The picture of Our Lady of Trakai

The picture of Our Lady in the church at Trakai is one of the earliest and most famous holy pictures in Lithuania. According to a legend, it was presented to Vytautas, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, by the Byzantine Emperor. This story cannot be verified, and is even contradicted by the facts, but it has not diminished the picture’s fame. Belief in its clemency and its power to work miracles is witnessed by an event at the end of the 16th century: in 1597, amid the threats of famine and plague, the Jesuits organised a procession of repentance from Vilnius to Trakai, and prayed to the picture of Our Lady for salvation. On 4 September 1718, Konstanty Kazimierz Brzostowski, the Bishop of Vilnius, solemnly crowned the miracle-working picture with crowns that had been blessed by the Pope and sent from Rome. The picture was the first in Lithuania and the second in the Republic of the Two Nations to be crowned with crowns sent by the Pope.

This engraving, made in 1718 in the Wroclaw workshop of Bartłomiej Strachowski (1648–1759), was intended to commemorate the feast of the coronation of Our Lady of Trakai. Important information about it is written below in Latin. The plate for the engraving was kept for many years in the safe of the church in Trakai. It was lent out and used to illustrate the periodical Dzieje Dobroczynności (Good Works) published in Vilnius.

Text author Dalia Vasiliūnienė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album HEAVEN AND BEYOND (2016). Compiler Dalia Vasiliūnienė. Text authors Dalia Vasiliūnienė, Skaidrė Urbonienė
Expositions: “Heaven and Beyond. Works of religious art from the collection of Rolandas Valiūnas and the law firm Valiunas Ellex“, 31 May–24 September 2016, Church Heritage Museum, Vilnius (curators Dalia Vasiliūnienė, Skaidrė Urbonienė)

The picture of Our Lady in the church at Trakai is one of the earliest and most famous holy pictures in Lithuania. According to a legend, it was presented to Vytautas, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, by the Byzantine Emperor. This story cannot be verified, and is even contradicted by the facts, but it has not diminished the picture’s fame. Belief in its clemency and its power to work miracles is witnessed by an event at the end of the 16th century: in 1597, amid the threats of famine and plague, the Jesuits organised a procession of repentance from Vilnius to Trakai, and prayed to the picture of Our Lady for salvation. On 4 September 1718, Konstanty Kazimierz Brzostowski, the Bishop of Vilnius, solemnly crowned the miracle-working picture with crowns that had been blessed by the Pope and sent from Rome. The picture was the first in Lithuania and the second in the Republic of the Two Nations to be crowned with crowns sent by the Pope.

This engraving, made in 1718 in the Wroclaw workshop of Bartłomiej Strachowski (1648–1759), was intended to commemorate the feast of the coronation of Our Lady of Trakai. Important information about it is written below in Latin. The plate for the engraving was kept for many years in the safe of the church in Trakai. It was lent out and used to illustrate the periodical Dzieje Dobroczynności (Good Works) published in Vilnius.

Text author Dalia Vasiliūnienė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album HEAVEN AND BEYOND (2016). Compiler Dalia Vasiliūnienė. Text authors Dalia Vasiliūnienė, Skaidrė Urbonienė
Expositions: “Heaven and Beyond. Works of religious art from the collection of Rolandas Valiūnas and the law firm Valiunas Ellex“, 31 May–24 September 2016, Church Heritage Museum, Vilnius (curators Dalia Vasiliūnienė, Skaidrė Urbonienė)