Rukainiai
History
Rukainiai is known from 1440 when Grand Duke Sigismund Kęstutaitis donated the village to the Archdiocese of Vilnius. Bishop Paweł Holszański, a member of the Lithuanian princely Olshanski family, sponsored the construction of a wooden church in 1538. In the 18th century, there was a parochial school in Rukainiai. The church was destroyed during the French invasion of Russia in 1812. It was replaced by a Romantic style stone church built in 1823, the Church of St. Michael the Archangel. Paweł Ksawery Brzostowski, famous as the founder of the Republic of Paulava, served as a priest in the newly built church.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a0/Orthodox_church_Rukainiai.jpg/220px-Orthodox_church_Rukainiai.jpg)
For several years there was also a Russian Orthodox Church in the town, the Church of the Protection of the Holy Virgin, which was built in 1868 but destroyed in 1918.
Rukainiai is famous for its Christmas and Užgavėnės traditions.
References
- ^ "2011 census". Statistikos Departamentas (Lithuania). Retrieved July 23, 2019.
- ^ Gajewski, Mirosław. "Z dziejów miasteczka Rukojnie". archiwum2000.tripod.com/517/. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
- ^ "Rukainių seniūnija | Vilnijos vartai". vilnijosvartai.lt. Retrieved 2019-07-23.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)