Church of St. Nicholas

The church, built in the late 14th century under the rule of Duke Gediminas, was a sign of welcome to the new foreign merchants who had just started frequent travels to Vilnius and would often stay in this neighborhood. Ever since 1901, this church was the only one to always hold mass in Lithuanian.

Priest Stanislovas Valiukėnas (in the center) in Vilnius, 1982. Lietuvos centrinis valstybės archyvas, 0-108429.

By the way, my dear friend Viktoras Petkus used to work at the Church of St. Nicholas. Let’s talk about him at the next stop.

Next stop: Dominikonų g. 16, Vilnius

What does a church have to do with the dissidents, you ask? Well, churches often served the function of a cultural and educational hub, and this was especially true during the Soviet occupation.

Freedom of belief was highly restricted during the occupation and atheism was forced upon the nation as a way to delete the cultural and political threat that Catholicism posed to the regime. Nevertheless, the Catholic community of Lithuania continued to protect their right to freedom of belief and churches ended up playing an important role even to non-religious Lithuanians. The oldest church of Vilnius – Church of St. Nicholas – was a safe place for dissident meetings, Lithuanian classes and plays. While the main churches were closed down by the authorities, St. Nicholas Church was as active as ever, even holding mass to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the Christianization of Lithuania.

Moreover, mass was held at this very church the morning of the rally at Adomas Mickevičius‘ monument. Before the rally, we all talked with the priest who planned to hold the historic mass - Stanislavas Valiukėnas. We promised each other to exchange stories – he would tell us about the mass and who came, and we’d tell him about the rally. But we never did. On the morning of the mass, the priest, who was such a dear friend to the religious and dissident communities, collapsed and fell right at the altar – heart attack. He died right here, in the most patriotic church of Vilnius.