Religious Tourism

A small corner of Vilnius where Church of Our Lady of the Assumption stands is very archaic, and fraught with antiquity. Franciscan Monastery is built nearby and makes up a Franciscan church ensemble. Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, which is standing in Trakai Street, is one of the oldest buildings in the entire city, dating back to mid-14th century.

During 14th century there was a small stone church or a chapel. Also archaeologists in the same square found burial grounds dating even more back than the church – to 13th-14th centuries. Burial grounds are partly damaged by the fundaments of the church, therefore it could be firmly concluded that cemetery existed prior to the church. In addition, there are many clues proving this cemetery to be a Christian burial place, making it one of the earliest catholic locations in Vilnius.

It is believed that Franciscan buildings were razed in 1390, when castles of Vilnius were being heavily besieged by crusaders. Church of Our Lady of the Assumption was rebuilt many times. After crusaders, a completely new church was built in 1421. At that time the church was built in gothic style up until the fire in 1610. Now the church still has gothic staircase, windows and buttresses, it’s gothic pediment is still present hidden under the layers of later décor. It is important to mention, that subsequent rebuilds were made under the same blueprint, leaving the original formation unchanged.

The church was seriously damaged during fires in 1737 and 1748 and in the second half of 18th century Church of Our Lady of the Assumption was reconstructed in the style of late-Baroque. Central nave was constructed significantly above previous level, transforming this church to a basilica. Interior was also decorated according to late-baroque style, however it had some elements of classicism. During the same period, a huge Franciscan monastery complex was rebuilt from the grounds

Later, in 1812 the church was damaged by French troops. On their way to Moscow, French troops used it for grain storage. During the 1963 rebellion, Franciscans actively assisted the rebels; therefore the church of Our Lady of the Consumption was forfeited and turned into an archive. Franciscans got their church and monastery back only in 1938. After a few years Franciscan buildings were nationalized by Soviet government and monks got their buildings back fully only in 1998.

Church interior space is triple-nave (previously it was a hall), with two gothic chapels joining the presbytery. There was a gothic belfry standing beside the church, however in 1872 it was razed to grounds.

After 19 years of disputes and 9 years of litigation, the Supreme Court of Lithuania ended the case of Franciscan monastery buildings in Vilnius, located at the church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary the Virgin on  Sands on Trocka Street in Vilnius. By the decision of the court the buildings have been returned to the state. Fathers of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual (Franciscans) are hoping that the next step will be to make over the ownership of the monastery buildings to the Order (as part of a restitution of the church property in Lithuania).

“I am grateful to God and to Lithuanian courts for the restoring the justice” – said Father Marek Dettlaff, the guardian of the monastery and the rector of the church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Vilnius.

The church and the adjacent monastery buildings are the property of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual. The presence of the Franciscans in Vilnius dates back to the fourteenth century, and the church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is probably the oldest church in Vilnius.

Priestly ministry of the Franciscans in Lithuania is associated with many tragic moments, including the first brothers executed in Vilnius, which is commemorated by the crosses on Trzykrzyska Mount. The twentieth century, which affected the whole Church of the East painfully, was equally tragic for the Franciscans from Vilnius.

After Soviet Russia annexed the territories of eastern Poland, the Franciscans were forced to leave Vilnius. However, one Conventual Franciscan remained in Lithuania. Father Kamil Wełymański was one of the five Franciscans in the East, who remained in their temples. Father Kamil was appointed the rector of the Franciscan church in Vilnius. He paid for his presence with persecution, imprisonment in Vilnius and Lubyanka in Moscow and with ten years of work in the camps in Vorkuta and Kazakhstan. He returned to Lithuania, but with a ban on working in Vilnius, he settled in Miedniki.

 After Lithuania regained its independence, he immediately solicited for the regaining of the Franciscan monastery and church to the state and church authorities. He lived to see the arrival of the young Lithuanian Franciscans from the province of Gdansk (in 1995).

In May 1998, the Lithuanian authorities have returned and made over the church to the Franciscans, 15th August, 1999 the bishop Jonas Boruta, the then Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Vilnius, consecrated a temple. Less than a year later, on 14th March, 1999 Father Kamil died in Vilnius at the age of 89.

Unfortunately, despite the efforts to return to the order the adjacent buildings of the monastery, the monastery was not returned to the Franciscan fathers simultaneously with the return of the temple. The monastery already had the new owners…

The history of the appropriation of the monastery buildings began when, nationalized in the Soviet times, monastery property has been made over to the  Board of Trade Unions, and the board has permitted the Associations of Technical Sciences of Lithuania to use the property. During the so-called revival (lit.Atgimimas), which was during the years before regaining the independence, during the next congress of Associations of Technical Sciences of Lithuania, the organization was renamed the Lithuanian Association of Science and Technology Associations (LASNT), and thus it waived its submission to the Soviet organizations.

In 1991 LASNT – along with other legal entities – has signed the founding agreement of the company Mokslo ir technikos rūmai (The Chamber of Science and Technology). Under this agreement, the shares of the established company were paid with non-cash contribution – monastic buildings, which the association couldn’t formally have at its disposal, because the property belonged to the state.

In July 2004, the Order of Friars Minor Conventual requested the court to cancel the registration of the monastery buildings on the name of the Pranciškonų rūmai (Palace of the Franciscans), which was made ​​in 1994 and to make over the buildings to the Lithuanian government.  Last week, after many extremely cumbersome court vicissitudes, the Supreme Court of Lithuania has announced the final and indisputable verdict: the buildings must return to the state.

“According to the restitution of property, the Lithuanian government should give the buildings back to the order. We have to hope and wait” – said Father Marek Dettlaff .

Father Dettlaff did not want to talk about the plans of the Order concerning the monastic buildings. “It is too soon to talk about it. If the buildings are made over, we’ll talk about our plans”. For now, the Franciscans are renovating the temple, which was one of the most devastated by the Soviets religious buildings in Vilnius, laboriously and with extraordinary commitment.

The Franciscan monastery has an area of ​​about 6 thousand square meters. Currently, more than half of the building is renovated, the rest needs renovating. In Soviet times, monastery buildings, alike other church buildings, functioned as warehouses.

Open: Mass 17:30 (Lithuanian), 19:00 (Polish), Sun 10:00 (Lithuanian), 11:30 (Polish), 13:00 (Polish).

Address: Trakų 9-1, Vilnius.

Phone:  (+370) 5 261 42 42

Religious Tourism

Photo Maksym Strykhar /Religious Tourism