Greek-rite Catholics
The Ecclesiastical Union of Brest of 1596 meant synthesis of the two oldest Christian religions; it recognized the primacy of the Roman Pope and the most essential doctrines of Catholicism while preserving the special liturgy and traditions that had evolved over 500 years and the native Ukrainian language of the Kiev Church. Greek Catholics according to numbers and influence most likely became the second confessional group in Vilnius and the entire Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and Vilnius became the most important Uniate religious center. From 1609 on the monastery and Church of the Holy Trinity became the most important Uniate cultural site. The Greek Catholic metropolitan resided here and the Basilian Order was established here in 1617. Famous Baroque architect J. K. Glaubitz was in charge of reconstruction workafter the fire of 1760 ravaged much of the complex.
Russian Old Believers
Among the different Russian confessional groups, there were Old Believers in Vilnius. In the late 17th and 18th centuries they left Russia for the Lithuanian Grand Duchy, fleeing religious persecution and societal censure. From 1883 to 1905 Old Believers built the Holiest Mother of God Intercessor Church of Russian and neo-Classical style in Vilnius.
Protestant Evangelicals
Protestant Evangelical church in Vilnius is considered one of the purest examples of Neo-Classicist architecture. The church was built from 1830 to 1835 to plans by Lithuania’s Late Classicist architect Karol Podchashinsky. The most decorative and noblest exterior element is the portico of Corinthian columns in the main façade. It is interesting that, just as with the Vilnius Cathedral, three sculptures stood above the triangular fronton of the portico. The Protestant church on Pylimo street is also known among Vilnius residents by the name “Kronika”, which was the title of a movie theater set up inside the church during the Soviet period.
Judaic City
Individual Jews began to settle in Vilnius in the late 16th century. In 1633 the community received legal permission from the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Wladyslaw Vasa to settle in the area of Žydų, Mėsinių, Šv. Mikalojaus and Vokiečių streets. In 1742 Jews were allowed to live anywhere in the city except for two main streets, from the Gates of Dawn to the Castle, and from Trakai Gate to St. John’s Church. (03-2) This regulation was renewed by Tsarist authorities and was in force until 1861. The Vilnius Jewish community was very diverse, ranging from world-famous religious authorities to the majority of extremely impoverished groups.
Poles in Vilnius
Many Polish cultural, academic and political figures are associated with Vilnius (Wilno). Between the two world wars Nobel Prize-winning writer and honorary citizen of Vilnius Czesław Miłosz took his first creative steps; the heart of Józef Piłsudski is buried near the entrance of Rossa cemetery in Vilnius. The theater in the former Pohulanka (now J. Basanavičius street) occupies an important place in Polish cultural history. In the interwar period masters of Polish dramaturgy worked here, including Juliusz Osterwa and Aleksander Zelwerowicz, and future starlets debuted, including Hanka Ordonowa and Hanka Bielicka. Modernist buildings at Gedimino avenue 12, 14 and 18 were initiated and designed by Polish bankers, businesspeople and architects during the interwar period.
Ruthenian Peoples
By the 14th century the Ruthenian city, or Russkaya storona, had formed in Vilnius. Until the 16th century this part of the city had more Orthodox than other kinds of churches. Vilnius’s heritage of the Byzantine tradition, renowned throughout the Orthodox world, includes the figures from the 14th century of St. Anthony, St. John and St. Eustatius. The Gate of Dawn is associated with a nobleman of Ukrainian origin Konstanty Ostrohsky, and it is believed that his triumph over the Tatars in the Battle of Orsha was celebrated here. The father of Belarusian literature, called the Gutenberg of Vilnius, was Frantishek Skorina, who set up his first print shop here and in 1522 published the first book in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, “A Small Book of Travels” (in Ruthenian).
Germans in Vilnius
By the 14th century the Church of St. Nicholas (7-1) had come to be called the “traders’ church.” A topographically integrated center formed around it where the German community settled. Its history, especially that of its Lutheran German community (Deutsche Gemeinde) (7-2), occurred from the 16th to the 17th century. The cornerstone of the current church (7-3) was laid in 1739. The decoration of the interior of the church (7-4) was the work of foreign artisans and restoration work was entrusted to a member of this community, a German, and Vilnius’s main baroque architect, J. K. Glaubitz. His work was the basis for construction and reconstruction of churches of different confessional communities, including Orthodox churches, and the interior of the Great Synagogue of Vilnius.
