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Concept
St. Mary's Church, Grodno
Summary
St. Mary's Church (Касцёл Найсвяцейшай Дзевы Марыі; Švenčiausios Mergelės Marijos bažnyčia; Kościół Najświętszej Maryi Panny) was a parish church (fara) in the city of Grodno. It was founded by Vytautas, Grand Duke of Lithuania before 1389. Because of its founder, it was commonly referred to as Vytautas' Church (Фара Вітаўта; Vytauto bažnyčia; fara witoldowa). Rebuilt as a Gothic church around 1494, it was one of Grodno's principal Catholic churches until Soviet rule after World War II. Neglected, it was finally demolished in 1961.
The exact date of its consecration remains unknown, it was first mentioned in a royal privilege for the local Jewish community issued in 1389. The original church was a wooden structure, one of several dozens of such churches founded throughout Lithuania by newly-Christianised rulers of the state. As such, the church was to spread Catholic faith in a predominantly-Orthodox city. In 1494 Grand Duke (and later King of Poland) Alexander Jagiellon demolished the old wooden structure and erected a new church on its place. Its Gothic features continued to be visible despite numerous reconstructions carried out later. The first of such reconstructions took place in 1551, when Bona Sforza, queen consort of Poland, financed the Renaissance reconstruction of the interior.
The church became a de facto royal chapel in 1584, when king Stephen Báthory moved his seat to the Grodno castle and spent his last years there. It was him to completely demolish the wooden structure and build a new church there, this time brick-made. The works, carried over by the Jesuits, were completed in 1587. The project is attributed to Ioseph Roiten, though the attribution is not certain, while the master supervising the construction works was Antoni de Greta. It was in this church that Báthory's body was first interred for several months before it was moved to the Wawel Cathedral in Kraków.
During The Deluge, between 1655 and 1661, the city was occupied by Muscovy and the church was badly damaged.
Official source
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