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The Lithuanian-American community in Washington, D.C., celebrated Independence Day last week at the largest Catholic basilica in North America. It contains a chapel built by Lithuanian expatriate craftsmen over half a century ago, which tells the story of Lithuania.
The US capital city’s skyline is designed to be dominated by the Congressional Dome and the Washington Monument obelisk. However, a bird’s eye view of Washington, D.C., will quickly be drawn to the lines of the Basilica, no less massive as the city’s other landmarks.
This is the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the largest Catholic church in North America. Inside is arguably the most impressive Lithuanian chapel outside Lithuania.
It is the object of the long-standing fascination and research of Lithuanian-American J?rat? Maci?nait?-Landwehr. The chapel is a tribute to the Soviet occupation of Lithuania by émigrés who left the country during the Second World War.
“This is truly an asset for Lithuanians – not only is it a beautiful site, but first-class artists have worked here,” says Maci?nait?-Landwehr.
The mosaics were created by Vytautas Jonynas and Albinas Elskus, a Lithuanian-born artists who fled Lithuania during the war and came to the USA in the early post-war period.
The altar of the chapel, dedicated to the Virgin of Šiluva, is the work of the sculptor Vytautas Kašuba, who graduated from the Kaunas School of Art before the war, and afterwards also worked in a furniture workshop in New York.
On the walls and ceiling are stories about Lithuanian history and culture, rendered in intricate mosaics of glass pieces. On the ceiling are Lithuanian inscriptions such as “Trakai”, “Pažaislis” and “Vilnius Gate of Dawn”, which probably mean nothing to the many visitors who come here from all over the world.
On one of the walls there is a mosaic of St Casimir standing between the easily recognisable old belltowers of Vilnius, the coat of arms of the Lithuanian capital, and the inscription “Vilnius”.
The chapel tells not only the story of Lithuania, but also that of the people who built it.
“How terrible the Soviets were and how they tried to destroy not only Christianity, but also all culture in Lithuania,” says Maci?nait?-Landwehr, herself born in Germany to Lithuanian refugees and brought to the US by her parents as an infant.
It was only after the fall of the Iron Curtain that she first saw Lithuania for herself. Speaking of Soviet crimes, she points to a large mosaic by Vytautas Jonynas on the opposite wall, depicting a mass of Lithuanian exiles in Siberia.
In the corner of the mosaic, a cry for help is painted in Lithuanian and English: “Mary save us”.
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But how did the chapel come to be given to Lithuanians?
The Basilica’s decades-long construction was completed in 1961, but the future chapels were still only in blueprints.
It was at this time that Bishop Vincentas Brizgys, who had come to the country after the war, began a dialogue with other Lithuanians in the US. The community supported the idea of a Lithuanian chapel in the new Catholic church in Washington.
According to Maci?nait?-Landwehr, Bishop Brizgys assured the then head of the Basilica that the Lithuanian community was ready for a chapel there.
The space for this chapel was intended for the Greek community of Philadelphia, but they were unable to raise the necessary funds for the construction. The Lithuanian community promised to provide the funds and they did.
In all, the construction required USD 325,000. “In today’s dollars, it’s between 2 and 3 million,” she estimates.
Bishop Brizgys also appealed to Lithuanians across America for donations on the radio. The funds were raised over three years. The construction of the chapel was completed in 1966.
Its mosaics are symbols to the émigré generation that a new life has been created without forgetting the old. According to Geraldine Rohling, the Basilica’s curator, the chapel also shows “the desire to become part of the United States and to put your stamp on it by saying you belong here”.
More than half a century after the chapel was built, the stamp is still visible, as the Lithuanian community gathered at the Basilica this year for a mass to commemorate the Statehood Restoration Day on February 16.