Error in Saint Louis' Age Revealed by Tree Rings

Dendrochronology and computer tomography experts have been able to determine the exact time of manufacture of a wooden sculpture of St. Louis. It was found in one of the churches in Vilnius.

Dendrochronology, 2025

Dendrochronological dating refutes the earlier hypothesis that the sculpture was created in the first half of the 17th century or even in the 16th century.

There was no exact time of the statue's creation, no documents have survived. Now, an exact date has been established by analyzing the annual rings. This is written about in the article Dendrochronologia .

"The presence of 87 growth rings indicates that the most likely date of carving is the period from 1728 to 1736. Dendrochronological dating refutes the earlier hypothesis, according to which the sculpture was created in the first half of the 17th century or even in the 16th century," the scientific paper reports.

The statue of Saint Louis was discovered above the sacristy of the Church of Saint Nicholas around 1970. Its origin is unknown.

To check the assumptions about the age of the sculpture, the sculpture was transported from Vilnius to Kaunas. There it was scanned using an industrial computer tomograph. A series of annual rings in the widest part of the statue were also obtained using a portable digital microscope.

The statue turned out to be at least a century younger than previously thought. It is noteworthy that the veneration of St. Louis in Lithuania increased in the 18th century.

Research has shown that the statue was made from common pine, which was possibly cut down in what is now northeastern Lithuania, southern Latvia, or northern Belarus.