Stanislovas Sedivojavičius, a wealthy town resident, donated the plot to the Franciscans. The townsfolk did not like it because their wooden houses were on the spot and it was customary to bury loved ones there (after all, in the Middle Ages, burials took place at the town wall; there were no cemeteries).
The outrage fuelled a protest against the rising St. George Church, which surpassed the city's greatest symbol, Kaunas Castle. The construction of one of Kaunas' oldest churches and a monastery, which began over 500 years ago, has also resulted in the devastation of the city's burial sites, with the remains of the deceased littering the ground everywhere. The monks would wrap them in linen and bury their bodies anew. The wealthiest people eventually realized that as the city grew, graves were being destroyed and robbed. This resulted in the burial of the deceased in church crypts, and the first cemeteries were established.
In 1634, the Kaunas Marshal Alexandras Masalskis residence and the monastery's the head office palace were built on this plot. Now used as the seminary's administration building. After his daughter Klara entered the Kaunas Bernardine Sisters' convent, Duke Masalski, the Governor of Minsk, purchased a city quarter near the Town Hall Square bounded by the King's Manor, the Papilys, and the Neris streets.
These restless medieval ghosts continue to prowl the streets of the "Little Vatican" today. They are the souls of slaughtered Kaunas residents, Cossack clergy, and desecrated ladies looking for their loved ones.
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