The Church of St. Peter and St. Paul (; ) is a Roman Catholic church located in the Antakalnis neighbourhood of Vilnius, Lithuania, designed and built by Jan Zaor of Kraków. It is the centerpiece of a former monastery complex of the Canons Regular of the Lateran. Its interior has masterful compositions of some 2,000 stucco figures by Giovanni Pietro Perti and ornamentation by Giovanni Maria Galli and is unique in Europe.Paknys (2011–2013) The church is considered a masterpiece of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Baroque. It was funded by Michał Kazimierz Pac, commemorating a victory over the Muscovites and their expulsion from Vilnius after six years of occupation.
History The foundation of the first church in this location is unknown, although, while digging the foundations for the present-day church, workers found a sculpture of an unknown knight. That inspired a legend that the first wooden church was founded by Petras Goštautas, a legendary ancestor of the Goštautai family, well before the official conversion of Lithuania to Christianity by Jogaila in 1387. More likely, the church was founded by Wojciech Tabor, Bishop of Vilnius (1492–1507). The wooden church burned down in 1594 but was rebuilt in 1609–16. In 1625, Bishop Eustachy Wołłowicz invited Canons Regular of the Lateran. Their new monastery was officially opened in November 1638. Bishop of Samogitia Jerzy Tyszkiewicz gifted a painting of Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy () to the church and the monastery. The painting was brought by Tyszkiewicz from Faenza, Italy around 1641–47, and depicts Our Lady of Graces, patron of Faenza. Even though it was not canonically crowned, it was covered in silver riza and attracted votive offerings.
During the wars with Russia in 1655–61, the monastery was burned down and the church was destroyed. The construction of the new church was commissioned by the Great Lithuanian Hetman and Voivode of Vilnius Michał Kazimierz Pac. It is said that Pac was inspired to rebuild the church after a 1662 incident when he hid in its ruins and thus narrowly escaped death from mutinous soldiers who later killed Wincenty Korwin Gosiewski, Field Hetman of Lithuania, and Kazimierz Żeromski.Kviklys (1985), p. 317 Before this project, Pac, having made only a couple relatively minor donations to Bernardines in Vilnius and Jesuits in Druskininkai, was not known as a patron of the church or the arts.Vaišvilaitė (2001), p. 28 Pac, who never married, envisioned that the church would become a mausoleum for the Pac family. The construction works started on 29 June 1668 (the day of the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul) under the supervision and according to design of Jan Zaor from Kraków and finished in 1676 by Giovanni Battista Frediani. Pac brought Italian masters Giovanni Pietro Perti and Giovanni Maria Galli for interior decoration. Perti and Galli abundantly decorated the interior of the church with white stucco moldings, some of which were innovative artworks even by at the time Italian standards. The works were interrupted by the founder's death in 1682. According to his last wishes, Pac was buried beneath the doorstep of the main entrance with the Latin inscription Hic Jacet Pecator (here lies a sinner) on his tombstone. At the end of the 18th century, lightning hit the church, knocked down a sculpture which fell and fractured the tombstone; the incident inspired many rumors about Pac and his sins.Čaplinskas (2010), p. 188 The tombstone is now displayed on the right wall of the main entrance.
The church was finished by Pac's brother, Bishop of Samogitia Kazimierz Pac,Vaišvilaitė (2001), p. 30 and was consecrated in 1701, while the final decoration works were completed only in 1704. The construction of the church revitalized Antakalnis and attracted other nobles: Sapiehas who built Sapieha Palace and Słuszkos who built Slushko Palace. The interior of the church changed relatively little since that time. The major change was the loss of the main altar. The wooden altar was moved to the Catholic church in Daugai in 1766. The altar is now dominated by the Farewell of St. Peter and St. Paul, a large painting by Franciszek Smuglewicz, installed there in 1805. The interior was restored by Giovanni Beretti and Nicolae Piano from Milan in 1801–04. At the same time, a new pulpit imitating the ship of Saint Peter was installed. In 1864, as reprisal for the failed January Uprising, Mikhail Muravyov-Vilensky closed the monastery and converted its buildings into military barracks. There were plans to turn the church into an Eastern Orthodox church, but they never materialized. In 1901–05, the interior was restored again. The church acquired the boat-shaped chandelier and the new pipe organ with two manuals and 23 organ stops. The dome was damaged during World War II bombings, but was rebuilt true to its original design. When in 1956 Vilnius Cathedral was converted into an art museum by Soviet authorities, the silver sarcophagus with sacred relics of Saint Casimir was moved to the St. Peter and St. Paul's Church.Kviklys (1985), p. 326 The sarcophagus was returned to its place in 1989. Despite religious persecutions in the Soviet Union, extensive interior restoration was carried out in 1976–87.Vitkauskienė (2005)
Architecture Exterior
