Architecture Values

St. Ludvick's Church. The first time Alytus as the township was mentioned in the Jonas Zabžezinskis writing in 1524 where he says that he gives the capital for the Alytus church establishment. The church was built in the same year. The first wooden church was called St. Jonas Baptist church, The Virgin Maria Assumption church and St. Nicola’s church. After the church burnt, in 1818 a new stone church in classical style was built next to the old church. In the honour of the priest Liudvikas Kaminskas, the initiator of the construction, the church was sacred to the memory of St. Louis. Today this is the oldest church of Alytus that still has a ringing XVII century found bell. A canvas of St. Ludvick's painted in XIX century also remained to this day.

Photographer Aleksandras Lisinas

The St. Guardian Angels' Church was built in 1830 replacing St. Ann’s chapel that was there already in XVII century. The present-day interior of the church contains neobaroque elements and it is very colourful and palatial, having sacramental articles of values. 114 volunteers who died for Lithuanian’s Independence are buried in the churchyard. Antanas Juozapavičius, the first officer who was killed by Bolshevik bullet on the Alytus Bridge, the teacher Juozas Bloznelis, beaten by the Polish Army, and other Lithuanian and Alytus men of merit are buried among them. Vytautas Kasuba is the sculptor of one of the gravestones in the churchyard.

Photographer  Zita Stankevičienė

St. Casimir's Church  was always the prayer meeting place for the army. In the beginning of the XX century there was Pakrovskaya church was there and czar’s Russia soldiers based in Alytus used to come there. After the end of WW I the Slavic church was reconstructed into the Catholic church, dedicated to St. Casimir and became Garrison church for uhlans living next to it. During the Soviet time a salt warehouse was in the church, later an engineering factory work club was formed there. The church was returned to church goers in the years of the Lithuanian revival.

Photographer Zenonas Bulgakovas

St. Mary Christians' Aid Church  is the newest church, started to be built in 1991. The church is of traditional Scandinavian church style.

Photographer: Zenonas Bulgavovas, Zenonas Šilinskas.

St. Mary’s Accepting to the Heaven Church in Pivašiūnai was built in 1825. Pivašiūnai is famous for its Assumption feast that takes place the whole week in August. The center of the feast is a wooden church with its miraculous painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the central altar, decorated with silver, crowned with a gift from the Pope John Paul II and granted the title of the Blessed Virgin Mary Comfort of the Sorrowful. The painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Pivasiunai equals to the painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Mercy of Ausros Vartai (the Gates of Dawn) with its age, artistry of painting and miraculous healing power. There is a walk round altar, rare in Lithuania. There are 15 wooden sculptures painted in white and decorated with gold.

Photographer  Mindaugas Šematulskis

St. Trinity’s Church in Alovė was built in 1802. It has classicism and baroque elements. The church is rectangular with apse on three walls, four pillars portico, sacristy, triangular pediment and a cross on the roof. The interior is divided into three naves by angular pillars. The arch of the inside nave is cylindrical. A wooden belfry stands next to the church.

Photographers: Aleksandras Lisinas, Mindaugas Šematulskis.

The cornerstone of the Sacred Saviour's Church in Butrimonys, built from the stone and brick work, was sanctified in 1906. However, the beginning of the First World War made an end to the construction works. The massive church with one tower was completed only in 1926. It has some elements of the Romanesque style. The church owns several valuable works of painting and folk art of the first half of the 19th century.

Photographers: Aleksandras Lisinas, Mindaugas Šematulskis.

Providential Church in Daugai was built of stone in 1858-1862 after the old church burned. The church contains modified gothic, classicism and baroque elements, and valuable works of art. The church itself is without tower therefore a belfry is built nearby.

Photographers: Zenonas Bulgakovas, Aleksandras Lisinas, Birutė Malaškevičiūtė, Mindaugas Šematulskis.

St. Transfiguration Church in Krokialaukis built in 1872. The bishop Antanas Baranauskas consecrated the church after twenty-seven years. The church has two towers with a lower rectangular apse and sacristies next to it, three altars. The churchyard fence is wooden decorated with stone poles.

