Alovės Švč. Trejybės bažnyčia ir parapija
ENAlovė town is located in Alytus district territory, near the main road connecting the Lithuanian capital Vilnius with Poland. Near the town there is Lake Alovė (76 ha in area), from which flows the 7.9-kilometer-long Alovėlė stream flowing into the Nemunas. The small town-church of Alovė has a big and deep past, as well as its own history. Archaeological finds suggest that people lived in the area two thousand years ago. The place name of Alovė is already mentioned in written sources in the 15th century. At the beginning of the 15th century, the castle and manor of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas stood here. In 1795–1863, Alovė was a large parish that connected the areas of Alovė, Daugai, and Nemunaitis, and even the city of Alytus. This wide range of districts was formed by Tsarina Catherine II of Russia. Marcijonas Aleksandras Oginskis (1632–1690), a Lithuanian nobleman from Alovė, was the Chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since 1684, and the Trakai Voivode since 1670. It is noteworthy that the famous nobleman was an Orthodox, and later adopted Catholicism. pted Catholicism. In 1797, a chapel was built in Alovė, and in 1802, a wooden church was built with the funds of the landowner Jokūbas-Kęstutis Gediminas. The landlord Gediminas family ruled the Alovė manor until 1940. The local Poles did not want to let the Lithuanians pray in the church, therefore, there were conflicts. On June 25, 1908, a case was heard in Varėna due to the fact that on November 25, 1907, the Poles interrupted Lithuanian services in the church with a scream. Four noisemakers were punished six days of arrest. This is how the famous court case called Alovė Case (Sprawa Oławska) ended throughout the Vilnius diocese. It is famous for the priest appeal to the secular court. From 1856 to 2019, 21 priests served at Alovė St. Trinity Church.The current pastor Stanislovas Stankevičius has been working in Alovė since 1976. On December 27, 1997, the Cultural Heritage Centre of the Republic of Lithuania enrolled Alovė St. Trinity Church complex in the Register of Immovable Cultural Property of the Republic of Lithuania as having architectural value. The complex consists of a church and a belfry next to it. The parish of Alovė church adjoins the parishes of Daugai, Nedzingė, Merkinė, Nemunaitis, and Alytus. The parish is large: 10 kilometres wide and 14 kilometres long. The Inventory Act of 1932 lists 40 parish villages and single farmsteads. Nowadays, there are 27 villages in Alovė parish, somewhere two villages merged, single farmsteads also joined the villages.
