The Church of St. Johns (), officially named St. John the Baptist and St. John the Apostle and Evangelist (), is located at the Old Town of Vilnius, Lithuania and dominates the university (Vilnius University) ensemble. The church is dedicated to both John the Baptist and John the Evangelist. The church and its bell tower are prominent examples of the Vilnian Baroque, while its Baroque appearance was designed by architect Johann Christoph Glaubitz. The bell tower of the church with a height of is the tallest building of the Vilnius Old Town.
Since the times of the Jesuit Academy professors and students used to pray here, and Vilnius theologians gave sermons. It was a place for performances and disputes, where thesis were defended and monarchs greeted. Since the 16th century it serves as a venue for the Vilnius University diploma awarding ceremonies upon students graduation. The church services in the church are held only in Lithuanian language. The church is also used for concerts.
History
The beginning of the construction of the Church of St. Johns is associated with the Christianization of Lithuania. The first parish church – a Gothic masonry structure – was built between 1387 and 1426 at the intersection of the main streets of the Vilnius Old Town. Its construction was initiated by Lithuanian monarch Jogaila in 1386, however it was finished in 1426 under the rule of Lithuanian Grand Duke Vytautas the Great and was consecrated in 1427. Since its completion in the 15th century it served as the first parish church in Vilnius for townspeople and until the 19th century it remained the only parish church of Vilnius, excluding the city's suburbs that were springing up beyond the Wall of Vilnius. At the time the Vilnius Cathedral in the Vilnius Castle Complex was mostly dedicated to the Lithuanian monarchs and their courts. The church has basement crypts where people were buried in its walls since the early years of the church's establishment. In 1430, the first brotherhood operating in the church was mentioned in a written source whose members wanted to practice the spiritual life more actively and interact with one another. Towards the end of the 15th century, other early profession guilds (e.g. goldsmiths, barbers, and tailors) also established themselves in the church and they built their own chapels with dedicated altars where they gathered regularly for worship, which were conducted by specific priests assigned to these separate chapels. The church burned down in the 15th century and again in 1530. It was rebuilt after each fire, eventually becoming a key epicenter of the struggles between the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation in the mid-16th century, during the tenure of the prominent jurist Petras Rozijus.Petras Roizijus
Walerian Protasewicz, Bishop of Vilnius, invited the Jesuits to Vilnius where they arrived in 1569 and established a college. In 1571, the Church of St. Johns was transferred by Sigismund II Augustus, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, to the Jesuits College, which later in 1579 was transformed into a Jesuits Academy of Vilnius (currently Vilnius University).Vladas Drėma. Dingęs Vilnius. Vilnius: Vaga, 1991. ISBN 5-415-00366-5, p. 219-222. Moreover, in 1571 a clay-rich plot near Riešė was allocated to the Jesuits for the establishment of a brickyard to supply the church reconstruction project. Although the building's fundamental Gothic architecture was preserved during the rebuilding, its overall volume changed significantly as the church was extended towards what is now St. John's Street. To adapt the space for the Jesuit Order's solemn academic and religious ceremonies, a new, wide presbytery featuring an ambulatory (a passageway circling the high altar) and a three-sided apse was constructed. After the reconstruction the church was continued to be used for religious purposes as prominent Jesuits: Piotr Skarga, Žygimantas Liauksminas, Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski, Albert Wijuk Kojałowicz, Konstantinas Sirvydas, Antanas Skorulskis preached sermons there. However, since 1579 the church was also used by academics as in it were held students debates, thesis defense, diploma awarding ceremonies, and theatrical performances were staged. In 1583, the first doctoral titles of the Vilnius Academy were awarded in a ceremonial event to Spaniards G. Alabian and A. Arias. In 1584, the first academic degrees (bachelor) in philosophy of the Vilnius Academy were awarded to six graduates. The Church of St. Johns was visited by monarchs of Lithuania and Poland (e.g. Stephen Báthory, Sigismund III Vasa, while Władysław IV Vasa and his sister Anna in July 1636 attended the awarding ceremony of doctoral title to Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski and during it Vasa himself awarded the doctoral ring to Sarbiewski).
In 1600–1610, a bell tower was constructed nearby the church and with a height of it is the tallest building in the Vilnius Old Town.
The Church of St. Johns suffered damage in 1655 during the war with Muscovy, when its vaults collapsed, but the building was soon repaired. In 1700, the organ loft was reconstructed and a new organ was acquired. In 1702, the Swedish Imperial Army stole silver liturgical vessels from the church.
In 1737, the Church of St. Johns burned down and its bells melted. During the reconstruction, the façade and pediment gained Late Baroque architecture forms. The bell tower was raised in height following the 1737 fire. Fires in the city of Vilnius prompted the architect Johann Christoph Glaubitz to create a major reconstruction project for the sanctuary, which fundamentally altered the building's original Gothic silhouette. Thanks to Glaubitz, the church's façade and pediment acquired the fluid, undulating forms that became the hallmark of the Vilnian Baroque. Together with the significantly heightened bell tower, the ensemble became a majestic vertical landmark of the Vilnius Old Town, symbolizing the triumph of scholarship and faith risen from the ashes within the university grounds.
