Description

Salantai Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The church of Salantai is a characteristic example of the two-tower neo-Gothic sanctum designed by K. E. Strandmann. A new church was built in the town in 1906-1911 in the place of the old wooden prayer house according to the project of the architect from Liepaja – four-section towers with high spires and small pinnacles surrounding them became an important dominant of the region. We can see a pointed-arched niche of two parts above the main portal, which was considered to be a “brand” of the architect, with a row of small, vertical niches at the bottom of it, and a rosette window integrated in the upper segment. The lateral rhythm of buttresses and pointed-arched windows is diversified by the pediments above with rosette windows installed in them.

As many of the two-tower buildings of the architect, the sanctum has a plant of the Latin cross. The expression of the façades of the transept is especially impressive, which shows the variation of the mentioned niche favoured by the architect, though with a much more complex window composition. Pediments above are complemented by the element of the ascending pointed-arched niches and completed by pinnacles. The sanctum is of pseudo-basilica type, completed by an octagonal apse, sacristies are attached to both sides of the presbytery. The interior is surrounded by cross vaults with ribs, and the major part of the wooden interior equipment reflects the neo-Gothic forms – the great altar and pulpit of impressive, enlivened forms are worth mentioning.

Detail

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