The monks of the Order of Carmelites bought several plots of land for the monastery in Kaunas near the Nemunas river in 1706. Some years earlier, the Holy Cross Church (Šv. Kryžiaus bažnyčia) was sanctified nearby in 1685 and consecrated in 1700. The church was built in the late Baroque style. It is a two tower building of Latin cross shape. The painting in the main dome represents the prophet Elijah. It was created in the second half of the 18th century. After the spread of cholera epidemic, Tsarist Russian government established the hospital on the first floor of the monastery in 1831.
The church and the monastery were closed in 1845 and since when were used as a store house for carts and harness. At the same time the interior of the church was vandalized. The St. Cross Church of Kaunas was returned to the believers only in 1881. During the renovation from 1885 till 1898, five new sanctuaries were built, the pulpit, the organ, as well as three new bells were installed. Tyrolean artist John Kerle decorated the vaults of the church with the seventeen compositions in 1898. The church was renovated once more in 1925-1934. The Holy Cross Church of Kaunas was included into the Registry of Immovable Cultural Heritage Sites of the Republic of Lithuania in 1996.
References:The Church of St Donatus name refers to Donatus of Zadar, who began construction on this church in the 9th century and ended it on the northeastern part of the Roman forum. It is the largest Pre-Romanesque building in Croatia.
The beginning of the building of the church was placed to the second half of the 8th century, and it is supposed to have been completed in the 9th century. The Zadar bishop and diplomat Donat (8th and 9th centuries) is credited with the building of the church. He led the representations of the Dalmatian cities to Constantinople and Charles the Great, which is why this church bears slight resemblance to Charlemagne's court chapels, especially the one in Aachen, and also to the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna. It belongs to the Pre-Romanesque architectural period.
The circular church, formerly domed, is 27 m high and is characterised by simplicity and technical primitivism.