The Radziwiłł Mausoleum
in Nesvizh.
Research

According to researchers, the traditions of burial in crypts in Lithuania did not differ much from the common European trends (See more: Lithuania. History: Mausoleums and the Way of Crypts to Lithuania)¹Mindaugas Paknys, Mirtis LDK kultūroje XVI–XVII a., Vilnius: Aidai, 2008, p. 108.. The emergence of this tradition is associated with the baptism of the country. In 1430, after the official baptism of Lithuania (1387), the first funeral of the ruler took place: as described by Jan Długosz, the funeral rites of Vytautas the Great, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, lasted eight days and on the ninth day his remains were taken from Trakai Castle and moved to the Cathedral of Vilnius²Cited from Marija Matušakaitė, Išėjusiems atminti. Laidosena ir kapų ženklinimas LDK, Vilnius: Vilniaus dailės akademijos leidykla, 2009, p. 16.. The Lithuanian Chronicle (the Bychowiec Chronicle) specifies the duke’s burial place: “The King Jogaila mourned for the Grand Duke Vytautas and wept for him as a brother weeps for his beloved brother. He buried him wailing for the dead duke; there were all his servants and all bishops who sang religious hymns to the dead and his body was placed in the Castle of Vilnius, in the Cathedral of Saint Stanislaus, on the left side of the altar next to the entrance to the sacristy.”³Lietuvos metraštis: Bychovco kronika, Vilnius: Vaga, 1971, p. 117. It is known that the duke expressed his will to be buried next to his wife Ona who died in 1418. Hence, this means that at that time a special crypt for eternal rest of the most prominent statesmen had to be built beneath the Cathedral. It is believed that it was a frescoed crypt, discovered during research carried out in 1985. The place where the remains of Vytautas the Great lie is unknown today⁴Vytautas Urbanavičius, Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštystės valdovų ir didikų panteonas Vilniuje, Vilnius: Nacionalinis muziejus Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštystės valdovų rūmai, 2018, p. 60-70..

Beginning with the middle of the 16th century, the rulers and the most prominent noblemen were buried in sarcophagi (See more: Nesvizh. Sarcophagus) specially made for them. For example, the remains of Sigismund II Augustus (1520-1572, buried in the Wawel Cathedral, Krakow), was placed in a tin sarcophagus. In the 17th century the nobility were more and more often buried in metal sarcophagi, which were perceived as peculiar tombstones. Simultaneously monuments were erected and epitaphial plates were made for the deceased. People belonging to a lower social class were continued to be buried in wooden coffins, which were artfully decorated with paintings or compositions of forged nail heads⁵Marija Matušakaitė, op. cit., p. 22, 102-103..

Usually a long time passed from the death of the rulers or the nobility until their funeral, and the burial ceremony itself usually took another month. The afore-mentioned Sigismund II Augustus had to “wait” one and a half year until the place of eternal rest was equipped for him in the Krakow Cathedral⁶Ibid., p. 22, 72-73.. Therefore, seeking to forestall decomposition of the body, embalming techniques (See more: Nesvizh. Mummies) were used. This tradition became widespread in the 18th century to be followed by another fashion – to bury the heart of the diseased separately⁷Mindaugas Paknys, op. cit., p. 79, 107-108.. True, the fashion to bury the heart separately from the rest of the body reached Poland and Lithuania in as far back as the first half of the 17th century. One of the examples is as follows: in 1649, the body of the ruler Władysław IV Vasa was buried in the Krakow Cathedral and his heart and other internal organs were buried in the Vilnius Cathedral – such was the will of the deceased⁸Liudas Glemža, “Paskutinė Vladislovo Vazos kelionė į Lietuvą 1648 m.”, Lietuva–Lenkija–Švedija: Europos dinastinės jungtys ir istoriniai-kultūriniai ryšiai (series Lietuvos didžiųjų kunigaikščių rūmų studijos, vol. 21), compiled by Eugenijus Saviščevas, Marijus Uzorka, Vilnius: Nacionalinis muziejus Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštystės valdovų rūmai, 2014, p.452-453..

Dignitaries and servants of the Church, benefactors of churches and their relatives, wealthy and merited parishioners were buried in crypts; monks were buried in crypts of monastery churches. Burial crypts (cellars) were located underneath churches or in the chapels built next to churches. Sometimes people were buried in graves dug under the floor of the church. The coffins were lowered onto the earth, covered with dirt and finally the floor or a tombstone was placed on top. Burials in recesses were also popular. Bodies were buried in crypts in two ways: in its open space where luxurious sarcophagi were placed, or in burial recesses where the coffins were either placed or bricked up⁹Marija Matušakaitė, op. cit., p. 99-105, 270-271..

