The former village of Skorule is today a suburb of the town of Yanivė in Lithuania. In the former estate of the Skorulski family, a church was built from their foundation. Today, it is the only witness to history and a unique monument not only of today's Lithuania, but also of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Founder of the church

The former Lithuanian village of Skorule (Lithuanian: Skaruliai) in the Kaunas region is now an industrial district of the city of Yanivas (Lithuanian: Jonava). From 1513, it was the property of the Skorulski family of the Kościesza coat of arms, continuators of the old Lithuanian Skorulski family. One of them was Andrzej vel Jędrzej Skorulski (d. 1637), Marshal of Kaunas, Member of Parliament and Knight of the Holy Sepulchre (lay member of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre). He founded the brick temple in Skoruli, which has survived to this day. On the basis of an inventory from 1716, it is assumed that it was built in the years 1620-1622. However, it is reasonable to assume that this happened earlier, towards the end of the 16th century, soon after the founder's return from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, which he undertook in the years 1582-1584 in the retinue of Duke Mikołaj Krzysztof Radziwiłł, nicknamed Orphan. The visit to Jerusalem became the immediate inspiration for Andrzej Skorulski to make the foundation.

Architecture of the church in Skoruli

The Skoruli church of St Anne, oriented, occupies a central position in the surrounding cemetery and is its dominant feature. It is an integral part in the composition of the whole, surrounded by a brick wall covered with white plaster. In the corner of the cemetery, where numerous tombstones with Polish inscriptions can be found, rises a brick neo-Gothic bell tower from 1898.

The church is a massive Gothic towerless building. The church is a massive Gothic building without towers, probably designed by an architect from Kaunas (its form resembles that of the temple built a little earlier, in 1578, in Sapiezyszki, Zapyškis, on the Nemunas). Built of brick, on a rectangular plan extended by a trapezoidal presbytery, it has a steep gabled roof covered with red tiles. The façade of the church with a triangular pediment with four rows of different sized blendes (blind recesses), plastered in white, is crowned by a light openwork iron cross set on a sphere. Above the entrance portal can be seen, recalling the founder's peregrinations, a Jerusalem cross in a framed cartouche, made of lime-sand material in the form of a scroll with rolled edges. Each side wall of the church has five slender windows with rounded arches, deeply set into the white plastered wall and framed by brick arcades.

Furnishings of the church in Skoruli

The interior of the church consists of a rib-and-cross vaulted nave, preceded by a porch, and two similarly vaulted side aisles, each separated by three octagonal columns and lit by a row of five windows. The walls and vault, once dark in colour, have a newer white painted covering. Only the chancel vault shows a surface-mounted, 19th-century painting depicting God the Father.

The temple is equipped with three wooden altars, dating from different periods. The Mannerist main altar dates to the first quarter of the 17th century and is flanked by two windows in the chancel walls. The three-storey altar set on a massive undecorated predella with a tabernacle in the middle attracts attention. Its finial is dominated by a cross set on a plaque with a Jerusalem cross (another sign of the founder's sojourn in the Holy Land) surrounded by two putti. The upper tier contains a painting of the Virgin and Child. In the middle section, in the arcades with gilded arches, two 17th-century statues are set up: of St Sophia with her children and St Barbara. In the lower one, a painting depicting a learning Mary with her parents, St Anne and St Joachim, was placed in the central arcade. The work is dated 1857, by Leopold Nowotny (d. 1870). On the other hand, in similar side arcades are sculptures of St Andrew and St Nicholas, both from the 17th century.

The other two altars are of later provenance. In the left side aisle, the altar of the Saviour has early Baroque features, made in the third quarter of the 17th century, with a painting in the lower tier depicting Christ. It is the work of an unknown painter and bears the signature "1859 29 May. Skorule". Higher up are two sculptures depicting bishops. The Baroque altar of the Virgin Mary and Child in the right side-nave is much later, dating from 1782. It was painted by an unknown artist on the basis of a copperplate engraving (by Aleksander Tarasowicz, ca. 1640-1727) of the miraculous image of the Virgin Mary and Child, which was then in the church in Skoruli. This painting, brought from Rome (or the Holy Land) by the church's founder, disappeared in the 18th or 19th century. The present painting of the Skoruli Madonna, which is in the church, was repainted in 1906. (after damage to part of the church interior in a fire) by Konstanty Górski (1868-1934). The wooden statues of St Joseph, St Genevieve, St Brigid and St Roch in the upper tier of the altar were made in the same year as the altar. On the other hand, the painting of Mary with a burning heart and the statue of Mary above it are much younger.

The nave, above the entrance to the church, is closed by a music choir with a modestly decorated full balustrade. The organ with a Baroque prospectus is located here. On the other hand, an antique organ cartouche with the inscription is kept behind the organ cabinet: "Laudate Eum in Chordis et Organo. Psl.150" ("Praise the Lord on strings and organ, Psalm 150"). Other interior features include a pulpit (17th century), two stalls (17th century), a wooden carved baptismal font (17th century) or two feretrons: Christ/Christmas and Mary/Mary with Child (both 19th century).

The church is also furnished with a number of early 17th century wooden sculptures from the first half of the 17th century at the main altar (e.g. St James), in the presbytery (St John and St Peter) and in the niches of the side aisles. The paintings in the church are also worth noting. These include oil paintings of St Michael (18th century, painter unknown) and St Francis (1906, painter Konstanty Górski) in the presbytery, the Revelation of St Anthony (painter unknown) in the left altar choir and 14 Stations of the Cross paintings in the side aisles (1862, pain. Ignacy Sidziniewski, known in Lithuanian studies as Sezenowski). Mention should also be made of the oil portraits of Scorulian parish priests in the sacristy: Ambrose Jamont and Stanislaw Szlagier. The historical inventory of the church also includes two drums - so called barabans (18th century), processional flags, lamps, a star and a cross (19th century) and argentaria - vessels, candlesticks and candlesticks (18th and 19th century).

Bells in the church in Skoruli

The original wooden church belfry was fitted with a bell by Andrzej Skorulski in 1616, which was probably lost during the Swedish Deluge. The present brick belfry, possibly erected by Waclaw Michniewicz of Zejm, once held three bells: two founded in 1670 by Marianna Skorulska (daughter-in-law of Andrzej Skorulski) and made by Ioannes Delamars, and a third, smaller one cast by Johann Samuel Wähner in 1810. At the beginning of the First World War, the bells were taken to Russia, and only two returned after the end of hostilities (the one made by Delamars was lost), as recorded in the 1929 inventory of the church by its pastor, Fr Julian Szakenis.

The church in Skoruli, today the only witness to history in the now almost completely disappeared former town on the banks of the Neris River, is, due to its architectural form and rich original furnishings, a unique monument not only in today's Lithuania, but also in the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania.