The Kuliai Church

The Church of St. Bishop Stanislovas was built in 1900. The structure is an example of Classicism architecture. It also has a three-stage tower built next to it, which combines elements from Classicism, Baroque, and eclectic Renaissance.

The first wooden Kuliai Church was built by Stanislovas Vaina in 1644. The church was granted 15 voloks of land. The Kuliai parish was established in 1776 and the home for the emeritus was constructed 30 years later, in 1806.

The Kuliai Church was famous for its painting of St. Mary, which the church acquired in 1693. The parishioners believed that it could perform miracles.

Kazimieras Skrodzkis served as the priest in Kuliai from 1831 until 1874 and, in 1848, he became a parson. Skrodzkis published the Lithuanian Catechism in 1856. Moreover, he took care of the schools of the parish and of education in general. K. Skrodzkis secretly taught all of the inhabitants of Kuliai to read when the press was banned. He did this out of sight of the Tzar’s officers.

Vincentas Jarulaitis, a public activist and parson, served from 1893 until 1900, and Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas served as the vicar from 1898 until 1901. During his service, Kuliai became the central location of book smuggling across the Lithuanian-Prussian border. While living in Kuliai, J. Tumas-Vaižgantas was the editor of Tėvynės sargas, he wrote Pragiedruliai, and was involved in national movements and involved the locals as well.

Parson V. Jarulaitis took initiative and built the still standing brick Kuliai Church in 1900. The church was constructed in accordance with Karl Eduard Strandmann’s project. It was funded by Duke Mykolas Oginskis and the parishioners. However, the style did not really suit the people within the parish, so it was decided to build an additional tower, which was not in the original project. In 1918, bishop Pranciškus Karevičius consecrated the new church.

The church baulks were replaced with new ones in 1947. A wooden pentagon belfry stands in the church courtyard.

Sources: Plungės dekanato sakralinė architektūra ir dailė / compiled by A. Butrimas et al. – Vilnius: The Vilnius Academy of Arts, 2005. – p. 133-141.
Lietuvos katalikų bažnyčios / Kazys Misius, Romualdas Šinkūnas. – Vilnius, 1993. – p. 384-385.