Religious, Spiritual sights in Lithuania
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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…
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Kenessa
The peninsula itself is dotted with old wooden cottages, many built by the Karaites, a Judaic sect and Turkic minority originating in Baghdad, which adheres to the Law of Moses.
Their descendants - some 380 families - were brought to Trakai from the Crimea around 1400 to serve as bodyguards. Only 12 families (60 Karaites) live in Trakai and their numbers - 280 in Lithuania - are dwindling rapidly, prompting fears that the country's smallest ethnic minority is dying out. Their beautifully restored early-19th-century Kenessa can be visited.
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Monastery
An alternative view of the Hill of Crosses is from inside the chapel of the modern brick Monastery. Home to 10 Franciscan monks, it was built behind the hill between 1997 and 2000 - allegedly upon the wishes of John Paul II who said he wished to see a place of prayer following after his visit in 1993.
Behind the altar in the church, the striking backdrop through the ceiling-to-floor window of the Hill of Crosses in place of a traditional crucifix is breathtaking; Italian architect Angelo Polesello designed it.
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Mary Queen of Peace Church
There is no higher spot from which to survey the city than atop the 46.5m tower of Klaipėda's Mary Queen of Peace Church. The enormous concrete church was built in 1957, shut by the Soviet authorities the moment it was complete in 1960 and used as a concert hall until 1988, when the church was reconsecrated and Mass celebrated for the first time. Book a visit through the tourist office.
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Orthodox Church of the Apparition
Vilnius' 19th-century New Town boasts a true European boulevard: Gedimino prospektas is a grand road with Vilnius Cathedral at one end and the silver-domed Orthodox Church of the Apparition at the other. Much of Gedimino becomes a pedestrian street outside working hours, when fashionable types flock here to see, be seen and peruse the sundry Western brands on display in the shop fronts.
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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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Russian Orthodox Church
The pretty, blue, multidomed Russian Orthodox Church in the middle of Laisvės square dates to the 19th century.
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St George's Church
St George's Church was built for the local Russian garrison in 1909 but is Catholic today.
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