Archaeologists working in the courtyard of the Kretinga parish house have uncovered a previously unknown crypt during renovation planning.
“This vault, where we saw red bricks, identified for us that there should be some kind of basement or crypt remains,” said Simonas Sprindys, director of the Institute of the Past.
Excavations in the churchyard revealed remnants of rooms dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries.
“From about one and a half meters deep, there are practically only bones – no soil on the floor of that room. Thousands of bones, more than 20 skulls,” Sprindys said.
Only about one square meter of the space has been examined so far.
“The current conclusion is that we have either a crypt or an ossuary, which is similar to a crypt but without original burials – bones from decomposed remains were placed there. There are some analogs in Lithuania, including in Žemaitija. Such structures are called Kaulynės,” the institute’s director explained.
Until the 1800s, all baptised parishioners were buried in the churchyard, while the nobility were usually interred inside the church itself. When digging new graves, bones were collected and placed in the ossuary. A coin was also found among the remains.
The Church of Kretinga was built in the early 17th century, while the town itself dates back more than 800 years.
“Besides this beautiful city of Kretinga, which is above ground, there is also an underground Kretinga whose history has yet to be unraveled,” said parish priest Paulius Saulius Bytautas.
The municipality plans to allocate funds for further excavations in the churchyard, and anthropologists will study the remains.
“It’s very important historically to look at what is here, and we will look for and allocate money in the new budget. We hope we won’t be left alone in this – that the national budget will also help in some way,” said Kretinga District Mayor Antanas Kalnius.
There is one known crypt beneath the Kretinga church where, during the war with Sweden in the 18th century, townspeople were reportedly walled in.
“According to legends, more than 100 people from Kretinga – women, children, the elderly, and monks – were walled up here. How true that is is hard to say, but the fact is that we are all standing on bones,” said Kretinga guide Diana Jomantaitė Jonaitienė.
Legends about crypts and underground tunnels continue to circulate.
“In church documents – inventory records – several other crypts are mentioned. They really exist, and they exist beneath the altars. Generations have told stories about those crypts and tunnels – that there are tunnels under the church, under the monastery, and tunnels from the monastery to the manor,” the guide said.
Excavations are expected to continue next year, and once completed, the findings will be displayed to visitors.
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