Between 1743 and 1754, the artist Jonas Salmanas adorned the church's vaults and walls with monumental frescoes, creating a cohesive Baroque (sacred theater) effect that complemented the altar ensemble designed by Glaubitz. The church's reconstruction and decoration in 1756–1758 were overseen by the renowned Lithuanian Jesuit astronomer and architect Thomas Zebrowski, whose intellectual influence helped finalize the layout of the sanctuary's spaces. The church was decorated by brothers Jonas Hėdelis and Juozas Hėdelis; Jesuit sculptors M. Schick, J. Grym, and J. Kierner; painters J. Sahlman and F. Obst; and the carpenter I. Bartsch. Following the 1773 reforms by the Commission of National Education and the suppression of the Jesuit Order, the church officially became the property of the Vilnius University, firmly establishing its role as an academic and ceremonial space within the Vilnius Old Town.
The Church of St. Johns was used by the Lithuanian insurgents during the Vilnius Uprising of 1794 and Bishop of Wigry, Vilnius University professor Michał Franciszek Karpowicz delivered in the Lithuanian language a sermon devoted to the uprising there.
In 1827–1828, Polish–Lithuanian architect Karol Podczaszyński replaced the Gothic portal of the southern façade with a Classicist one. At that time, the high masonry wall separating the church and the bell tower from the street was demolished. During these renovations, the Baroque interior was altered, many frescoes were plastered over, and the altars situated by the columns were removed. Nearly 3,000 carts with splinters of altars, sculptures and stucco works were taken to a dump. Chapels suffered the least from Podczaszyński's renovations. In 1835, the Vilnian Saint Raphael Kalinowski was baptized in the church. In 1842, St. John's Church again became a parish church. Following the closure of certain Vilnius churches by order of the Tsarist authorities, some of their paintings, sculptures, and other furnishings were transferred to St. John's Church. Notably, in 1864, the altar of St. Victor was moved from the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the Chapel of St. Anne within St. John's Church. The composer Stanisław Moniuszko served as the organist at the church from 1840 to 1842. Repairs to the church were carried out in 1888–1889, and the bell tower underwent repairs in 1903. In the 19th century the church was visited by Simonas Daukantas, Adam Mickiewicz, Juliusz Słowacki. During most of the 19th century the church services in the church were held in Polish language. In 1913, it was also permitted to held church services in the church in the Lithuanian language, however during the Lithuanian church services Polish nationalists performed attacks (such attacks were condemned by parson T. Makarewicz).
During the World War I the church again suffered damage as three bells were removed from the church and taken further to the Russian Empire in 1915. In 1917, Imperial German Army soldiers looted the metal parts of the church's organ. Between 1940 and 1942, the church became renowned among Lithuanians for the patriotic sermons of Lithuanian priest Alfonsas Lipniūnas, however in 1943 the Nazis deported him to the Stutthof concentration camp.
The Church of St. Johns was closed in the summer of 1948. In 1949, over 5,000 books found in the church were transferred to the Books Palace, while its furnishings and art treasures were distributed among various organizations and the editorial office of the Soviet propaganda daily newspaper Tiesa. Some pieces of the church's furniture and paintings ended up in the Museum of History and Ethnography. A portion of the church's furnishings and other valuables was stolen; the organ was damaged, and the altars were defaced. A paper warehouse of the editorial office of the daily newspaper Tiesa was set up inside the church. Nevertheless, some of the church's valuables (e.g. sculptures) were moved to the church's basements and preserved there, which allowed their later restorations. In 1965, the church was officially transferred to the Vilnius University. Between 1964 and 1979 the church underwent restoration based on a design by Romanas Jaloveckas, during which the chapels and altars were refurbished, and wall painting compositions were uncovered in the central nave, the Chapel of St. Stanislaus Kostka, other chapels, and the Old Sacristy. In 1979, a Museum of Science with a dedicated exposition was established within the church and it was again opened to the public for visits.
In 1989, the frescoes in the Chapels of St. Anne and Mary, Mother of Consolation, were restored in 1989. In 1990, the church was returned to the faithful, and the parish was re-established. The church was consecrated on 11 October 1991. Priests from the Jesuit Order also returned to the church. On his visit to Lithuania in 1993, Pope John Paul II held a meeting with intellectuals in the church. The installation and consecration of the grand organ were completed in 2000. After the church was returned to the faithful, its first prefect was Jonas Algimantas Boruta, who subsequently became Bishop of Samogitia. Boruta was soon succeeded by priest Eitvydas Merkys, followed by Antanas Saulaitis, and subsequently by Leo Leise, Algis Baniulis, and Stasys Kazėnas. Since 2014, the church prefect and Vilnius University chaplain has been Vidmantas Šimkūnas. Almost since the church's reconsecration, the priests have been assisted in their pastoral work by the Sisters of the Eucharist and the long-serving sacristan Saulius Slankauskas. In the bell tower of the church a foucault pendulum was installed, proving that the Earth rotates on its axis.
In 2023, during the 2023 Vilnius NATO summit the American President Joe Biden delivered a twenty-minutes speech to the Lithuanians in front of the Church of St. Johns in the Grand Courtyard of Vilnius University.