Videniškiai

Videniškiai pond

According to a story recorded by Maciej Stryjkowski, Duke Daumantas (later confused with historical Daumantas of Pskov), son of Vidas from the legendary Palemonid dynasty, built a castle near Videniškiai. Historians attempted to identify it with the fortified Baltadvaris Castle located about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) west of Videniškiai. However, archaeological excavations disproved the notion.[13] It was likely built by Matas Giedraitis, Court Marshall of Lithuania, or his son Marcin, Voivode of Mstsislaw, in the mid-16th century. It was known as Mūriniai Videniškiai (Brick Videniškiai) and later as Baltadvaris (White Manor).[6]

The castle was mortgaged to cover the family's debts in 1630. In mid-17th century, the castle lost its strategic importance and became a residential manor. Surviving descriptions mention the main residential building with a splendid "golden" hall and a Renaissance garden.[14] However, the castle was increasingly neglected and gradually fell into ruins. It was gifted to the Congregation of the Mission based in Vilnius in 1695. The congregation did not turn the castle into a monastery, but used it to provide financial support to the monastery in Vilnius. Today, walls of the main castle barn and eastern gates, together with foundations and cellars, have survived.[13]

Church of Saint Lawrence and a memorial stone erected for the 650th anniversary of the village's founding

Interior of the former monastery

The first wooden church in Videniškiai was built by Matas Giedraitis in 1547–1549.[15] The church was named after the Holy Trinity and was attended by priests from the Dominican Church of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius.[6] His sons Marcin, Voivode of Mstsislaw, and Merkelis, Bishop of Samogitia, funded a new brick Church of St. Lawrence. Marcin also funded a monastery for the Canons Regular of Penitence of the Blessed Martyrs, an Augustinian order, which was completed in 1620.[15] Michał Giedroyć (died 1485) was a member of the Canons Regular of Penitence and was venerated for his piousness (he was officially beatified only in 2018).[16] The new monastery was financially supported by revenue from Videniškiai and other gifted land and serfs. A chapel with a crypt was added in 1631 to the monastery church to act as a mausoleum for the Giedroyć family.[15]

The first monastery was a small wooden structure that could house twelve monks, but it became a center of the Canons Regular of Penitence in Lithuania. From the very beginning, monastery's superior had the right to wear bishop's insignia (mitre and crosier).[15] The provincial superior and later superior general of the Canons Regular of Penitence was based in Videniškiai. The monastery had a novitiate and taught theology. In 1753, philosophy was taught by Michał Olszewski who also served as a vicar.[15] That year he published a Lithuanian-language collection of sermons Broma atwerta ing wiecznasti... (The Gate Open to Eternity) which became very popular and was reprinted at least sixteen more times.[17] The monastery also maintained a parish school (it possibly dates to 1600 when Merkelis Giedraitis left some sums for a school in his last will) and a rudimentary hospital/shelter for the sick and elderly (Lithuanian: špitolė).[15] The church had a choir which owned a separate house in the village.[6]

The church and the monastery were heavily damaged during the Second Northern War (1655–1660).[15] The church was reconsecrated in 1684. In 1750s, two-floor brick monastery building was added. It survives this day. The old wooden monastery buildings continued to house novitiate, refectory, kitchen. They were demolished in mid-19th century.[15] In 1783, Józef Kossakowski, Bishop of Livonia, received a papal bull from Pope Pius VI and seized the monastery and its land. Bishop of Vilnius Ignacy Jakub Massalski and the Canons Regular of Penitence sued and recovered the monastery and received cash compensation, but lost the land.[15] After the Uprising of 1831, Tsarist authorities closed all monasteries (except one in Vilnius) of the Canons Regular of Penitence in 1832.[18]

The monastery church became a parish church. The former monastery was used as a clergy house and, after World War II, as a school.[15] After Lithuania declared independence, the damaged and neglected building was returned to the parish. Extensive restoration works started in 1994 with financial support by, among others, Michal Giedroyc, a descendant of the Giedroyć family.[19] During the restoration, workers uncovered murals with portraits of monastery superiors. Originally, there were ten murals created c. 1762, but two were lost.[5][19] After the prolonged restoration, a museum was opened in the former monastery on 4 May 2015 (the 530th death anniversary of Michał Giedroyć).[19] The museum hosts educational workshops, including on candle and Christmas wafer making.[9] The church holds a special mass in honor of Michał Giedroyć on the 4th day of every month.[19]

The exterior of the church and monastery are reserved, without decorations.[15] The church presbytery has two epitaphs with relief figures that were installed in 1639. The figures are usually identified with the monastery founder Marcin Giedrojć and the first monastery superior Hippolit Rzepnicki, but it is possible that the second epitaph depicts Merkelis Giedraitis.[6] The original early 18th-century church pipe organ has not survived. It was reworked by Wacław Biernacki in the early 20th century but has retained the original casing which is one of the older surviving casings in Lithuania. The organ has five stops.[20]