The Archdiocese of Vilnius began to revive the ensemble of the Missionary Monastery. After the presentation and discussion of the project proposals with the public, valuable proposals were received regarding the preservation of the sacred heritage object, the purpose of the buildings, research and other issues.
"We care about preserving the heritage and opening it up to people. Churches confiscated during the occupations were returned in a deplorable condition. We aim to revive the ensemble of the Missionary Monastery by overcoming it: it is planned to create a pilgrim's house with hotel-type accommodation, and to adapt the church space for pastoral and cultural events. This facility will be focused primarily on pilgrims who are increasingly discovering Vilnius as the City of Mercy, but will also be open to all Vilnius guests. The complex will be managed and administered by the Office of the Economist of the Vilnius Archdiocese," says Vilnius Archdiocese Economist Mykolas Juozapavičius.
The current purpose of the building of the Church of the Ascension of the Lord will not be changed from religious, but the adjacent hospital, garage, and administrative buildings will be returned to their closest historical - religious purpose. In this way, this unique ensemble of buildings will be adapted to the purpose, which is the closest to the historical purpose of the monastery, - asserts Tomas Maknickas, head of development of the Vilnius Archdiocese's Economist Service. This purpose is determined for these buildings because they will primarily serve the needs of pilgrims.
It is intended to leave the existing way of using the plot of public land, no underground garages are planned. At the moment, the research of the object, which is necessary for the phase of project proposals, has been carried out, but the research will be continued during the development of the project. The aim will be to preserve the memorial memory of the Missionary Complex - to immortalize historical facts, events, personalities.
During the implementation of the project, the image of the Missionary monastery and the church ensemble will be preserved. The church, which has been closed for many years, will be opened to the public, and the territory will be improved. A similar example of the arrangement and implementation of a heritage object is the Vilnius St. Michael's Church and the Bernardini Monastery, where the Museum of Church Heritage, the "Arkangelo" Conference and Art Center, and other organizations are now successfully operating.
The ensemble of the Vilnius Missionary Monastery and the Church of the Ascension of the Lord is one of the most important architectural attractions associated with the cultural identity of the historical center of Vilnius. This exceptional ensemble is mentioned in the application for the inclusion of the Vilnius historical center in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
