Merkinės Švč. Marijos Ėmimo į dangų bažnyčios skliautų puošyba
Decoration of vaults of the Merkinė church

Summary/Abstract: The decor of the Merkinė Church is a rare piece of professional wall painting art in churches, created by local artists in the beginning of the 20th century. The wall painting at the Merkinė Church is a part of vault and wall decoration - it was matched to the vault stucco mouldings of the second half of the 17th century – and together they make one harmonious decorative whole. Stylised vegetal ornaments and plot painting cover the vaults of the central nave and presbytery completely. The main cycle of the painted compositions of the Merkinė Church vaults (20 medallions and two plafonds) are devoted to the invocations of the Virgin Mary litany and are the only instances of the broad development of this theme in the decor of Lithuanian churches. Glory titles of the Virgin in the above scenes are mainly depicted in the emblematic from and symbols, matching the theological meaning. The landscape of the Merkinė surroundings recognisable in the background of several compositions makes the complicated allegories closer to a churchgoer. The wall painting of the Merkinė Church, created in 1913, is a demonstration of not only the religious aspirations of the customers, but also of their national and political interests. The Emblem of Lithuania painted on the vaults of the presbytery together with the litany invocations in Lithuanian manifest the nationality of the parishioners of that time. At the same time, the ordering of this piece of art demonstrates that customers positively contemplated on the historical past of Merkinė and artistic heritage of the church as well as on the tradition of Virgin Mary adoration. The author succeeded in determining the creator of this impressive work - it is Kazimieras Imeninskis from Vilnius, a professional artist that was not known to Lithuanian art critics before. It might be that the author depicted himself in one of the images of the Four Evangelists on the vaults of the central nave.

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