, a monument was erected in the church through the efforts of the Vilna Lithuanians. The monument itself was made of bronze and marble by Rafal Jachimovich. In 1936, a fence with two swords was erected around the monument.
After the Second World War, a memorial plaque was erected in the church in memory of the rector of the church, Christulas Chibiras, who served in the church from 1924 to 1942.
Nowadays, the temple operates - services are conducted in the Lithuanian language.
