Before becoming a Christian church and then a cathedral, this was the site of a pagan temple. The Baltic area was one of the last regions of Europe where Christianity spread which did not arrive until the early 13th century.
As I noticed in many of the churches in this region, there are multiple patron saints associated with the cathedral. It is often multiples of three as can be seen at the top of the cathedral entrance facade.
The original cathedral was built in 1251 by Grand Duke Mindaugas and was repaired and rebuilt after fires several times over the centuries. This was the main parish of the grand dukes and it was location of the coronations of the grand dukes of Lithuania.
The church was constructed in a mixture of styles - mostly Romanesque and Gothic.
Despite being closed by the Soviets in the 1950s as a church, the building was used as a portrait gallery and concert hall. The organ was used for the concerts and saved from destruction. However, the frescoes on the walls were painted over and destroyed.
When the church was returned to the Catholics in 1989, paintings were brought into the church when the frescoes could not be recovered.
On August 23, 1989, over two million patriots from Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia joined their hands and formed a chain of humans more than 400 miles in length across all Baltic States from Vilnius to Riga to Tallinn. The block above marks the location of where the chain began - in the square outside of the cathedral.
What a wonderful tribute, joining hands across 400 miles to join, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia together. Odd they used a footprint instead of hands in the plaque.
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