Skardupiai Church of the Virgin Mary, Christian Aid

Architectural values

In 1936, the priest Pijus Andziulis, a senior of Marijampolė Marion House, was summoned to the village of Skardupiai. Poor roads led to the idea of proposing to build a church and establish a parish in this place. On September 6, 1937, architect Romanas Steikūnas prepared a project of Skardupiai Church with a bell tower (the bell tower remained unbuilt). In the late 1940s, the Parish of Skardupiai was founded, and a year later st. Mass was perfromed in the new church. It is the only church in Lithuania built and consecrated in the first years of Soviet occupation. During the German occupation, during World War II, a brick cleric, an outbuilding and a parish house with a hall were built. All constructions were organized by the cleric Antanas Ylius, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1945.