Tauragė Church of the Holy Trinity

The Church of the Holy Trinity stands on a high embankment of Jūra river. The first catholic house of prayer in Tauragė, just like the city itself, was first mentioned in 1507, but the data about the church is not exact. On the second half of the 17th c. the wooden church was already standing in the location of the modern-day brick church. The church, built mostly by the initiative of the parson Vincentas Kemėšis (1865-1946), was consecrated on 5 August 1904.
The historical building features lots of details, characteristic to Neo-Romanesque style, also a few reminiscent of neo-classical style, as well as a Latin cross-outline with a pentagonal apse and one octagonal belfry. The author of the church is the Swedish architect Karl Eduard Strandmann, who lived in Liepaja. The interior features three cast altars, matching with the exterior architecture, and gorgeous organs. The 16-register organs were built by Bruno Goebel in 1908. During World War II, the church was severely damaged, and the organs did not survive. Circa 1955, the church received the Waclaw Biernacki/Wilno organs, brought from Vilnius Church of St. Michael, which was closed by the Soviet regime. These organs were built before World War I and reconstructed circa 1980.
The church was severely damaged during both world wars. During the years of World War I, the Russians used the belfry for intelligence, while the Germans later demolished it. After World War II the church building was rebuilt only in 1955 by the initiative of the parson Jonas Beinoris (1908-1985) and the funds and support of the congregation.
One of the interesting details of the churchyard is the monument For the Unborn Child, made by the sculptor Stanislovas Bružas and consecrated in 2017. The sculpture features a half of the globe with Joseph and Mary, holding the baby Jesus in her arms, and a child’s footprints, going towards the blessed family.
The monument For the Victims of Stalinism, to commemorate the painful historical events, was opened in 1989. It is a composition of three wooden crosses. Two of them are broken, as if symbolising the fate of those, whom the monument is dedicated to. The construction of the monument, made by the folk artists from Tauragė – Pranas Kundrotas, Danielius Dužinskas, Remigijus Petrokas, Antanas Bagdonas – was initiated by Tauragė Deportee Club and its Council Chairman Nikodemas Krapavickas.
Outside the churchyard, on the edge of Jūra valley, there is the Cross of Resurrection, donated by Italian Catholics for the 2000th anniversary.

Compiled in 2018