Chapel Pole of Aviliai II Village

Wooden monuments of Aukštaitija region are richly ornamented, they feature finely cut openwork ornaments: small circles, hemispheres, semicircles, serrated like saws, intertwined to look like squares, diamonds or other geometric patterns. The small forged ornamented crosses at the top are decorated with plant motifs. Although relatively recent, this cross is probably a replica of a previously decayed cross, restored in the region’s tradition. This is the kind of décor that can be seen in this piece of folk art: all the structural elements of the chapel pole, especially their joints and the corners are decorated with fine, openwork geometric or plant patterns. Even the pole planes are decorated with them.

In line with the old tradition of building chapel poles as tombstones, the Aviliai village chapel was built in a cemetery. To see how back at the beginning of the 20th century the old cemetery looked like, you only have to look at a painting Lietuviškos kapinės (Eng. Lithuanian Cemetery) by Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis painted in 1906, where countless forms of roofed poles, chapel poles, ornamented crosses, chapels and other wooden monumental tombstones created by cross crafters are enshrined in the dark of night.

This chapel pole was built in 1991 by the folk artist Kazimieras Nemanis. The wooden work of sacral art consists of two sections, a square section shaft adorned with carvings and high reliefs, and an open little chapel with the Pieta sculpture composition on top of it. The chapel roof is pyramidal, covered with tin, it is placed on ornamented corner supports, and a forged metal sun cross crowns the roof top. Decorative cornices and frame boards are on the shaft and the space under the roof of the chapel pole. The lower section of the quadrangular pole has the carved inscription: 2000 years of Mary above the high relief.

Detail