The Church of Karvys is a neo-Gothic example of the Romanticism period. As the majority of the structures built in the country during this era, interpreting the medieval forms, the church was built by combining brick and field stone masonry. The style of the building as well as its materiality illustrates the ideas of the Romanticism era. The attempt to imitate the Gothic forms reflected the idealisation of the past, which is typical of them, and the use of the field stones was an attempt to follow the presumed ancient building traditions of the land. Such idols are also illustrated by the towers of the church, the top of which remind of the attempt to stylise the motifs of the castle towers. Brick towers incorporate pointed-arched niches with the Gothic composition of two windows and round niche integrated in the upper parts. The middle part of the façade situated between the verticals of the church is made of field stones just as the entire main area of the church. Plenty of space is occupied here by the plane, which is diversified only by the pointed arch of the main entrance, the composition of six stepped small niches rising upwards, and the frieze decorated with arcatures at the top in the place of the pediment, which completes it. The area of the church is typical of the sanctums of the Classicism period – it is an area of rectangular plan covered with a two-slope roof, completed by a flat wall. We won’t see any buttresses typical of the Gothic sanctums here or any apse protruding at the back end of the area. It’s true, Gothic interpretations here are expressed through the pointed-arched window niches, arcature of the frieze as well as the elements of the back pediment. The interior of the sanctum reveals us a rather typical solution of the Romantic period, where the principles of the Classicism era intertwine with freely interpreted Gothic ornaments.
St.Joseph’s Church, Karvys - Bažnyčios g. 11, Karvys 14244, Lietuva
