St. Michael the Archangel's Church or the Garrison Church ( lt, Švento Arkangelo Mykolo Bažnyčia; russian: Церковь Святого Михаила Архангела) is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

church in the city of

Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

, closing the perspective of the

Laisvės alėja Laisvės Alėja (literally Liberty Boulevard or Liberty Avenue) is a prominent pedestrian street in the city of Kaunas, Lithuania. It stretches between the St. Michael the Archangel's Byzantine-style church to the Central Post Office and ...

, the main pedestrian street. It was built between 1891 and 1895 when Kaunas was part of the Russian Empire, in

Neo-Byzantine style Neo-Byzantine architecture (also referred to as Byzantine Revival) was a revival movement, most frequently seen in religious, institutional and public buildings. It incorporates elements of the Byzantine style associated with Eastern and Ortho ...

largely for the use of the Russian Orthodox

garrison A garrison (from the French ''garnison'', itself from the verb ''garnir'', "to equip") is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a mil ...

Kaunas Fortress Kaunas Fortress ( lt, Kauno tvirtovė, russian: Кοвенская крепость, german: Festung Kowno) is the remains of a fortress complex in Kaunas, Lithuania. It was constructed and renovated between 1882 and 1915 to protect the Russian ...

History

The construction of "military" or "garrison" Orthodox churches by the Russian government in former

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi-confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Crown of the Kingdom of ...

lands had started after the suppression of the

November Uprising The November Uprising (1830–31), also known as the Polish–Russian War 1830–31 or 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 W ...

of 1830-31, and peaked during the reign of emperor

Alexander III of Russia Alexander III ( rus, Алекса́ндр III Алекса́ндрович, r=Aleksandr III Aleksandrovich; 10 March 18451 November 1894) was Emperor of Russia, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland from 13 March 1881 until his death in 18 ...

. Initially the site of this church had been intended to be used for a Catholic church, but these plans had been abandoned after the Uprising. The church was designed as an Orthodox cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in 1890 by K. H. Lymarenko; it was authorized for construction on November 10 that year. Official groundbreaking was celebrated on 29 June 1891. ''Savelyev, Yu. R. Vizantiysky stil v architecture Rossii'' (Савельев, Ю. Р. Византийский стиль в архитектуре России. - СПБ., 2005) Saint Petersburg, 2005. , pp.109-110 The cathedral was completed in four years (unusually quickly for its size), and was inaugurated on 17 September 1895. Later Lymarenko's plan was modified by David Grimm from

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. The church's decorative scheme was outlined by Griaznov and implemented by craftsman from

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

. Most of the construction was carried out by workers from

Chernigov Governorate The Chernigov Governorate (russian: Черниговская губерния; translit.: ''Chernigovskaya guberniya''; ), also known as the Government of Chernigov, was a guberniya in the historical Left-bank Ukraine region of the Russian ...

, and its art-work was implemented by craftsmen from St. Petersburg. As usual for military churches of the period, the construction of Kaunas cathedral was financed equally by the Military Ministry and by donations from army servicemen. Completion of the church finalized the administrative building complex of the

; it symbolized less the presence of Orthodox Christians than the imperial authority of the Russian government. It was also believed that the church would reduce interdenominational frictions. After the fall of the Kaunas Fortress during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

the Germans cut down the church bells and transported them to Germany. The church stayed closed until 1919. In the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the World War I, First World War to the beginning of the World War II, Second World War. The in ...

the cathedral became a Roman Catholic church of the

n garrison of Kaunas. There were voices urging the demolition of the church as it was labeled as without architectural value. During the rule of the Soviet Union, it was used as an art gallery. Nowadays it serves as a

church. The other popular name of the church is '' Soboras''.

