Religious Tourism: Ukrainian Church of the Holy Trinity and Basilian Monastery. Vilnius. Lithuania.

The Basilian Gates are located between the Philharmonic and the Gates of Dawn in the Old Town of Vilnius. Impressively splendid gates were constructed by the architect Kristupas Glaubica in 1761, and are one of the most beautiful monuments of the Late Baroque in Vilnius. The gates open up to the spacious courtyard with the Church in the middle of it, which is of the form of a cube, and contains Gothic, Baroque, and Russian Byzantine elements

The monastery was established on the Hill of the Holy Trinity. The Basilian monks reformed by the Unites’ Archimandrite Velaminas Rutskis moved here after the Union of Brest in 1596.

Two years later the nuns arrived here as well. The Basilian monastery became the center of the Unites’ Church and the Province of the Holy Trinity (established in 1617). The current Church was funded by Konstantinas Ostrogiskis after the victory in the Battle of Orsha (1514).

Under the supervision of the architect Jonas Kristupas Glaubica the Shrine was extended, the towers were built in the corners of the Werstern and Eastern facades after the fire in 1760.

Unfortunately, only one authentic pair of these towers remains in the Eastern façade. During the reconstruction of the Church in the 19th century most changes were applied to the front façade. The same Konstantinas Ostrogiskis initiated the constructions of the monumental, almost square bell tower which links the features of the Gothic and Renaissance architecture.

The bell tower was built next to the Church in the 16th century. The Monastery, was built together with the Church, and was also reconstructed several times later. In the second half of the 19th century the Monastery was closed, the buildings were passed to the Orthodox seminary, and renovated.

Unfortunately, nine magnificent altars with paintings did not remain. These were the paintings of P. Smulgevicius (the paintings of Christ, St. Peter and Paul, St. Anupras, St. Bazilijus, St. Makrena, St. Michael, and wonder-working painting of Mother of God).

The Orthodox community was driven out in 1821, and the Orthodox Church of Revelations was established in the building, the male block of the monastery became a prison. Vilnius University students, members of the Filaret association, were held here in 1823 – 1824.

The architectural ensemble of the Basilian Monastery and scanty and incredibly valuable art monuments remaining there reflect the phenomena of the Church Union and the monks of the Basilian Unites. This phenomenon united two Christianity branches, Eastern and Western, and allowed them to develop next to each other, along with the cultural traditions.