Hidden for 200 years vast Baroque murals rediscovered in Vilnius Saint John Church

Researchers have uncovered more than 2,000 square meters of original Baroque Christian murals hidden beneath layers of paint for over 200 years inside St. John’s Church at Vilnius University in Lithuania. The discovery at the Church of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Apostle and Evangelist reveals an almost untouched 18th-century vision of Catholic worship.

Lead conservator Indrė Valkiūnienė stated that seeing the first painted figures immediately signaled the team had found something extraordinary. The preserved murals make the church one of the most authentic surviving Baroque interiors in the Baltic region. The find provides new evidence that Lithuania served as an important center for the shared Christian artistic traditions of Europe.