Friday Church

The first stone Christian church in Vilnius is the Orthodox Friday Church. It is located at the crossroads of Bolshoi and Zamkova streets, in the old part of the city. This church became famous due to the fact that here the Russian Emperor Peter the Great, during the Northern War, held a prayer service in honor of the victory over Charles XII, King of Sweden. Also, some sources mention that the temple was given banners captured from the Swedes. Another significant event in the history of this church is the baptism of arap Hannibal, who was the great-grandfather of A. S. Pushkin. All these events are written on a memorial plaque near the entrance to the temple.

From ancient sources it is known that in ancient times on the site of this church was located the pagan temple of Ragutis - the Lithuanian god of drunkenness and fun. But by decree of the wife of Prince Olgerd - Maria Yaroslavna, it was destroyed, and in its place an Orthodox church was built in the likeness of ancient Kiev churches.

During its existence, the temple has repeatedly suffered from fires and robberies, but, despite this, it has preserved an ancient carved iconostasis made of wood, as well as many icons of the 15th and 16th centuries. Currently, services in the church are conducted only on Sundays and in Lithuanian.