The Church of the Apostles St. Peter and Paul is an outstanding temple of devotion. Vytautas the Great established St. Peter's Church in Kaunas in 1411. This was Kaunas' third and most prominent Catholic sanctuary. Initially, the house of prayer held the status of the parish church of the city of Kaunas, but eventually became the location of the deanery, diocese, archdiocese, and metropole.
The sanctuary's history is integrally related to Lithuanian statehood, which includes the city of Kaunas and the Catholic Church of Lithuania. According to legend, the Kaunas Arch cathedral Basilica's dungeons link to Kaunas Castle. Tradition suggests a link between the Pažaislis monastery and the entrances of the "Acropolis" retail complex or the adjoining Carmelite church. Archaeologists are still searching for these dungeons, with only fragments found in Kaunas' Old Town. For example, the bishop's crypt is beneath the arch cathedral’s altar. The Bishop Motiejus Kazimieras Valančius, along with other notable saints, was buried here in the late 1800s. When the stone sarcophagi are lighted in the evening, coffins with keyholes can be seen within. It is likely that they were locked to prevent theft. The Kaunas Archcathedral Basilica also houses the bones of several other notable persons in Lithuanian history. This is the poet Maironis and the second cardinal in Lithuanian history, Vincentas Sladkevičius.
The oldest tombstone of the Kaunas archcathedral, St. Apostles Peter and Paul, is located on the Epistle side, near the main entry. The monument's Russian plaque reads that the burial belongs to Julia Tatishcheva, the wife of the Russian envoy to Austria who died in Kaunas. The woman's father, Pranciškus Kanopka, was a major in the Lithuanian army, while her mother, Ana, was a relative of Prince Kondė. The Tatishchev family's life was filled with excitement and worry: both husbands were unfaithful, and there were rumors of a divorce. Tatishcheva died as a result of a tragic event in Kaunas: she had planned to cross the river by ferry that night. The first ferry arrived safely on shore, and the second carried Apraksina and Bezobrazov's girls. Suddenly, a boat hindered the ferry. One of the carts fell into the river... Tatishcheva, who was waiting at the other bank, thought the girls had drowned. Even though the girls were not significantly harmed, Tatishcheva died as a result of the incident. The mother had a nervous fever and died in pain, separated from her husband and children. She was buried in Kaunas Cathedral. Even now, it is unclear why Tatishcheva's body was not sent to the capital by her husband.
Reviews