About the Church
The chapel at Gražiškiai stands in Gražiškiai village, about 4 km east of Barzdai, in the Šakiai Deanery. The plastered masonry church, in vernacular architectural style with a tin roof, has a rectangular nave leading into a three-walled apse, and above the main gable rises a square wooden bell tower with a pointed roof.
The chapel was built in 1795 by the Carmelite administrator of the Griškabūdis filial church, priest Jeronimas Šateika, assisted by local farmers. In 1826 the Holy See granted the chapel the feasts of St Mark and of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the Soviet era the feast of St Mark was celebrated until 1968, later replaced by the feast of the Holy Name of Mary.
The interior of the chapel is adorned with a cylindrical wooden vault and a two-tiered carved altar with paintings of the Sapiega Madonna and of St Mark. In 2009 the chapel and cemetery were put in order, and in 2015 the church was entered in the Register of Cultural Property and the bell named after St Mark was returned.
The chapel was built in 1795 by the Carmelite administrator of the Griškabūdis filial church, priest Jeronimas Šateika, assisted by local farmers. In 1826 the Holy See granted the chapel the feasts of St Mark and of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the Soviet era the feast of St Mark was celebrated until 1968, later replaced by the feast of the Holy Name of Mary.
The interior of the chapel is adorned with a cylindrical wooden vault and a two-tiered carved altar with paintings of the Sapiega Madonna and of St Mark. In 2009 the chapel and cemetery were put in order, and in 2015 the church was entered in the Register of Cultural Property and the bell named after St Mark was returned.