Architecture

Kaunas cathedral stood out among similar military churches by its size (it was designed to fit 2,000 worshipers) and its unusual architecture - employing triple

Corinthian columns The Corinthian order (Greek: Κορινθιακός ρυθμός, Latin: ''Ordo Corinthius'') is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order w ...

in an otherwise typical "neo-Byzantine" (Romanesque) five-dome design. In total the exterior has 266 large and small columns and

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s. This

eclectic Eclectic may refer to: Music * ''Eclectic'' (Eric Johnson and Mike Stern album), 2014 * ''Eclectic'' (Big Country album), 1996 * Eclectic Method, name of an audio-visual remix act * Eclecticism in music, the conscious use of styles alien to th ...

spin-off of mainstream "Byzantine" architecture (the so-called ''Roman Byzantine'' style) was hailed by contemporary architectural journalists, but never gained popularity. As built, the cathedral reached 50 meters height; it was finished in three shades of

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

color with equal-armed cross ornament. For the interior the structure relied on four load-bearing pylons designed to appear slimmer and lighter than in reality. The space between external and internal shells of the main dome was filled with hollow

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

resonator A resonator is a device or system that exhibits resonance or resonant behavior. That is, it naturally oscillates with greater amplitude at some frequencies, called resonant frequencies, than at other frequencies. The oscillations in a resonator ...

s. Cut from

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

, floor

tessera A tessera (plural: tesserae, diminutive ''tessella'') is an individual tile, usually formed in the shape of a square, used in creating a mosaic. It is also known as an abaciscus or abaculus. Historical tesserae The oldest known tesserae ...

s were bought from abroad. In the dome above the altar were images of two

Archangel Archangels () are the second lowest rank of angel in the hierarchy of angels. The word ''archangel'' itself is usually associated with the Abrahamic religions, but beings that are very similar to archangels are found in a number of other relig ...

s or evangelists. The main altar's

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

showed God's entrance to heaven. Smaller domes housed bells; one of them had been founded in 1681. Just inside the church and to the right is the entrance to the

catacomb Catacombs are man-made subterranean passageways for religious practice. Any chamber used as a burial place is a catacomb, although the word is most commonly associated with the Roman Empire. Etymology and history The first place to be referred ...

s, which are accessible to the public.

Gallery

LT Kaunas, kosc Sakramentu - kopula, 2019.07.20, fot Ivonna Nowicka (2).jpg, The

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

from the inside and the

Lithuanian flag The national flag of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos vėliava) consists of a horizontal tricolour of yellow, green, and red. It was adopted on 25 April 1918 during Lithuania's first period of independence (in the 20th century) from 1918 to 1940, which ...

split into three separate one-colour flags LT Kaunas, kosc Sakramentu - kopula, 2019.07.20, fot Ivonna Nowicka (1).jpg, The keystone of the church with the

holy spirit In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is the divine force, quality, and influence of God over the Universe or over his creatures. In Nicene Christianity, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is the third person of the Trinity. In Islam, the Holy Spirit acts as ...

dove and Jesus rays LT Kaunas, kosc Archaniola Michala, 2019.07.18, fot Ivonna Nowicka (1).jpg, Front

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

s and

paint Paint is any pigmented liquid, liquefiable, or solid mastic composition that, after application to a substrate in a thin layer, converts to a solid film. It is most commonly used to protect, color, or provide texture. Paint can be made in many ...

flaking off LT Kaunas, kosc Archaniola Michala, 2019.07.18, fot Ivonna Nowicka (2).jpg,

Bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

on the

façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a Loanword, loan word from the French language, French (), which means 'frontage' or 'face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often t ...

Museum for the blind

The

Kaunas Museum for the Blind The Kaunas Museum for the Blind ( lt, Muziejus neregiams) in Kaunas, Lithuania opened in 2005. It was the first museum for the blind in the Baltic States and one of the first in Eastern Europe. The museum, located in the catacombs underneath St. M ...

is located underneath the church. It originated as a 2005 art installation - "21st century catacombs" – designed for the blind, the visually impaired, and the sighted.Interviev with Robertas Antinis
in Bernardinai.lt webportal. The project was overseen by the

Lithuanian Lithuanian may refer to: * Lithuanians * Lithuanian language * The country of Lithuania * Grand Duchy of Lithuania * Culture of Lithuania * Lithuanian cuisine * Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jew ...

sculptor,

Robertas Antinis Robertas Antinis (born 9 June 1946 in Kaunas) is a Lithuanian Sculptor, performance artist and poet. He is a winner of the National Culture and Art Prize. Life He graduated from the Applied Arts School in Riga in 1965, and the Latvian State Art ...

, and architect, Linas Tuleikis.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Michael the Archangel Church, Kaunas Roman Catholic churches in Kaunas Churches completed in 1895 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Lithuania Byzantine Revival architecture in Lithuania Church buildings with domes Military chapels of Lithuania

History

Architecture

Gallery

Museum for the blind

See also

References