bsp;and turned into military barracks.
After the
January Uprising
of 1863, the former monastery church
was turned into a parish church of the
Eastern
Orthodox, even the new parish had only 75 Orthodox believers, mostly Russian
officials.
Such decision was part
of wider
Russification
campaign, that included the
Lithuanian press ban. In 1883, the
Orthodox church was reconstructed and acquired features of
Byzantine Revival. During World War I
most of the Orthodox community evacuated to Russia and the church was
abandoned. However, it was not returned to the Catholics – the church was
transformed into a hall for dances, concerts, and plays.
During World War II, Germans used the
former monastery as a camp for war prisoners.
In
1944, the monastery and its church were burned down and demolished.
The Jewish community built a wooden synagogue in Valkininkai at the end of the 18th
century. It was rebuilt in 1801.
According to a legend, Napoleon stopped in the town during his invasion of
Russia and was greeted by the Jewish community. Impressed with the hospitality