Vilnius Tatars
The Gate of the Tatars was built in the defensive wall built around the city from 1503 to 1522 and lead towards the Tatar neighborhood of the city. It is believed Tatar soldiers were given the duty of guarding this city gate. Tatars lived in a neighborhood set aside for them in part of the Lukiškes suburb, called Tartaria. Tatars built a mosque in their neighborhood. There was a small cemetery next to it. In 1946 the mosque was nationalized and in 1958 the cemetery was closed. Both were bulldozed in 1968.
Gothic and Baroque Orthodox Churches
Vilnius is an ideal example of the melding of Byzantine and Catholic traditions. Only here will one find Gothic and Baroque Orthodox churches. A perfect example of this synthesis is the Purest Mother of God Church and the Church of the Holy Spirit (9-1). Lithuanian Grand Duke Algirdas’s wife Maria funded construction of the Purest Mother of God Church. It was built in the first half of the 14th century in the center of the Ruthenian district next to the river Vilnia. The Church of the Holy Spirit (1567) was the unofficial cathedral of Orthodox believers where the Metropolitan of Lithuania resided. After renovation in 1749-1753 (architect J.K. Glaubitz) the church became the only baroque Orthodox church in Lithuania. A wooden iconostasis (9-3) resembling a Catholic alter crowned the interior, under which there was built a crypt for the remains of the three martyrs who died for their faith in 1347, the Orthodox saints Anthony, John and Eustatius.
Karaïte Kenessa
The Karaïte community began to settle in Vilnius at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries when Karaïtes gradually began to move away from economically-depressed Trakai, Lithuania. The Karaïte house of prayer, the Kenessa, was built in Moorish style in the Žvėrynas neighborhood of Vilnius in 1911-1923. During the Soviet period Vilnius Kenessa was nationalized and was used for several different purposes. The Karaïte community only recovered their Kenessa after Lithuania restored her independence, and prayer resumed there in 1993.
Vilnius Libraries
The abundance of libraries serving different language groups in interwar Vilnius is strong testimony to the multiculturalism of Vilnius. The Vilnius University (then called the University of Stefan Batory) Library was the largest collection. Attorney Tadeusz Wróblevski left his book collection to the city in his will, and these formed the basis in 1926 for the Wróblevski Public Library (11-1). The Vilnius Association of the Friends of Science had the third-largest library (11-2). The Roman Catholic Seminary, YIVO, the Ortodox seminary, the Lithuanian Science Association and the Library of the Protestant Evangelical Synod all had large book collections, the last mentioned being the oldest library in Lithuania, established in 1557. The M. Strashun Jewish Public Library, the Russian Commercial Library of Syrkin and the Belarusian Science Association Library also operated (11-3). The Vilnius Esperanto Club had a large collection of publications as well.
Vilnius Periodicals
Lithuania’s first periodical was Kurjer Litewski (Lithuanian Courier) in Polish, begun in 1760 by Vilnius Jesuit Academy headmaster, historian and philosopher F. Poprocki. It presented news from the Polish-Lithuanian Republic and abroad as well as social news. From 1764 to 1793 the newspaper contained an insert called Gazety Wilenskie. In 1937 there were 114 newspapers and magazines being published in Vilnius, of which 74 were Polish, 16 Yiddish and Hebrew, 12 Belarusian, 9 Lithuanian and 3 Russian.
Interfaith and Interethnic Dialogue
It is certainly not possible to say that all pictures of assemblies in the city are tolerant. Many times religious and ethnic hatred has spilled over into city life, and often there is little knowledge of members of other communities because of apathy and willful ignorance. In 1933 the Jewish community erected a statue to honor Miecyslaw Dorzik, a trade school student who drowned during a flood while saving the life of Chatzkel Charmatz. Visitors to the “Republic of Užupis” in Vilnius encounter a border marker with inscriptions in Lithuanian, Russian, Yiddish and Polish, while the Republic of Užupis Constitution is provided in 8 languages.
Loss of Multicultural Heritage
Ethnic and confessional communities experienced extraordinary and traumatizing losses of identity and historical memory during the Soviet era. Assets of the Tatar, Karaïte, Belarusian and Jewish communities (houses of prayer, schools, libraries, hospitals, publishing enterprises, cemeteries) were nationalized, destroyed or completely bulldozed.
Compensating Losses
Many statues and memorial plaques marking the locations of former religious buildings, cemeteries and important cultural institutions have been erected in Vilnius over the last 20 years in an attempt to morally compensate for the damage done to the heritage of ethnic communities during the Soviet era and to make that heritage meaningful. The World Litvak Congress took place in Vilnius, and congresses of Vilnius and Vilnius area Poles who call themselves Wilniuki also take place in Vilnius. In 2009 European Heritage Days were dedicated to the heritage and recognition of Lithuanian ethnic and religious communities.
