Plikiai Evangelical Lutheran Church

The Evangelical Lutheran Parish of Plikiai was established in 1891 after separating 25 villages from St Jacob Evangelical Lutheran Parishes of Kretingalė and Klaipėda. The first pastor appointed at the parish was Feliksas Žemaitaitis, who initiated the construction of the new church. The parsonage was built first, followed by a church, completed in 5 years and consecrated in 1896. A little later the parish had built a parish school and a shelter. The red brick church, built near the road Klaipėda-Jokūbavas is a neo-Gothic example, featuring a widening on the left. Although quite uncommon in case of Lutheran churches, the 38 m belfry was built on the left side, rather than the centre of the building. The belfry had two different-sized bells, manufactured in Königsberg. The smaller one disappeared during the World War II, while the large one continues to toll to this day. The especially pleasant sound of the authentic bell can be heard not only in Plikiai, but also at the beginning of Kelias LR Radio show. The bell features Lithuanian words from a hymn in Gothic font: Eikim šen, eikim šen, Jėzų, kad regėtum ten. (Eng. Come here, come here to see Jesus on the other side.) In 1912 the belfry was equipped with a modern mechanic clock, wound up every Saturday or Sunday for the following week. The clock of Plikiai Church was dismantled after the war and restored only in 2015, equipped with an electronic, instead of a mechanic mechanism.
The internal space of the rectangular church of two naves features a flat ceiling, an arrangement of kouroi along the walls and a technologically-advanced organ with pneumatic control, incorporated on the balcony in the back of the church. The church also has its original and artistic benches, a decorous pulpit, an altar and the authentic 19th c. Danish furnace, which still functions providing heat to the church today. The church walls feature three wooden memorial plates with names of the parish members that have died during the World War I. The number of the seats in the church is about 400. On 20-05-1993 the church was included into the Register of Immovable Cultural Properties.
In 1944 the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Plikiai was closed. After the war the former parish school was given to the so-called People’s Defence. The church in front of their building became a practice target with istrebitels shooting at the belfry, the cross and the walls. Some gunshot marks are still visible today. Although the pulpit and the altar were damaged and the organ keyboard was smashed with a riffle buttstock, in 1946 the church resumed to host the mass. Without any pastors left, the mass was often organised by the teacher Martynas Tydekas, later accompanied by Jurgis Sprogys, released from a prison camp. After a while the mass was taken over by the priest J. Armonaitis, coming from the parish of Žemaičių Naumiestis, preacher Artūras Timpa from Sartininkai, etc. The pastor Liudvikas Fetingis, working at the Lutheran Evangelical Church of Plikiai today, has been working at this parish the longest. L. Fetingis has been working here since his ordination in 1976. Continuing the pre-war tradition, in 1994 the pastor has gathered a Berželis youth choir, as well as the brass orchestra of Plikiai and Dovilai. In 1997 the Evangelical Lutheran Parish of Plikiai had 120 people and twenty years later the number shrunk to a mere 70. The mass, hosted every second Sunday gathers 15-20 parishioners. The pastor L. Fetingis also works at Dovilai parish, hosting mass both in Lithuanian and German languages. In 2006 L. Fetingis compiled a new Lutheran hymnal, used all over Lithuania.