St. John the Baptist Church in Pasvalys town

This church is at 5, Vytautas Didysis Square, Pasvalys at the confluence of the Rivers Lėvuo and Svalia. This bricked Church was built in 1787 and has baroque and historic features. It is rectangular (40 by 30 m), with the five annexes and two towers. There are three naves separated by pillars in the interior and five altars. In 1497, the Grand Duke Aleksandras Jogailaitis gave the priest Jonas Grotas, who had already started to build the church, the land and allowed to build a town. In 1498, J. Grotas was appointed as the first parish priest of Pasvalys Church. The Church was a jurisdiction in the town and two villages. In 1776, the Church burned down. Since 1773, there was a parish school. From 1779 to 1787 a new brick Church was built. It was rectangular (34 by 17 m), without towers. In 1851, Bishop Motiejus Valančius consecrated the Church. From 1885 to 1887, the parish priest prelate Vladas Dambrauskas took care to increase the Church and to build the towers. The former Church was converted into a second nave with a presbytery. In 1902, the new paintings of Stations of the Cross were purchased. In 1904, the parish priest J. Banevičiaus bricked an alms-house. In 1906, between the church and the rectory was built a bridge over the River Lėvuo. In 1907, a brick bell tower, with three bells in it, was built and the parish small library was established. From 1911 to1914, there was a Lithuanian Catholic Total Abstinence Society’s department. After the 1933 fire, the Church was repaired. In 1933, a hospice for retired priests was established, there from 1954 to 1976 lived and died a public figure, a priest Ph. D. Juozapas Čepėnas (1880–1976), who returned from the Vladimir Prison (Russia). Since 1981, the parish priest was Alfonsas Jančys (1921–1992) buried in the churchyard. From 1926 to 1929, the churchyard fence was straightened and raised. The bricked fence is plastered.