Koen
Google
On the outskirts of Kaunas, on a peninsula in the Kaunas Reservoir, stands the Pažaislis Monastery. The monastery and church were built between 1667 and 1712 by Camaldolese monks on the orders of Krzysztof Zygmunt Pac, Chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The complex is the largest monastery in Lithuania and the Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary with its 54-metre-high dome is one of the most beautiful Baroque buildings in the country. The monastery was transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church by Tsar Nicholas I after the Polish-Lithuanian Uprising of 1831. After three years of vacancy, the monastery came into the hands of the Sisters of St. Casimir in 1920, and the Catholic tradition was revived. Until the sisters were expelled by the communists in 1948 and the monastery was used for various purposes. In 1992 the monastery was returned to the sisters, who now manage the monastery and restore it to its former glory.
In the church there is a statue of the Virgin Mary and Child that is considered miraculous. It was a gift from Pope Alexander VII to Krzysztof Pac, who donated the statue to the monastery to increase its appeal. The statue still attracts pilgrims and every year on 2 July a solemn procession with the statue of the Virgin Mary takes place.
The monastery and church are quite far from the centre, but are easily accessible by bus (or car), so visit it!