Holy Mother of God the Protector Old Believers Mosque of Lukošiškė

A modest Russian Orthodox Church of the Protection of Our Most Holy Lady in Lukošiškės was built in 1912. It is a prayer house of the Old Believers’ religious community (the Pomorian Old Orthodox Church of Lithuania). After World War I Lukošiškės was annexed by Poland as part of Vilnius region. During the interwar period, the brothers Georgij and Dementij Antipovich served as the priests of Lukošiškės Parish. After their death, the most prominent parish priest Zinovij Zubkov (1898-1981) worked in Lukošiškės. In 1930s, Arsenij Pimonov (1863-1939), the President of the Supreme Council of the Old Orthodox Church, visited Lukošiškės and attended the service there. Zinovij Zubkov worked in Lukosiskes for approximately 45 years, and a most prominent figure of the Pomorian Old Orthodox Church. In 1961, by the Supreme Council of the Old Orthodox Church of Lithuania elected this clergyman as a member of the Spiritual Court and the Chairman of the Revision Commission. Thanks to the community, the church was included in the Register of Cultural Values.

The small church of typical folk architecture is built on a plastered field stone masonry plinth. It is of rectangular layout and has one room and a porch. A two-sided roof with wide eaves is covered with steel sheets. The church has a cornice along the entire perimeter of the eaves. A small rectangular window is installed in the pediment panel of the main facade and is boarded. A rectangular belfry-turret with square sound holes and a rather flat four-sided roof with a cross is above the pediment. The completely blind front facade is adorned with a double-leafed door with blacksmith’s hinges and herringbone boarding on the outside. There is an open porch in front of the door. The simple porch is supported by two rectangular poles, and has a triangular pediment and a two-sided roof with a cross. Decorative side facade windows are edged, have flat triangular dripstones and carved areas under the windows. The church is boarded horizontally.

The interior space of the prayer house is as modest as the exterior architecture. The interior includes a wooden vaulted ceiling with an upright strut forming a cross-piece. It also has wooden plank flooring installed. The wooden, two leaf interior door with slats and a glazed top has brass handles, a lock and a keyhole cover. The church is adorned with a wooden one-step elevation in the altar area and a painted wooden altar cross.

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