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The first wooden church was built by Stanislovas Vaina in 1644. A new brick parsonage church was built in 1750. Kuliai Church was famous for the Blessed Virgin Mary painting. Parishioners thought it was magical.
1831-1874 Kazimieras Skrodzki was the priest in Kuliai – he published Lithuanian catechism, took care of education, parish schools. The rectory had become the center of distribution of the forbidden Lithuanian press. With the concern of V. Jarulaitis in 1900, the present brick church was built. The parish was not impressed by the classicist church, so a tower was introduced which was not included in the project. The church was consecrated by Bishop Francis Karevich in 1918.
Underneath the brick structures that belonged to the church, archaeologists have discovered huge basements with fireplaces, as well as narrow tunnel-like openings in 2006. There were also heating systems – the chimneys from the fireplaces in the basements of the kitchen building were merged into one huge chimney. The vaulted cellars resemble small moons, and one tunnel-like niche rests on the foundation. The historical past and purpose of these dungeons is unclear.
The church is a classicist, plastered masonry with a six-column portico on the main facade, crowned with a triangular pediment. An antablement imitating a moral order surrounds the entire church. Above the pediment – a historicist-style tower that was not foreseen in the project. The church is a rectangular volume hall. The interior space is divided by rectangular massive pillars dividing the interior space into three naves, covered by decorated vaulted ceilings. Ornamented church walls with pilasters and pilgrims. A brick open-air churchyard fence was added to the church’s architecture. The three-part churchyard gate echoes the shape of the church façade. There is a wooden pentagonal chapel in the churchyard.
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