Stonemasonry in Lithuanian churches

Straipsnyje nagrinėjami akmens mūro ypatumai Lietuvos bažnyčių architektūroje nuo seniausių laikų iki Pirmojo pasaulinio karo. Atskleidžiami akmens panaudojimo savitumai įvairiais stilistiniais laikotarpiais, estetiniai bruožai, paruošimo statyboms būdai, aptariamos atvežtinės medžiagos. Straipsnis parengtas vykdant Lietuvos mokslo tarybos remiamą projektą (sutarties nr. MIP – 15/2010)The aim of the article is to analyse stonemasonry in Lithuanian sacred buildings starting with the ancient times until the World War I, evaluating their aesthetic and technical features, variations and reasons for them. While looking for the data about the preparation and using of stone for building, old manuscripts and old treatises were read and Lithuanian churches researched. Local materials such as field boulders were initially used in building the churches. The tradition of imported materials came to Lithuania with the architecture of Renaissance which was brought by Italian artists, and later was spread in the Baroque architecture. In the second quarter of the 17th century, the walls of St. Casimir’s chapel in Vilnius cathedral and the plinth of St. Theresa church were bricked from the slabs of Swedish sandstone. In the second half of the 17th century from the sandstone were built the Big Gate and the windowsills of forestorium of Pažaislis monastery. The marble was used for commemorative tablets, keystones and interior decorations. The substructures of Gothic churches were mostly constructed from stones almost without using bricks. Shell construction was typical to superstructural capital walls. The shell was made of bricks and the interior of masonry consisted of boulders. In the middle of the 16–17th centuries less stones were used for masonry. In superstructural walls they are only in some places, but not consistently in interior masonry as in Gothic churches. In the second half of the 17th–18th centuries, under the dominance of the Baroque, the use of boulders in construction decreased. They were mostly used in substructures, but not for the walls. The only example in Baroque architecture, when stones performed an aesthetic function in facade, is the church of Dotnuva. Only in the first half of the 19th century, the aesthetic function of stones increased.[...]Menotyros katedraVytauto Didžiojo universiteta