Wooden church of the Most Holy Virgin Mary – Star of the Seas

In 1929, prelate Dr Jurgis Galdikas, who was an inspector and teacher at the Telšiai Theological Seminary, built a wooden church on the banks of the Sventoji River, one and a half kilometres from the emerging fishing port, at the homestead of his sister Monika Kaunienė, which he boarded up inside and out and covered with a galvanised tin roof. The builder himself drew up a plan for the church. He named the church “Stella Maris” – Mary, Star of the Sea. The title is expressed in an artistic painting above the altar. The story goes that in that year there was a great storm at sea, which caught the fishermen at sea, some of them drowned, others escaped.

To thank the Virgin Mary for saving them, the surviving fishermen brought the material for the church, prepared in the Klaipėda furniture workshop, to Šventoji by barge. From Sventoji, the material was transported to the construction site and set up there. As the distance between Palanga and Šventoji is 12 km, the builder entrusted his private church to the Bishop of Telšiai and allowed the inhabitants of the new town and the surrounding area to hold services. This became the nucleus of the later Šventoji parish. The church contains two local art monuments: a painting of St. Casimir (late 19th century, oil on canvas, author unknown) and a bell (brass) with the inscription “Mark Ulman, Königsberg, 1608”.

Address – Paupio g. 30 Palanga, (Šventoji)
+370 698 41330
klebonas@sventosiosparapija.lt