Klaipėdos Šv. Jono XVII a. bažnyčia

LT2006 m. Klaipėdos senamiesčio sklype Turgaus g. 37 BRIAI pagal tarp universiteto ir UAB „Invalda Real Estate“ pasirašytą sutartį vykdė archeologinius tyrinėjimus. Tyrinėjimų tikslas buvo aptikti ir ištirti sklype pagal istorinių šaltinių duomenis lokalizuojamą XVI a. pabaigos – XVII a. pradžios Šv. Jono (Johano) bažnyčią, lokalizuojamą buvusio Klaipėdos konditerijos fabriko teritorijoje [p. 258].

ENIn 2006 BRIAI excavated the lot at Turgaus St. 37 in Klaipėda’s Old Town. The late 16th – early 17th century Church of St. John (Johann), Klaipėda’s main church at that time, was located here on the grounds of a former Klaipėda confectionary factory. The most authoritative image of the church, which was demolished in 1706, is known from an anonymous 1648 map of Klaipėda. During the archaeological excavations the entire area under the factory’s former production building, a total area of 934 m2, was excavated as well as an additional 47 m2 plot in a herring sorting warehouse that was built in 1857 and stands on the NE part of the lot. The church had been built on an almost empty, damp lot (a former field), in the SE part of which were discovered the remains of a small wooden bridge (?) and jumbled rubble composed of 16th century charred roof and stove tiles. Of the church, only the stone foundation that is up to 1.7 m high and up to 1.5 m wide and sits on an oak grill, has survived. According to this foundation the church ran lengthwise in a NE – SW direction, was over 35 m long (its NE wall was not reached) and was 13.5 m wide with an entrance from the SW (city) side. The bottom part of the church’s walls was decorated with red, green, and yellow glazed ceramic tiles and the floor was brick.182 inhumation burials were excavated inside the church. The individuals had been buried in coffins with Christian rites and almost never with grave goods. Among the rarely discovered grave finds, the wax human figurine found in burial 23 and the drops of mercury (used for medical purposes) that were discovered in the stomach area in burial 164 should be mentioned. In the central part of the church closer to the altar, the remains of a brick 17th century crypt with the remains of 4 reburied individuals were unearthed. The church area on the city side was paved with an orderly stone pavement. After its demolition, the site was filled in the 18th–19th century with rubble and soil that contain abundant finds from that time: ceramic, glass, roof tile, stove tile, and Dutch pipe fragments, iron nails, and animal bones. A well 1.5 m in diameter with a bottom paved with boards was dug here and later filled with roof tiles. The excavations inside the warehouse established that this part of the territory had been created using fill soil in the 19th century. A huge (about 3 m in diameter) buried barrel that was connected with the herring sorting that had occurred here during 1857–1874 was discovered in the NE part of the warehouse.