Summary

Gruzdžiai church: history and art values

Povilas Spurgevičius

Critical analysis of the primary historical mainly manuscript sources (visitation acts, inventories etc.) and historiography is made in the paper, where the state run Gruzdžiai manor is localised in the Šiauliai economy, since in historiography it is often taken for the former Gruzdžiai–Kiaunoriai place in Viduklė Powiat, as well as the changes in the exterior and the interior of the Gruzdžiai Catholic church during the period from the 18th to the first half of the 20th centuries are elucidated. It is also asserted that the church built about 1670–1672 in Gruzdžiai growing rapidly due to better road network and initially being a filial of the Šiupyliai parish church gradually outrivaled the latter. Unfortunately, there are no data about its look. In 1759, a new wooden Baroque church that burnt down in 1891. At the start of the 20th century, designed by the architect Ustin Golinevich, a new brick-stone church was built. Its architecture is said to reflect vivid ideals of the Romanticism culture, and, as it is in small architecture, the Neo-Gothic style prevails. The interior of the church is created in eclectic manner.