House of Perkūnas, Gothic merchant house in Old Town, Lithuania.
House of Perkūnas is a Gothic brick building in Kaunas Old Town featuring tall pointed arches and vaulted ceilings throughout its interior. The walls display elaborate decorative details that reflect late Gothic craftsmanship characteristic of Hanseatic merchant architecture.
Hanseatic merchants built this structure around 1440 as their office in a major Baltic trading center. The Jesuit order later converted it into a chapel in the 17th century, marking a shift from commerce to religious use.
The building takes its name from Perkūnas, the Baltic thunder god whose worship was central to pre-Christian beliefs in this region. This naming reflects how older religious traditions shaped the identity of places even after conversion to Christianity.
The building sits in the center of Old Town and is easily reached on foot from nearby streets. Inside, visitors can move through rooms at their own pace to see the architectural details and any exhibits on display.
Workers restoring the building in the 19th century discovered a hidden idol of Perkūnas, the pre-Christian thunder god, concealed within its walls. This discovery inspired the building's current name and connected its long history to ancient Baltic religious beliefs.
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