Vilnius, 1739–1746

The rococo stucco altars that are currently in the Church of the Holy Cross were created from 1751 to 1753 after the fires that devastated Vilnius in 1748 and 1749. They replaced the burnt wooden retables with painted illusory decorations that had been put in place after the fire of 1737. At this time, the interior of the Church of the Holy Cross was being renewed from the ground up. It is likely that the carvings of the wooden altars made during this renovation are the ones that have survived, since the ornament style points to this period. The wings decorated with cutwork carvings had relics of the saints mounted inside them. Although small, the fragments of wooden altars from the first half of the 18th century are very valuable, because due to constant fires and decades of Russian repression, there are barely any wooden fittings left in the churches of Vilnius.