The Baptism of Lithuania A.D. 1387
The Baptism of Lithuania A.D. 1387
Near Gediminas' castle, beneath the sacred grove, on the banks of the Neris, the temple of Perun was demolished - the statue of the idol was knocked down; in its place, a cross was erected - the emblem of redemption in Christ.
Sacred fire swept from the altar, the clergy extinguish it - armed guards crush the snakes.
On the purified altar, the church clergy set up a triptych with Our Lady of Ostrobramska image 25; a West Gothic souvenir, brought with its apparatus and from Poland by the Queen.
Jadwiga, gazing at the face of the Saviour, holds a chalice, which she hands to Jędrzej Wasili Jastrzębiec, Bishop of Vilnius, newly created by Jagiełło, a monk of the Rule of St. Francis and an eloquent preacher.
Two rivals in the governance of Lithuania, the non-native brothers Skirgełło, the Duke of Troki, and Vytautas, the Duke of Grodno, are setting up a dispute on the sidelines.
The queen's squire by the horse is puzzled by the stubborn adherence of the pagan Lithuanian woman, weeping over the orphaning of the snakes to whom the rest of the milk from the bowl is poured by the priest Znicz sitting on the ground, leaning against a felled oak.
Task: Jan Matejko
Co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage
https://mnk.pl/exhibitions/matejko-the-painter-and-history