HISTORY 

The Chapel of the old cemetery of Anyksciai is one of a few buildings left from the middle of the 19th century. It is supposed to be built in 1858 on the family grave cellar of the count Venclovavicius from the manor of Burbiskis. In the cemetery, which is very old, nobody is buried since 1936. During the Soviet times it was turned into a park.

As there are no real historical facts about the Chapel, the events described in a short story “The Cancer” by A.Vienuolis are identified to the beginning of the Chapel. The writer tells us the story of the count Venclovavicius family (Put-Putarleckiai in the story) describes the construction of the Chapel. A real historical fact is that the Chapel was built on the countess Kristina initiative. She wanted to atone sins of the counts Put-Putarleckiai. According to A.Vienuolis, a young builder from Italy came and became interested in the ornaments of Lithuanian crosses. So he decided to built a chapel in this style. The Chapel is decorated with Lithuanian “drops” under the ridge of a roof, and the ornaments of crosses above the windows and doors. So the Chapel is a literary monument too.

For a long time nobody was concerned about the restoration of the Chapel. Only in 1968 on the initiative of Terese Mikeliunaite, the director of the Museum at that time, the Chapel had to be restored and the cultural historical museum founded. But in 1977 the civil register institution was established. In 1985 a glass convex was built (architect G.Baravykas, a stained glass by A.Dovydenas, the chandelier by E.Saturas). Only in the time of Rebirth the Chapel became the center of cultural life. In 1992 it became a branch of the Museum.

On November 2, 1991 after a long time the Mass for the people buried in the old cemetery was sacrificed. In December the first event took place in the Chapel. It was the evening devoted to professor Stasys Salkauskis.

The acoustics of the Chapel are perfect, so a lot of events and exhibitions take place. Sometimes the Mass is sacrificed. The Children’s choir studio was organized in 1995.