Our Lady of Pivašiūnai
The Pivašiūnai Mother of God and Child, a painting with high artistic value, is the work of a Lithuanian artist from about the middle of the 17th century. Painted on beech wood boards, it portrays a dark-haired Virgin Mary clothed in a gown and with a gentle look on her face. With her right hand she embraces the Child, who is seated on her knees. In her left hand she holds a sceptre. The painting is of the iconographic type Dexiokratusa. Art specialists consider it a copy of a well known painting of the Blessed Virgin at the Benedictine church in Old Trakai.
In about the 1670s, Mary and the Child Jesus were honoured with crowns, and in 1750 the Pivašiūnai image was adorned with a covering of gilded silver. It was probably already considered miraculous at that time. People claim prayer before this painting has led to numerous cures and other extraordinary graces. The votive offerings that adorn the image are a witness to those graces.
