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Evangelical Lutheran Church of Vilkyškiai
The first church built in Vilkyškiai was in 1554, when the town was part of the Ragainė (Ragnit) parish, with Martynas Mažvydas (the author of the first printed Lithuanian language book, Catechismus, published in 1547) as its priest. Hence, it is believed that he was the one who contributed to the establishment of the first church in town. A Lithuanian Evangelical Lutheran parish was established in Vilkyškiai in the mid-16th century. As the Great Famine of 1709-1711 took the lives of as many as 2,665 locals, religious exiles from Salzburg, Austria were resettled in the newly desolate lands, with Protestants from Scotland preceding them. The parish had a congregation of more than 4000 between the start of the 20th century and until the commencement of WWII, many of whom resettled in the West at the end of the war. In Soviet times, the empty church building was turned into a grain storage facility. The church was given back to the congregation only after Lithuania regained its independence in 1990. Repairs of the church were initiated with the help of the diaspora of the former residents of Vilkyškiai. Over time, the interior of the church was adorned with stained glass windows created by Rasa Grybaitė and a mechanical tubular organ made in the workshop of Paul Ott, gifted to the church by the Martin Luther parish of the Evangelical Lutherans of Detmold, Germany. Since 2009, the international organ music festival, 'Organ music in Vilkyškiai', has been taking place at the church. Traces of the life of poet and writer Johannes Bobrowski (1917-1965) can be found in the pages of the history of the Evangelical Lutheran church of Vilkyškiai. A permanent exhibition and a memorial museum were opened in the rectory building in 2013 to preserve his memory. The most famous novels by Bobrowski are 'Levin's Mill' (German 'Levins Mühle) and 'Lithuanian Pianos' (German 'Litauische Claviere').
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Evangelical Lutheran Church of Vilkyškiai - Public Info
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Inserted: 30-12-2022 10:12:52
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What is the connection between the poet and writer Johannes Bobrowski and the Lithuanian town of Vilkyškiai?
What was the fate of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Vilkyškiai during Soviet times?
When was a Lithuanian Evangelical Lutheran parish established in Vilkyškiai?
When was the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Vilkyškiai first built?
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Architecture in the city
Religious building in Lithuania
Soviet Lithuania
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