Gate of Dawn
The Gate of Dawn ( also lace Gate; lithuanian Aušros Vartai, also Astria broma; Ostra Brama Polish, Belarusian Вострая Брама ) is one of the most important cultural and architectural monuments of Vilnius. It is also an important place of pilgrimage for Catholics and Orthodox and Uniate (ie Greek-Catholic ) Christians.
Description
The Gate of Dawn is located in the historic walled city of Vilnius.
From the city facing the interior side of a staircase leading to a gallery at the top of the door up, where a chapel with the venerated as miraculous icon of the Merciful Mother of God (Latin: Mater misericordiae, Polish Matka Boza Mercy, Belarusian Маці Міласэрнасьці ) is located. It is also known as " Mother of God in the Gates of Dawn " ( Lithuanian Aušros Vartų Dievo Motina ) or "Mother of God in the tips gate" (in Polish: Matka Boska Ostrobramska, Belarusian Маці Божая Вастрабрамская ) and are the patron saint of the Lithuanians and Belarusians, but also of Polish pilgrims worshiped deep.
The outside of the gate was provided at the top of a relief that the arms of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the so-called Vytis ( Lithuanian Pahonia; belarusian Пагоня ) shows. It is a white figure of a horseman on a dark ( red ) base, which carries a shield, on which a cross is pictured with two crossbars. For this coat of arms is also the national emblem of the Republic of Lithuania and the Republic of Belarus derive (up to 1995).
Name
About the origin of the name opinions vary. What is certain is that the door has always been known as " lace Tor". But also about the etymology of this name several versions exist. While some say it refers to the pointed Gothic tower essays that there was once, others believe the name was an allusion to a neighborhood in Vilnius ( the so-called top end, Polish Ostry Koniec ). It is also possible that the name comes from the small lane that narrows down heavily on the city inside the gate.
The name " Gate of Dawn " came only at the beginning of the 20th century in Lithuanian newspapers, but obviously has no relation to the compass, since the gate does not point to the east.
Another name is " Miedniker Gate" (in Polish: Brama Miednicka, Belarusian Медніцкая Брама ) because the road led from the gate to the 30 km from Vilnius remote location Miednik ( Lithuanian Medininkai ).
History
At the beginning of the 16th century, Vilnius was mounted on a joint decision of the Bishop of Vilnius and the city council with a city wall. Already in October 1503 the bishop could festive inaugurate the wall that encompassed the entire city.
The top gate itself was built from 1503 to 1522 in the Gothic style, along with five other gates (collectively, the town received nine goals). Some years after the completion of the actual door came over the archways add a facade with five loopholes and a gate structure in the Renaissance style, which is now graced by the " Vytis ", the arms of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
In the years 1621 to 1626 was directly next to the gate, on the city side, a Carmelite Monastery. In 1652, the icon of the Merciful Mother of God came to Vilnius and was housed in the peak gate. A separate chapel was at that time not yet available, there were only shutters that protected the holy image from the rain. In 1671, however, the Carmelite monks created through the archway a wooden chapel, where the icon was housed. In case of fire in 1706, the chapel remained intact. But already in 1715 destroyed another fire almost the entire city, including the wooden chapel. Therefore, a new stone chapel was built in 1722. It has since been rebuilt several times and restored last before the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1993. During the renovation in the 1830s, the chapel at the Gate of Dawn is a closed gallery with access to the church of St.. Theresa.
Icon of the Mother of God the Merciful
The icon of the Merciful Mother of God is one of Lithuania, Belarus and Poland 's most important shrines. It is considered miraculous and is one of the rare pictures of Madonna without child.
The creator of the icon is not known. It is sometimes the Krakow Master Lukasz attributed to the 1624 painted a similar picture for the Holy Krakow Corpus Christi Church. However, there are other versions about the origin of the icon, for example, that the Grand Duke Algirdas (Polish Olgierd ) they have brought from the Crimea.
A scientific study in 1927 revealed that the sacred image from the second half of the 16th century originated and was probably created by an Italian master.
The icon (165 × 200 cm ), which was painted on 2cm thick oak panels, received in 1671 a golden robe, so that only the face of the Mother of God and her hands are seen. The silver crescent moon beneath the statue of the Madonna is a votive offering from the year 1849.
On the head the Mother of God wears two gold crowns made of silver, with one seated on the other. One of them is decorated in the Baroque style, the other in the Rococo style. The solemn coronation of the icon was carried out in 1927 by a decree by Pope Pius XI. in the presence of high-ranking representatives of the clergy and the President of Poland Józef Piłsudski. Since 1928, the icon is in an especially made for them protection container.
On September 4, 1993 Pope John Paul II prayed here
The Gate of Dawn in the literature
The top gate, especially the image of Mary, were always sung and written by Polish, Lithuanian and Belarusian poets and writers in their texts.
- Adam Mickiewicz: Pan Tadeusz
- Maksim Bahdanowitsch: " Pahonja " ( Belarusian: Пагоня )