Portable altar from the Vilnius church of St Peter and St Paul the Apostles

Straipsnyje trumpai pristatomas Penkių Kristaus Žaizdų brolijos procesijų altorėlis, saugomas Vilniaus Šv. apaštalų Petro ir Povilo bažnyčioje. Remiantis šios brolijos knygomis, straipsnyje pateikiami šio altoriaus užsakovai ir kūrinio sukūrimo laikas, kiti duomenys, taip pat atskleidžiami su šiuo dailės kūriniu susiję Vilniaus brolijos istorijos faktai.The article discusses the restored portable altar of the Five Holy Wounds of Christ that was presented in the exhibition, "Christianity in Lithuanian Art" and restored at the P. Cudynas Center for Restoration. This altar reflects the artistic heritage of the Vilnius fraternities and is distinguished by its plastic and painted qualities and is of special interest because of its patrons'. I his article covers the activity of the Fraternity of the Five Holy Wounds of Christ, the attributes of the fraternity including its clothing, the inventory owned and used by this church and the altar and its paintings (which were looked after by the fraternity). The paper uses the inventories of the Vilnius Church of St Peter and Paul the Apostles and the books of the fraternity as its references. The discussed portable double-sided altar of the Five Holy Wounds of Christ is distinguished by its artistic value. This altar has two paintings of the Wounds of Christ and Our Lady of Sorrow on both sides of which the kneeling figures of a man and woman are depicted. Making reference to the records of the books of the fraternity, the assessment is made that the members of the fraternity of the Five Holy Wounds of Christ are depicted in these paintings: in particular the image of Casimir Kieyc, who was the head of the fraternity at that time, and the image of his wife Kristina. They purchased this portable altar with their own resources for the procession to Trakai. The altar was gilded and contained two paintings and was carried for the first time to Trakai during the procession of the feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary, i.e. on the 7th of September in 1666. Later on, from 1668, the paintings of this altar were decorated with a silver setting. A record in the book of the fraternity is witness to the fact that on the 4th of June in 1733, just before the celebration of the Body of Christ, the portable altar painting of Our Lady of Sorrows was decorated with a new precious silver setting made by a professional Vilnius goldsmith. In 1750 a new wooden housing was created for this altar; consequently the images of the donators of the altars paintings were damaged during the process of trimming the edges of the canvas (by about 4 cm) to adjust them to fit the newly made frames. This object of art had one more major restoration in 1799. This original portable altar, ordered by the Vilnius Fraternity of the Five Holy Wounds of Christ and used in their devotional practice, is a reminder of the history of this fraternity. Moreover, it depicts the canvas's patrons and reflects the form of devotion and iconography that were specific to the Baroque culture of the 17th-18th centuries and spread throughout its fraternities