Tytuvėnų bernardinų vienuolynas, Tytuvėnai

Bernardine monastery in citations - a former monastery complex belonging to the Bernardine Order, in citations.

The monastery founded in 1613 the ensign of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Samogitian staroste Andrzej Wołłowicz. The construction of residential facilities for religious and the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary lasted from 1614 to 1639 under the direction of Tomasz Kasper from Vilnius. The monastery church is a three -nave basilica covered with a high roof, with a semi -circular presbytery. The appearance of the temple changed seriously in the years 1759–1783, when it was added to two three -storey towers topped with baroque helmets, with a volute peak connecting both constructions. In addition, in the years 1771-1773 a porch was also added to the church. The naves of the temple are hidden by cross vaults, while the presbytery - a star vault.

The decor of the monastery is baroque. In the interior of the church, a set of altars, the organ prospectus of 1789 and the pulpit, survived. In the altar and on the walls of the temple there were paintings of Italian authors and portraits of the founders of the monastery and other representatives of the local nobility. The main altar was placed the figure of the Mother of God and the Child.

A founder was buried in the monastery in the citations, in which the knight's figure has survived, which makes him one of the original tomb monuments in Lithuania. Other members of the Wołłowicz family were hidden in the basement of the church. Among the other graves preserved in the monastery there is the tombstone of Krzysztof and Andrzej Kotowski, Princess Anna Drucki-Horska, Marshal Michał Steckiewicz and Antoni Burba.

A two -story residential building with the goals of religious, forming a closed four -handed man with a courtyard, is connected with the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary. A painting decoration has survived on the first floor of the monastery. The second, larger courtyard was in front of the entrance to the monastery church. In the years 1772-1779 he was surrounded by the Arkadowa Gallery, in which the Way of the Cross stations were then set up, while in 1824 frescoes of M. Sobolewski appeared on its vaults. In the central place of the courtyard in 1775 a chapel of the Passion was built, erected on a rectangular plan, with a richly decorated front and four -sided tower. On the floor of the tower there was an altar of the chapel, to which the holy stairs lead.

The Bernardine monastery operated until 1864 when it was closed by the Russian authorities. The monastery church still acted as parish.

In 1923, the church was renovated after the damage he suffered during World War I. Further conservation works took place between 1970 and 1973.