The Alsėdžiai Church

From 1421 until 1842, Alsėdžiai belonged to Samogitian bishops. The bishop’s manor was built in ca. 1465, which was their permanent residence. This was also the location of various bishop gatherings, also known as synods. Lastly, the bishop’s office was established in this building.

Older sources mention that the bishops loved Alsėdžiai so much that they did not want to travel to Varniai, which was the centre of the bishopric and where the cathedral stood. Therefore, Motiejus Valančius, having become a Samogitian bishop, forbade the bishops to live in Alsėdžiai in 1850, making them move to Varniai, while the bishop’s land and manor were nationalised in 1842 and 1857 respectively.

The first Alsėdžiai Catholic Church was built by Baltramiejus II, a Samogitian bishop, in ca. 1467. In the 1740s, bishop J. Tiškevičius built the new Alsėdžiai church next to the old one. The old church was demolished in 1677. The present church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary was rebuilt from the old one in 1793, maintaining the essential characteristics of the original church. It is the third church of Alsėdžiai. The church has 7 altars, holy paintings and a station of the cross. A new organ was installed in 1904. The exterior as well as the interior of the church were reconstructed and the roof was painted and repainted.

Source: Alsėdžiai / Samogitian Academy; [compiled by: Adomas Butrimas, Liepa Griciūtė]. – Vilnius: The Publishing House of the Vilnius Academy of Arts, 2002.