Kauno benediktinių vienuolyno Šv. Mikalojaus bažnyčios altorių kūrinių kaita XIX a.

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Bažnytinė dailė; Benediktinės; Ikonografija; Katalikų bažnyčia; Kaunas; Skulptūra; Tapyba; XIX a. religinė dailė; Šv. Mikalojaus bažnyčia; Benedictine; Benedictines; Catholic Church; Iconography; Kaunas; Painting; Religious art; Sacral art; Sculpture.

ENThe article seeks to reveal the changes to the iconography on the altars of St. Michael’s Church in Kaunas in the 19th century, with the main aim being to use the available sources to determine the changes to the old altars, of which only one remains today, and the reasons for these changes depending on various circumstances. This research does not intend to present a comprehensive artistic or iconographic analysis of the altar works. The research showed that in the 19th century there was a rather intensive changeover of works in the church’s interior due to the founding of new brotherhoods, a difficult period in the history of monasteries (the closure of the Dominican monastery), and efforts to encourage and accentuate the Benedictine way of devotion. At the beginning of the century, an altar was installed in the church’s presbytery which had served the needs of the Brotherhood of the Blessed Heart of Jesus since 1756. With the closure of the Kaunas Dominican brothers monastery, not only its art works were transferred to St. Michael’s in 1845 but also the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Archbrotherhood of the Name of Jesus. This led to the appearance of images reflecting Dominican devotion on the altars.The reforms introduced by Abbess S. Glembauskytė in 1862 were also an important factor, after which more works accentuating Benedictine devotion appeared in the church. Bishop M. Valančius approved of her efforts in this field. The painter I. Siezienowski was invited to renew the works of art in the church. In trying to ascertain whether the artist could have painted new works in the church, it was discovered that some images that he worked on were originally part of the church’s interiors and were only restored. Other paintings however, feature very varied stylistics, painting manner, and cannot be attributed to one author, so Siezienowski merely renewed them. Thus we can assume that he repainted the image of St. Michael based on an earlier composition, whilst the new works were more or less accurately composed from other sources and adapted to the church’s altars. The changes that were introduced in 1862 under the leadership of S. Glembauskytė dominated until the 1930s when the church space was drastically altered to suit the Eternal Adoration of the Holy Sacrament. [From the publication]