Altorių kaita

LTPirmąją Veliuonos Švč. Mergelės Marijos Ėmimo į dangų, šv. apaštalų Petro ir Pauliaus titulo bažnyčią pastatė ir fundacija aprūpino Lietuvos didysis kunigaikštis Vytautas. Kartu su krikščionybe didysis kunigaikštis paskleidė Švč. Mergelės Marijos kultą. Kuklūs XV-XVI a. šaltiniai beveik nieko neatskleidžia apie to meto Veliuonos bažnyčios interjerą. Tačiau iš 1551 m. Martyno Mažvydo laiško Prūsijos hercogui Albrechtui žinoma, kad šventovė jau tuomet garsėjo Švč. Mergelės Marijos Ėmimo į dangų atlaidais, kuriuose lankydavosi net protestantai. Taigi bažnyčioje turėjo būti ir šio titulo altorius su atvaizdais. Veliuonos bažnyčios interjeras neaprašomas ir 1579 m. Tarkvinijaus Pekulo vizitacijoje, tik minima, kad yra tabernakulis, vienas altoriaus akmuo (portatilis), altoriaus dangalai ir liturginiai reikmenys. Panašu, kad tuo metu bažnyčioje tebuvo vienas altorius - Didysis Švč. Mergelės Marijos Ėmimo į dangų titulo. Gotikos laikais plito suveriami mediniai dėžiniai altoriai. Jame kaip pagrindinis atvaizdas galėjo stovėti „Veliuonos Madonos“ skulptūra (1500-1520 m.), atitinkanti tuometinę Švč. Mergelės Marijos Ėmimo į dangų (Assuntos) ikonografijos sampratą. 1635 m. senojoje medinėje Veliuonos bažnyčioje aprašyti jau trys altoriai: Didysis, Kristaus Kančios (Passionis Christi) ir Švč. Mergelės Marijos (?). Viename iš šoninių altorių įrengta krikštykla. Pastačius naują mūrinę šventovę, į ją buvo perkelti vertingiausi objektai: medinės zakristijos durys, tuometinio klebono Augustino Tugrovskio dovanota taurė, galbūt „Veliuonos Madonos“ ir triumfo arkos Nukryžiuotojo skulptūra su Švč. Mergelės Marijos ir šv. Jono evangelisto atvaizdais. [Iš straipsnio, p. 94]

ENThe current interior of the church in Veliuona reveals the consistent changes of the altars, equipment and sculptures, and the most important stages of development covering the 16th - 20th century. According to scarce sources, the first church in Veliuona, benefited by the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas, had the High altar of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The sculpture ‘Madonna of Veliuona’ could have stood in the Gothic altar as the main image. This wooden Gothic sculpture, carved in 1500-1520, is attributed to the Master of the Ferrymen through the Vistula altar from the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Elbląg, Prussia. In the old wooden church of Veliuona in 1635, three altars are mentioned: the High, the Passion of Christ (Passionis Christi), and the Blessed Virgin Mary (?). After the construction of the present brick church, the most valuable objects were moved from the old wooden church: the wooden sacristy doors (the fourth quarter of the 16th - beginning of the 17th century), ‘Madonna of Veliuona’, and possibly the Gothic Crucifix sculpture of the triumphal arch with images of Our Lady of Sorrows and St John the Evangelist. The current church of Veliuona, built 1635-1643, originally had three wooden altars and a pulpit, consecrated in 1644: the High altar of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and the side altars of the Annunciation and the Immaculate Conception. The altarpieces and sculptures of these altars honoured the heavenly patrons of the benefactors Albrecht Stanislaw Radziwiłł, his wife Anna Krystyna Lubomirska, and her father Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski. To date, survived the Mannerist-style pulpit, the altar of the Immaculate Conception of Blessed Virgin Mary, handed over to the filial chapel of Sutkai in the third quarter of the 18th century, and the so-called ‘Crucifix of Jurbarkas’, hanged outside in the niche of the apse.In 1650-1655, referendary of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania Cyprian Paweł Brzostowski erected a magnificent tombstone for his brother Jan Kazimierz Brzostowski carved from a precious imported stone - Dutch limestone and English alabaster by an unknown master under the influence of the Flemish Martens family of Elbląg, Prussia. In 1690-1703, a wooden altar of the Suffering Jesus was joined to it, thus forming a unique epitaphic altar. Until 1677, a new altar of Our Lady of Loreto was installed in the masonry niche, in which a Gothic sculpture ‘Madonna of Veliuona’, adapted to a new iconography, was placed. In the second half of the 17th century, this sculpture was famous for graces, as evidenced by its dressing, two silver crowns, and ex-votos. In the third quarter of the 18th century, the sculpture was moved to the High altar, a niche behind the altarpiece of the first condignation, where it remained until 1919. The revealed adaptation of the sculpture to the cult of Our Lady of Loreto unraveled the formerly unclear role of the ‘Madonna of Veliuona’ in the altars of the Veliuona church. Circa 1690-1703, the merchant of Veliuona Georgius Piotrowicz alias Kudla funded a new, wooden High altar of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary of‘mature’ Baroque forms. The same unknown sculptor also carved the re-table of the Suffering Jesus altar. In 1743, at the end of the northern aisle, a wooden late Baroque Regence style altar of the Fraternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Holy Rosary was erected with an old image. The twin altar of the Crucifixion of adapted forms at the end of the southern aisle was built only in the third quarter of the 18th century (circa 1765?) at the expense of Veliuona prepositor Victorinus Hryncewicz.At a similar time, in the 1750S-1770S but until 1782, five side altars with two condignations were built in Veliuona, in which the illusory wall paintings were combined with Rococo-style wooden carvings: St John of Nepomuk (with Baptismal font), St Joseph, St Barbora, Guardian Angel, and St Anthony. In 1831-1835, re-tables of the altars were converted into wooden ones, using a part of the Rococo carving and preserving the old altarpieces and titles. In 1860-1861, the interior was renewed again on the initiative of the parson Marcyan Giedroyc by Juozapas Obolevicius, ‘carver and gilder, a disciple of glorious Anichinis’, who repainted the altars in white and gilded them, carved sculptures of four Evangelists, confessionals, and a sacristy bench- confessional- chest of drawers. At the same time, two side altars were given to the church in Babtai, leaving only seven of the nine altars in the church. In 1881, the current mensae were bricked. The church of Veliuona and its interior suffered during the First World War. Therefore, the altars, their altarpieces, and sculptures were renovated before the church’s anniversary in 1921. The titles and images of the altars changed. However, the iconographic tradition survived at longest related to the title of the church (Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary), the essence of Christianity (altars of the Suffering Jesus, the Crucifix), piety (Our Lady of Loreto, Fraternity of the Holy Rosary), and feast days assigned in 1782-1784 (St Joseph, St Anthony, St Mary Magdalene, St John of Nepomuk, and Seven altars). The change in the interior of the church of Veliuona repeats the most distinct features and tendencies of the development of Lithuanian altars: the change of Gothic, Mannerist, ‘mature’ and late Baroque, and Historicism in the 16th - 19th century. [...]. [From the publication p. 412-414]