It is thought that the first cathedral of Vilnius may have been built on this site at the time of Mindaugas’s Christianisation. Later it was converted into the Perkūnas temple. However, there is no reliable evidence of this fact. In the 13th century, a square defensive tower of the Lower Castle built for the protection of the gate stood on the site of the present belfry. Despite various historical calamities, almost the entire ground floor of the tower survived underground. It is one of the earliest masonry structures in Lithuania.
In 1387, as the Christianisation of Lithuania took place, Vilnius diocese with the Cathedral was established in Vilnius. The Cathedral building had a simple square plan and a tower on the western side. The Cathedral was approximately three times smaller than the present one. In the second half of the 14th century, a round upward tapering tower was built on the remains of the defensive tower. Loopholes were set up on the second and third floors. Like today, it could be accessed through an entrance on the first floor from the side of the courtyard.
What was the original purpose of the cathedral crypts?
The tower adjacent to the cathedral became a bell tower in the 16th century. What was its previous function?
The treasury of Vilnius Cathedral was discovered in the cathedral in 1985. The discovery was:
St. Archangel Michael`s Church is a mausoleum of a famous noble family of the Grand Dutchy of Lithuania. What is the name of this family?
Our website uses cookies. We use these cookies for statistical and marketing purposes.
If you consent to the use of these cookies, please click “accept” and continue browsing our website.
Our request form uses Google Recaptcha which helps us distinguish you from online robots sending us spam messages.
Thus to ensure the functioning of this request form, you have to click "accept performance cookies".
You can select which cookies are to be accepted.
Find out more about our Cookies and Privacy Policy.
Functionality (necessary) cookiesThese cookies are essential to the functioning of the website and they cannot be disabled. They do not store any personally identifiable information and are deleted once you leave the website. |
|
Performance CookiesThese cookies are used to measure the use of the website and traffic sources in order to gain information required to improve the functioning of the website. These cookies help us to determine which pages are the most popular and to learn about the users’ browsing habits. To this end we use the Google Analytics statistical engine. We do not disclose any information we have collected. All information gathered is completely anonymous and cannot identify you personally. |
|
Marketing cookiesThese third-party cookies are used to display ads personalized to your needs. We use cookies that help us to collect information on your web surfing behaviour and allow us to learn about your interests so that we could display only those ads that are relevant to you. Leave this box unchecked if you do not want us to show you any advertising. |