Description

The Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Building Complex of Surdegis Orthodox Holy Spirit Monastery and the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The beginning of the history of the Church of the Assumption of the Holy Virgin Mary of Surdegis dates back to the year 1530, when here, in Surdegis, by the spring, The Holy Virgin Mary appeared. In that place, a wooden Orthodox church of the Holy Trinity was built, which in 1625–1636 was rebuilt into a stone one.  In 1812, after the old Orthodox church of the Holy Trinity dilapidated, a new one was built – The Orthodox Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit to the Apostle Sobor. In 1918, the Orthodox church was converted into The Church of the Assumption of the Holy Virgin Mary and substantially changed in terms of exterior and interior. The building was remade from the two-tower Orthodox church to a single-tower church of Historicism style.  The priest Juozapas Gendrėnas took trouble and grandiose inside repair work was done: The High Altar was fitted – the altar of the Holy Blessed Virgin Mary, in 1933 – the side altar of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in 1937 – the side altar of St. Isidore and the organ with ten registers.

The brick, plastered church of Surdegis has a rectangular plan and boasts Renaissance features; it is a single-nave, hall church. The presbytery is narrower than the central nave and ends with three-walled apse. To the presbytery, on the south facade side, a low tetragonal sacristy is adjoined. The roof of the church is tin-plated, double-pitched, while that of the apse – three-pitched one. Above the front facade, a quadrangular two-tier tower rises with the profiled four-tier helmet, ending with a spire crowned with an ornamented cross. The roof of the church is tin-plated. In the upper tier of the tower – acoustic openings of segmental arches with the keys are. On the bottom tier – smaller arched windows. The edges of the tiers are adorned with blurred pilasters. The central part of the main facade is slightly protruded forward, with the two-leaf arched panel doors. Above the doors – a rectangular niche with the relief of the Holy Blessed Virgin Mary. On the facade sides – small rectangular windows, above them – quadrangular niches. The side facades are adorned with tall rectangular, arched windows.

The church has a closed narthex, above it, a choir space is fitted. The walls and ceilings hold painted stencil ornaments. The central part of the nave is covered with wooden structure cylindrical vault, in the presbytery – half-cupola slab. The high Neo-Baroque altar of the Saint Virgin Mary holds the tabernacle and sculptures of the first tier: “Blessed Virgin of the Immaculate Conception”, “St. Peter”, “St. Paul”, and a painting of the second tier “St Joseph”. The right-side altar of Jesus Christ holds the sculpture “The Sacred Heart of Jesus” and the painting of the second tier “St Barbara”. The left side altar of St. Isidore holds the first-tier sculpture “St. Isidore” and the second-tier painting “St. Augustine”.

Detail