Building and renovation history of Vilnius and Kaunas churches: dendrochronological dating and historical sources

Abstract

We present the application of dendrochronological dating of the renovation and reconstruction works of the churches in the Kaunas and Vilnius regions of Lithuania. Researchers in Lithuania investigating the pieces of art and architecture very often encounter with the lack of reliable historical sources. This is because many written sources were lost during various historical devastation events, wars, disturbances and occupations. The remaining sources were dispersed not only among different Lithuanian institutes, but are also stored in archives in Poland, Russia, Belarus, Germany, France, etc. Therefore, Lithuanian art historians and architects often should trust the formal analysis method and attribution application, i.e. analysis of style, materials and ornaments, but not the written historical sources. Hence, the attribution results are determined by professional experience, which does not protect from mistakes. Therefore, dendrochronological dating of wooden constructions may complement the historical knowledge and architectural investigations. We have investigated the timber (containing a part of sapwood) collected during the Soviet times from 10 gothic and baroque churches and the Kaunas City Hall, which was an Orthodox church in the 19th century. Five churches are locted in the Kaunas region and five in the Vilnius region. The dates received from the earlier dating were revised considering the recent results of the pine sapwood estimation.