The church is located on a small hill near the Neris River and the former main road to Nemenčinė. It is part of a monastery complex that occupies approximately .Bielinis (1988), p. 77 The churchyard is surrounded by a thick high brick wall that has four small octagonal chapels.Kviklys (1985), p. 316 The churchyard used to have a small cemetery, but it was demolished in the 19th century. The church is a 17th-century basilica with a traditional cross floor plan and a dome with a lantern allowing extra light into its white interior. However, the dome is lowered and is visible only from a distance. The exterior was copied from the parish church of Tarłów, built in 1645–55 and most likely designed by the same architect Jan Zaor.Čerbulėnas (1994), p. 104 The facade is of heavy proportions. It is divided by a prominent balcony, freestanding columns (used for the first time in Lithuanian ecclesiastical architecture), windows, and cornices. The central facade is framed by two bell towers that are circular at the bottom and octagonal at the top. Two brass bells, in height, survive from 1668.Bielinis (1988), pp. 86–87
The double broken pediment has a relief of Mary standing on a cannon, flags, and other military attributes. Below the relief, Latin inscription reads REGINA PACIS FUNDA NOS IN PACE (Queen of Peace, protect us in peace) and reflects the intentions of the founder Pac and is a word play on his last name. Further below is the main portal. Surrounded by two puttos holding papal tiara (symbol of Saint Peter) and a sword (symbol of Saint Paul), there is a large cartouche with Pac's coat of arms Gosdawa. Two terracotta sculptures depicting Saint Augustine (patron saint of Canons Regular of the Lateran) and Stanisław Kazimierczyk (Polish member of Canons Regular) were created in 1674. They measure in height.Bielinis (1988), p. 80 There were many more sculptures on the front and back of the church, but they did not survive.Bielinis (1988), p. 84 The facade was also decorated with a painting depicting Virgin of Mercy protecting people from the plague of 1710 in Vilnius. Imagery of Mary holding broken arrows of god's wrath was borrowed from the painting of Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy that hangs inside the church. Created in 1761, it was restored at least five times and lost its original features. After the last restoration in 2000, it was moved inside the church.
Interior Decor and central nave
St. Peter and St. Paul's is one of the most studied churches in Lithuania. Its interior has over 2,000 different decor elements that creates a stunning atmosphere. The main author of the decor plan is not known. It could be the founder Pac, monks of the Lateran, or Italian artists. No documents survive to explain the ideas behind the decorations, therefore various art historians attempted to find one central theme: Pac's life and Polish–Lithuanian relations, teachings of Saint Augustine, Baroque theater, etc.Vaišvilaitė (2001), p. 27 Art historian Birutė Rūta Vitkauskienė identified several main themes of the decor: structure of the Church as proclaimed at the Council of Trent with Saint Peter as the founding rock, early Christian martyrs representing Pac's interest in knighthood and ladyship, themes relevant to the Canons Regular of the Lateran, and themes inherited from previous churches (painting of Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy and altar of Five Wounds of Christ).Vaišvilaitė (2001), p. 34 The decor combines a great variety of symbols, from local (patron of Vilnius Saint Christopher) to Italian saints (Fidelis of Como),Samuolienė (2001), p. 35 from specific saints to allegories of virtues. There are many decorative elements – floral (acanthus, sunflowers, rues, fruits), various objects (military weapons, household tools, liturgical implements, shells, ribbons), figures (puttos, angels, soldiers), fantastical creatures (demons, dragons, centaurs), Pac's coat of arms, masks making various expressions – but they are individualized, rarely repeating.Bielinis (1988), pp. 82–83 The architects and sculptors borrowed ideas from other churches in Poland (Saints Peter and Paul Church, Kraków, Sigismund's Chapel of Wawel Cathedral) and Italy (St. Peter's Basilica, Church of the Gesù).
The main entrance is flanked by two large sculptures of Saint Christopher carrying baby Jesus and a skeleton (grim reaper with a cloak and a large scythe) standing on crowns and other symbols of power. Saint Christopher is a protector, but death is still awaits everyone equally and Christians should prepare for it. The vestibule also has a scene of Last Judgment with various monsters and demons. The left side of the vestibule has a small room used as baptistery, while the right has a room for wakes. The latter has a scene of Pilate's court that thematically starts the Stations of the Cross. The colorful stations hang in the central nave and lead to the Altar of the Five Wounds of Christ.
The central nave is decorated with evenly spaced sculptures of the twelve apostles. It also has a number of torture scenes from the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. These martyrs include Saint Sebastian, knights Saint George and Martin of Tours, Saint Maurice and the Theban Legion, Fidelis of Como and Victor Maurus. However, they are not immediately visible as they are placed in niches. Therefore, the nave is dominated by plain white walls that contrast with the opulent decorations elsewhere. From the central nave, the entrance to each of the four chapels has two allegorical female figures, representing eight Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount and created according to the iconography of Cesare Ripa. Their placement above the entrance arch is very similar to the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo.Vaišvilaitė (2001), p. 33 However, they are not depicted in order but rearranged so that they would better reflect the themes of the chapels.Samuolienė (2001), p. 39
Chapels and side altars