"A painting chose this place — an 18th-century wooden church where Samogitian craft meets sacred landscape"
Church of St. Stanislaus
Beržoras, Telšiai County, Lithuania
Between two lakes in Žemaitija National Park stands one of Lithuania's oldest wooden churches, built where a miraculous painting of the Virgin Mary repeatedly returned to its chosen treetop. Constructed entirely with axe-hewn spruce logs, the Church of St. Stanislaus shelters a rococo interior within rustic walls. Fourteen Stations of the Cross chapels from 1760 — the only 18th-century Calvary in Lithuania outside Žemaičių Kalvarija — wind through the surrounding landscape.
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Quick Facts
Location
Beržoras, Telšiai County, Lithuania
Tradition
Site Type
Coordinates
56.0253, 21.8129
Last Updated
Feb 14, 2026
Learn More
The Church of St. Stanislaus was founded after a miraculous painting repeatedly returned to a treetop near Beržoras, and its 18th-century wooden construction and Calvary chapels make it a unique monument to Samogitian sacred culture.
Origin Story
A shepherd discovered a painting of the Holy Virgin Mary in a treetop near Beržoras. When priests carried it to the church in Plateliai, the painting vanished and reappeared in the same tree. The community built a chapel, then a larger church on the spot in 1746. Dean Juozapas Vaitkevičius of Plateliai funded the construction and in 1759-1760 established the 14 Stations of the Cross — the only 18th-century Calvary complex in Lithuania outside Žemaičių Kalvarija.
Key Figures
Dean Juozapas Vaitkevičius
Dean of Plateliai who funded the church's construction in 1746 and established the Stations of the Cross in 1759-1760
Samogitian axe-craftsmen
Unknown by name, the builders who constructed the entire church from hand-hewn spruce logs without saws, preserving a vanishing Samogitian building tradition
Spiritual Lineage
The church belongs to the tradition of Samogitian folk Catholicism, in which formal Catholic practice blends with local customs, dialect, and craft traditions. Its status as a filial of Plateliai parish (since 1747) connects it to the broader ecclesiastical structure of the Samogitian bishopric.
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