St. Casimir's Church

Vilnius, Lithuania

St. Casimir’s Church was founded by the Jesuits and dedicated to Lithuania’s patron saint Prince Casimir Jagiellon (1458-1484). The construction of the glorious building began in 1604 and was completed in 1635. Burnt to the ground just 20 years later when the Russians invaded in 1655, conflagration visited twice again within the next century in 1709 and 1749 before the architect, mathematician and astronomer Tomas Žebrauskas (Pol. Thomas Zubrówka, 1714-1758) restored it to more or less the form it's seen in today.

Over the centuries the church fell into the hands of the Augustinians, Napoleon’s Grande Armée, the Russian Orthodox Church (who significantly altered its appearance), the Lutherans (who used it as the garrison church for the occupying German Army during WWI) and others, including the Soviets who turned the whole place into a museum of atheism no less. Returned to the Catholic Church in 1988, the building was consecrated in 1991 and has since undergone a massive renovation project, restoring its predominantly Baroque style with Gothic and Renaissance touches. Of particular interest inside are three late Baroque altars and a recently discovered 17th-century crypt containing dark bas-reliefs featuring miscellaneous religious motifs.

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Founded: 1604-1635
Category: Religious sites in Lithuania

Rating

4.7/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

Kakha Khmelidze (12 months ago)
Me and my wife visited the glorious city of Vilnius from 16 to 19 November. Now we love this amazing city so much. Among many other places, we visited the Chapel of Saint Casimir in Vilnius Cathedral. We loved it. The building is in a historic place. St Casimir was a mega historic, legendary person for Lithuanian people. He was the second son of the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. He died young and was buried in this chapel. He was canonized as a saint in 1602. The chapel was built in 1623-36 by Italian artists. It has a beautiful altar with a silver sarcophagus and a painting of St Casimir with three hands. According to legend, the painting is miraculous because the painter could not erase the first hand he painted. The chapel is very impressive and worth seeing.
Iryna Panina (16 months ago)
This church is a pure peace) It's a quiet and comfortable place for reflection and praying. Its sober architecture and modest interior decoration create an atmosphere of tranquility and privacy.
Diana cdfamilyadventures (22 months ago)
Beautiful pink church with its own unique history. Great view of church from the back yard showing the cross sitting in the crown due to the church s history and founder Saint Casmir
Jiboo piu (2 years ago)
Very beautiful Jesuit Church. The choir was very good. It almost felt like hearing angels sing
Janis Firmo (2 years ago)
Very beautiful. Worth to visited. I had luck to go in a day they were having an event there.
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