the church of st.cross discovery. inside

Šeduva Lithuania

The Church of St. Cross Discovery of Šeduva is a Lithuanian historic landmark

The Church was built in the middle of 17th c. You can find elements of baroque and renaissance architecture styles in the interior and exterior of the church.

The church is a renaissance and have baroque lineament, plan of the cross with semicircular apse and low sacristy.

The inside is a three nave and five altar.

The equipment inside the church is very interesting and valuable. There is very valuable artistical sculptures and pictures. The church‘s pulpit is very extraordinary, excellent and original Renaissance wooden plastic creation. Historian K. Jasen wrote about it „pulpit is a masterpiece, which is worth Donatello‘s chisel“. It is not attached to the pillar as it usually appears is a church, but it firmly stands on its own stanchion, and is faltened to the wall of presbytery. It is the art piece of the Renaissance in North Europe.

Baptistery is very interesting as well. It is of altar shape wooden and maintains the elements of the Renaissance architecture. Flamboyant entablature is on its top.

On the right of the presbytery the memorial board honours the exburgomaster Jokūbas

Matusevičius of Šeduva town. He was honoured for his merits to Šeduva.

The tower of the church has a 480 kg bell, which was made in Konigsberg(Lithuanian: Karaliaučius; Russian: Калининград) and

calls people to worship God. The bell bears a Latin inscription: „Me fecit B. M.

Bormanin Keningsberg. Qui pasus es pro nobis, Jesu, Miserere nobis Parochi

Szadoviensis 1745 D. 30 may“.Due to the thanks of the director of

Panevėžys this bell was protected from Germans and later it was maintained as the memorial which has historical and

cultural significance.

The Renaissance of Šeduva church attained its renaissance when in 1974 Bronius Antanaitis arrived to work there. Due to his efforts new windows have been made where planished and ornamented glasses appeared. Restored pictures have high art worth. Now the church goers are sitting in new and beautiful benches. The heating is installed and the new floor is made.

The profusely ornamented organe is of Rococo style and is shrouded with a semi-circled arch and supported by a wide segmental arch.