Beginning with the 17th century the nobility of Lithuania began to build separate family mausoleums ever more often¹⁰Ibid., p. 85, 88-89, 95-96.. One of the first mausoleums in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (See more: Nesvizh. History; Nesvizh. Tradition) was built by the Radziwiłł family in the Corpus Christi Church in Nesvizh. Members of their Nesvizh-Olyka line were buried there. The Evangelical Reformed churches in Dubingiai (did not survive) and Kėdainiai became mausoleums of Biržai-Dubingiai line of the Radziwiłł family¹¹Albinas Kuncevičius, et al., Radvilų tėvonija Dubingiuose, Vilnius: Vilniaus akademijos leidykla, 2009, p. 33-46.. Lew Sapieha (1557-1633) built a mausoleum in the Church of St. Michael the Archangel in Vilnius whose benefactor he was; Jan Karol Chodkiewicz (1560-1621) – in the Church of the Lord’s Revelation to Virgin Mary in Kretinga; Marcin Marcel Giedroyć (1545-1621) – in the Church of Saint Lawrence in Videniškiai where a special chapel with a cellar was built next to the sanctuary in 1631. The Church of the Holy Virgin Mary’s Visit to Elizabeth was started to be built at the end of 17th century in Pažaislis, and it also became a mausoleum of the family of its benefactor – Krzysztof Zygmunt Pac (1621-1684)¹²Aušra Blinstrubaitė, “XVII a. Pacų šeimos ir kamaldulių vienuolių laidojimo kriptų Pažaislyje išlikimas ir išsaugojimas”, Kauno istorijos metraštis, 2006, vol. 7, p. 43-62.. In the 18th century building of churches – mausoleums continued. For example, in the crypt of the Church of Saint Apostle Jacob in Kurtuvėnai, funded by Jakub Ignacy Nagurski (around 1734 – around 1796), members of the Nagurski family had to be buried¹³Salvijus Kulevičius, “Nagurskių giminės (Kurtuvėnų šakos) palikimas”, Kurtuva. Nagurskiai: garsios giminės istorija ir palikimas, 2006, vol. 8, p. 45-55..

At the end of the 18th century, small family mausoleums were started to be built in churchyards or graveyards at some distance from churches in Lithuania. This trend became especially widespread in the 19th century¹⁴Marija Matušakaitė, op. cit., p. 276-277.. For example, in 1893, Count Aleksander Tyszkiewicz (1864-1945), together with his mother Sofija, organised the construction of a Neo-Gothic brick chapel-mausoleum in the new cemetery in Kretinga. The chapel-mausoleum is the burial place of Count Józef Tyszkiewicz (1835-1891), one of the notablest aristocrats of Lithuania in the 19th century. His remains were embalmed and kept in the Saint George Chapel in the old cemetery, and in 1893 they were moved to the crypt in the new chapel¹⁵Jolanta Klietkutė, “Kretingos m. Tiškevičių šeimos koplyčia-mauzoliejus”, Kretingos krašto enciklopedija, 2018, [accessed 16.09.2019], [electronic], available at: https://www.kretvb.lt/enciklopedija/kultura/kulturos-paveldas/architekturos-paveldas/koplycios/kretingos-m-tiskeviciu-seimos-koplycia-mauzoliejus/..

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In the 17th century, during the period of Moscow invasion and wars with Sweden, many burial places located in Vilnius and other cities of Lithuania were destroyed and desecrated. Later wars and upheavals also left traces of their damaging effects in the history of crypts. However, the attitude of society itself to burials in churches and churchyards was also changing. Immediately after the collapse of the Republic of the Two Nations in 1796, the Empress of Russia Catherine II issued an order to move the cemeteries located in the churchyards of Catholic churches outside the boundaries of towns. Later, for hygienic purposes, Emperor Nicholas I issued an ordinance to remove the remains from the crypts and bury them in the ground¹⁶Marija Matušakaitė, op. cit., p. 14.. Although moving of cemeteries is associated with health and hygiene requirements, it also reflects the changed attitude of the living towards the deceased: the cemetery lost its former significance and the presence of the dead near the living became repulsive¹⁷Mindaugas Paknys, op. cit., p. 99-105..

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On 2 June 2018, the funeral urn of Michał Jan Henryk Giedroyć, a representative of the twenty-first generation of the famous Lithuanian noble family, was solemnly placed in the princely the Giedroyć family crypt in the Church of Videniškiai. By choosing the historical family mausoleum to be his eternal place of rest, the prince as though linked the presence with the past – we are rediscovering the centuries-old tradition of burials in crypts and are encouraged to think over the relationship of modern man with that legacy.

Justina Poškienė