Church of St John the Baptist in Juodeikiai

Church of St John the Baptist in Juodeikiai

The wooden church, built in 1920 out of the local resident funds and with the care of Žagarė priest Vincentas Jarulaitis (uncle of Sofija Kymantaitė-Čiurlionienė), was given the title of St John the Baptist. Since 1925 the parish festival of St John the Baptist and St Francis of Assisi took place here. The Church is famous for Father Stanislovas (Father Algirdas Mykolas Dobrovolskis), who after his exile in 1957 to 1960 was the priest of this church and carried out a lot of work in repairing and enriching the shrine. The facade of the Church is adorned with his legacy – a chapel with the Pensive Christ (later changed to John the Baptist), as well as the facade cladding, which creates a double symbol of the Pillars of Gediminas and the Divine Providence. Father Stanislovas' idea is also reflected in the multi-coloured interior of the Church (polychromy), the carved and ornamented details, and the fancy neo-baroque 16-candle crystal chandelier of the beginning of the twentieth century, which adorns the central nave of the church, and which has been entered in the Cultural Heritage Register (No. 8950).

GPS:56.242069, 23.220958

Juodeikiai, Joniškis district