Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Pivašiūnai

The church was built in 1825 and is wooden. This church is the most famous one in the region of Alytus and the only church of the Classicism style in Lithuania which has preserved the special structure of the Latin cross characterised by the dynamics of longitudinal volumes and the crosspiece. Next to the church, there is a wooden belfry. In 1929, in a children’s newspaper “Žiburėlis”, a pupil from Pivašiūnai wrote: “The church of Pivašiūnai has been built in a very beautiful place, on a high mountain (171 metres), which is covered with wide pine-trees, birches, maples and other trees as well as full of crosses.” Inside the church, you will find a walk-around altar, which is rare in Lithuania. On the altar, there is a miraculous painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In 1988, cardinal Vincentas Sladkevičius crowned the Virgin with Child of Pivašiūnai with crowns gifted by Pope John Paul II and granted her the title of the Comfort of the Sorrowful. An impressive part of the interior – 15 wooden sculptures painted in white and decorated with gold. Pivašiūnai has long been famous for its Assumption feast that takes place for the whole week. On those days, this place attracts thousands of pilgrims from all over Lithuania and abroad. The church of Pivašiūnai is one of the objects of the pilgrim road of John Paul II in Lithuania (www.piligrimukelias.lt). In the cemetery next to the church, there are several valuable ancient tombs.
The complex of buildings of the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (a church, the fence of the cemetery with a gate, a chapel, an old presbytery, its two barns, an ice-house and a farm building as well as a monumental cross) has been included into the Register of Immovable Cultural Assets.

Trakų g. 6, Pivašiūnai, Alytaus r., tel. +370 699 12 696
GPS: 54.460791, 24.372739 (WGS)

Authors of photographs: G. Bernatavičius, A. Lavrėnovas, Z. Stankevičienė, J. Struckienė.