EXHIBITION "CHRISTIANITY IN LITHUANIAN ART"
(28 December, 1999 - 31 December, 2003)

CHEST

Kaunas Archdiocese Siluva Basilica of the Nativity of the Virgin, Raseiniai region
The chest hidden in 1457 and containing foundation documents of Siluva Catholic Church founded by the Duke Petras Gedgaudas, the miraculous image of the Madonna of Snow and the liturgical objects of the old Siluva Catholic Church, (destroyed by the Calvinists in 1551) was discovered in 1612. The discovery followed the apparition of the Blessed Virgin in Šiluva in1608, the first apparition of Our Lady in Europe to be recognized by the Vatican. Since then onwards, the chest was housed in the newly rebuilt Siluva Church as a relique. In 1775, it was transferred to the chapel of Siluva Basilica of the Nativity of the Virgin. Bishop Motiejus Valancius rendered the story of the chest in his Diocese of Samogitia. The Rev. Stasys Yla in his study Siluva in the History of the Samogitians also writes of this chest.

Information of the LAM
 Picture by Danute Mukiene

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