Photographer  Mindaugas Šematulskis

St. Trinity’s Church in Miroslavas has a rich prehistory. The first wooden Miroslavas church built in 1763 burned when struck by the lightening in 1835. A new stone church was built in 1847 but it was totally ruined during the World War I. The church was rebuilt in four years – construction ended in 1921. Modernized elements of romantic architecture, neobaroque and neoclassicism forms are characteristic to this church.

Photographers: Aleksandras Lisinas, Mindaugas Šematulskis.

St. Mary’s Birth Church in Nemunaitis is one of the most beautiful in Lithuania. The stone church contains elements of neogothic, has a high tower and side turrets, the interior is of three naves, vaulted. The churchyard is decorated with arched gates and roadside poles with statuettes of saints. The first wooden church in Nemunaitis was built in 1625-1626. The priest Feliksas Baltuška took care of the present church construction. In 1930 the parson Adalbertas Vaitiekus Želnys set up the Lourdes grotto in the churchyard.

Photographers: Zenonas Bulgakovas, Aleksandras Lisinas, Birutė Malaškevičiūtė.

St. Apostle Jacob’s Church in Punia built in 1863 instead of the old church burnt six years ago. Its architecture is a combination of baroque and classicism styles. The first church in Punia built in 1425; supposedly, in the place where the stone chapel built to retain the memory of 1831 rebels stands now. People tell that Vytautas Magnus ordered to build the church, thus in remembrance of him the portrait of this duke hangs there till now.

Photographers: Aleksandras Lisinas, Mindaugas Šematulskis.

St. Trinitys Church in Rumbonys was built in 1795. A small wooden church has elements of folk architecture and classicism, rectangular, has no tower, a hall with six pillars portico. A sculptor Kazys Kriščiukaitis and a painter Antanas Žmuidzinavičius decorated the church in 1913. People notice that this church reminds of a small wooden copy of the Arch cathedral of Vilnius.
One may see a white marble gravestone on the grave of the count’s daughter Juzefa Korevaitė in the Rumbonys village cemetery. This gravestone is a listed a work of art. Till now we have knowledge that a famous Warsaw sculptor Pijus Velionskis created this gravestone looking at the photograph of Juzefa who died in 1908. Not far from there one can climb Rumbonys mound from where an underground tunnel led to Punia mound on the other bank of the Nemunas River, according to legend.

Photographers: Zenonas Bulgakovas, Aleksandras Lisinas, Mindaugas Šematulskis.

St. Mary’s Accepting to the Heaven Church in Simnas was built in 1520. It is the only renaissance basilica church of cross layout in Lithuania. Simnas was found near the lakes of Simnas and Giluitis in XVI century. Nowadays the historic downtown is a listed urban monument.

Photographer Lena Valentaitė Gudzinevičienė

It was built in 1929. The church is made of wood and has the shape of a traditional residential house.
Foto Lena Valentaitė 

The Church of Sacred Heart of Jesus in Ūdrija was built in 1924. A church that stood here before has burned. A monument 'For killed and scattered children of the motherland in 1945-1990', representing pieta, stands next to the Church.

Photographers: Birutė Malaškevičiūtė, Mindaugas Šematulskis.

The House with Lions (Vilniaus str. 27). This residential house owes its name to figures of lions that adorn its steps. It was built in 1911 and belonged to lawyer Mendelis Bokšickis, a prominent public figure in interwar Alytus. His son Saadia Bahat, a famous Israeli artist, was born in this house. When the Second World War broke out, Bokšickis and his family ended up in the Vilnius ghetto. It is not known what happened to him afterwards. His daughter Lilė was saved by Lithuanians and his son also managed to escape. In 1944-53, Lithuanian independence fighters were imprisoned and tortured in this house.
Foto Birutė Malaškevičiūtė 

The former New York Hotel (Rotušės sq. 14). This was built in 1933 and was the most modern hotel in Alytus at the time: the first floor had a canteen and the second had excellent rooms and a bath.
Foto Lena Valentaitė

Riflemen’s House (S. Dariaus ir S. Girėno str. 10). Construction of the modern, spacious Riflemen’s House was completed in 1938. It was named after Antanas Juozapavičius, the first military officer to be killed in the Wars of Independence, and was popularly called Kurhaus. The first floor had a large hall with a stage, a lobby with a canteen and a porch with a restaurant.. Jazz was played there in the evenings. The second floor was occupied by the riflemen’s club and a museum dedicated to Juozapavičius. The basement had an exercise area. During the Soviet period, the building was used as a cultural centre. It was given back to Alytus Riflemen’s Union after the Restoration of Independence.
Foto Giedrius Bernatavičius 

Zimavičienė masonry (Vilniaus str. 10). One of the most famous interwar buildings of the city is Zimavičienė stonework. This was the first three-storey building (construction started in 1931) in interwar Alytus. Partway through the construction Kostas Zimavičius passed away and his wife Adelė Zimavičienė took over further construction affairs. When in 1932 the works were completed, the residents of Alytus named it Zimavičienė masonry. In a year’s time, having fully equipped the house, the owner leased the rooms in the building to workshops and societies. The city authorities offered to set up a modern hotel on one of the floors, because it felt that Alytus was lacking in this area, however the owner rejected the offer. After the 22 June 1941 bomb attack of the eastern Germans, the building remarkably remained intact. The bomb that hit it broke through the roof, crushed the ceilings, but did not explode. After the war the building was restored and still remains until our days.
Foto Birutė Malaškevičiūtė  

The Green Gymnasium (S. Dariaus ir S. Girėno str. 27). The first gymnasium in Alytus was established in 1919 without its own building. In 1925, a new building was completed and opened its doors – contractors from Kaunas won an open competition and erected it using materials from the former military barracks that once belonged to the Tsar. Today it is home to the School of Fine Crafts. The school carries out educational activities and also has a shop of students’ works.
Foto Lena Valentaitė 

The former Kapitol Cinema (Vilniaus str. 13, 2nd floor) opened its doors in 1929. There was a residential area on the first floor and a cinema auditorium on the second. After the Second World War, the building was home to several organisations and a butcher’s shop. In 1993-2003, it hosted an exhibition dedicated to pilots S. Darius and S. Girėnas.
Foto Giedrius Bernatavičius 

A redbrick chapel of overpowering beauty stands on a hill in Bukaučiškės village, a little way from the south bank of the Didžiulis Lake. Supposedly, the construction of the romantic style chapel with neogothic elements was finished in the middle of XIX century. At first it was a manor house chapel therefore sepulchres to bury landowners were settled in the charnel house of the chapel. A lime tree-lined path led from this chapel to the manor house. According to the story, lots of maples grew on the hill until the chapel was built and storks made their nests there – they were guardians of the holy air staircase that led to the heaven. People believed that only souls of honest people could get there.

Photographer Mindaugas Šematulskis

The Raižiai village is known as Tartarian living place since XVI century. There was a Lithuanian Muslim centre before the World War II. The wooden mosque of Raižiai built in 1889 was the only one functioning during the Soviet period. In 2010 a monument to Grand Duke Vytautas was built, noting the 400th anniversary of Battle of Grunwald. Near Raižiai mosque, there are also two sundials showing local ant Battle times.

Photographers: Aleksandras Lisinas, Mindaugas Šematulskis.

The architectural ensemble of Kurnėnai School. A small school with a turret stands in the nice place by the Alytus-Simnas road, between the Luksnėnai Lake and the Aniškis forest. It is the famous school of Kurnenai built in the beginning of the last century. Laurynas Radžiukynas who was born and grown up here financed the construction of it. People tell that he sent all the construction materials, as well as school desks, boards and even glass for windows from Chicago where he settled after graduating from Saint Petersburg higher educational institution. The masters of the Balkūnai village did all the work under the project of L. Radžiukynas. At that time it was a modern school with central heating and wind turbine to make electricity.

Photographers: Birutė Malaškevičiūtė, Mindaugas Šematulskis.

Alytus Synagogue was built in the beginning of the 20 century, operated until the Word War II. During the post-war period it was transformed into a warehouse of salt and manufacturing premises. Later an attempt was made to establish a workshop of electrograph, but the community of the city protested. At the moment the building is closed. Next to the Synagogue there is a former rabbi's house. These two buildings compose a complex.

Foto Zenonas Bulgakovas

Manor of Dapkiškės is situated in Dapkiškės village, Krokialaukis sub district, Alytus region. The Manor is the birth place of Simonas Konarskis (1808). The one was revolt member of 1831 year.