Pažaislis Monastery and Church

Pažaislis Monastery and the Church of the Visitation form the largest monastery complex in Lithuania, and the most renowned example of Baroque architecture in the country. The church is the most marble-decorated Baroque church of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Founded in 1662 by a nobleman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Great Chancellor of Lithuania, Krzysztof Zygmunt Pac, for the Order of the Camaldolese Hermits, the main construction continued until 1674 and resumed in 1712.

The monastery's church, decorated with highly polished marble, was damaged by the horses of Napoleon's army which were based in the complex. In 1832 the monastery was closed by the Russian authorities and later converted into an Orthodox church. In 1915-1918 when the Orthodox monks had fled, a German war hospital was established in the monastery. After 1920 the ruined monastery returned to Roman Catholics and was restored by sisters of the Lithuanian convent of St. Casimir. After World War II, the Soviet authorities converted the church and monastery into an archive, a psychiatric hospital, and finally an art gallery (in 1966). In the 1990s the complex was returned by the newly independent Lithuania to the nuns of the convent and reconstruction work began.

Notice the silver icons and amber beads placed on or around the painting of the Madonna and Child behind the altar. These are votive offerings asking for or acknowledging miracles. They are usually small silver objects (hearts, crucifixes, figures of praying people, images of cured eyes, legs, and arms). This is a tradition in Lithuania.

The day we visited, they were preparing for a concert in front of the church. That is the reason the top of a black tent appears in the photos of the front of the church.Read more