Religious, Spiritual sights in Kaunas
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Pažaislis Monastery
This fine example of 17th-century baroque architecture is 9km east of the centre, near the shores of Kaunas Sea (Kauno marios), a large artificial lake created by damming the Nemunas.
The monastery church with its 50m-high cupola and sumptuous Venetian interior made from pink and black Polish marble is a sumptuous if shabby affair. Passing from Catholic to Orthodox to Catholic control, the monastery has a chequered history and was a psychiatric hospital for part of the Soviet era. Nuns inhabit it today. The best time to visit is between June and August during the Pažaislis Music Festival (www.pazaislis.lt). Take trolleybus 5, 9 or 12 to the terminus on Masiulio gatvė, a f…
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St Peter & St Paul's Cathedral
St Peter & St Paul's Cathedral with its single tower owes much to baroque reconstruction, especially inside, but the original 15th-century Gothic shape of its windows remains. It was probably founded by Vytautas around 1410 and now has nine altars. The tomb of Maironis stands outside the south wall.
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St Michael the Archangel Church
The Soviets turned the blue neo-Byzantine St Michael the Archangel Church, filling the skyline at the eastern end of Laisvės alėja, into a stained-glass museum. Built for the Russian Orthodox faith in 1895, the church was reopened to Catholic worshippers in 1991.
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St Gertrude Church
A gothic gem of a church is tucked in a courtyard off Laisvės alėja: St Gertrude Church was built in the late 15th century. Its red-brick crypt overflows with burning candles, prompting a separate candle shrine to be set up in a shed opposite the crypt entrance.
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Christ's Resurrection Basilica
Above the top funicular station at the Green Hill Funicular towers Christ's Resurrection Basilica, a huge piece of history that took 70 years to build. A Nazi paper warehouse and radio factory under the Soviets, the church was finally consecrated in 2004.
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Vytautas Church
Beyond the curious House of Perkūnas, on the bank of the Nemunas River, the Gothic-style Vytautas Church is made of the same 16th century red brick.
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St Francis Church
The square's southern side is dominated by the twin-towered St Francis Church, college and Jesuit monastery complex, built between 1666 and 1720.
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Holy Trinity Church
This late-Renaissance (1624-34), terracotta-roofed Holy Trinity Church fills the western side of Rotušės Aikštė.
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