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

SARCOPHAGUS OF ELZBIETA RADVILAITE. 1626 
Tin, cast, engraving
Kedainiai Area Museum

The sarcophagus was initially located in the crypt of Kedainiai Evangelical and Reformed Church alongside with the sarcophagi of her grandfather Kristupas Radvila Perkunas (1547-1603) and his grandchildren, the brothers of Elžbieta Radvilaite, Mikalojus (died in 1611), Jurgis (died in 1617) and Steponas (died in 1624). The Mausoleum of the Radvilos family, the Dukes of Biržai and Dubingiai, was moved into newly constructed Kedainiai Church after 1656 from Vyžuonai. In the turmoil of religious conflicts Kedainiai was the center of political educational and religious activity of Evangelical denomination. Evangelical and Reformed Church of Kedainiai has become the largest and the most important shrine of the Evangelical confession in Lithuania serving at the same time as the necropolis of the Radvilos family. Elžbieta Radvilaite (1622-1626) was the daughter of Kristupas II Radvila and Ona Kiškaite. The epitaph engraved on the cover of the sarcophagus testifies to the noble descent of Elžbieta as well as the pain that her death caused to her family. The epitaph echoes the words from the letter of her brother Jonušas written to their mother: But I would like to think that we did not lose her [Elžbieta] completely yet we did send her to heaven ahead of us. She stepped in front of us on the path paved by the choirs of angels to be embraced by her forefathers and we will never see her again except in the Paradise.

The décor of the sarcophagus also bespeaks of the firm belief in the afterlife. The circular shaped legs of the sarcophagus is the metaphor of eternity, succulent floral ornamentation is the symbol of heavenly vegetation, and the masks of lions become the guardians of the peaceful sleep of the deceased girl reminding also of her resurrection. Yet the most intriguing is the main motif of the heraldic eagle. The sides of the sarcophagus contain three identical heraldic emblems, the eagles with three horns on their breasts to symbolize the noble descent of the girl as well as the divine interference into her fate due to which she had been uplifted from the mundane existence into the eternal paradise of angels.

Information of the LAM

  © Lithuanian Art Museum, Fund of Samogitian Culture, Institute of Mathematics and Informatics 
     Comments, remarks send to:  samogit@delfi.lt
     Page updated 2011.08.12