Chapel in the village of Niurkoniai

The chapel is about 5 km to the west of the village Pumpėnai, on the bank of the River Lėvuo. The churchyard is as a long rectangular. On the longitudinal axis, there is the gate and the chapel, connected by a path. The bell tower stands to the east of the chapel. The Chapel itself is of small volume, rectangular, there is only one nave. The presbytery is two-storey, underneath it there is a vaulted cellar for the bodies of founders’ family. The building’s walls are bricked with field stones, the surface is covered with small pebbles. The main façade is plastered. The chapel is of a Greek temple type when the exterior is more interesting than interior: the wall texture and the classicism forms are impressive. This is one of the most beautiful late Classicist chapels in Lithuania. The author is an architect Julijus Gross, the founder was the owner of the Niurkoniai manor Juozapas Vavžeckis. The chapel was opened on the 27 th December 1828 and it was dedicated to memory of one of the 1794 uprising chiefs, General Tomas Vavžeckis. In accordance with the religious canon, the picture of St. Tom was placed in the chapel and it was opened on Tomas Vavžeckis name day. Mr. Juozapas Vavžeckis received the Niurkoniai estate as a dowry to his wife, restructured it and built a new mansion with the chapel on the park edge. General Juozapas Vavžeckis, Mr. Siesickis, Mr. Juozapas Kazakauskas, Mrs. Kazakauskienė (mother), Mrs.Tokailienė, Miss Tokailaitė and Miss Janina Hopenaitė were buried in the chapel’s cellars. In the postwar period and later, the burial ground was ravaged and profaned. The property owners Kazakauskai made efforts to introduce the Feast of St. Aloysius (21 June), which is now updated. The churchyard is enclosed with a stone fence, tall trees are planted all around, and they dominate this empty flat landscape.