The massive buttresses and towering walls of this, one of the most impressive churches in Vilnius, are capable of providing defence as well as worship. After successive periods of extension and improvement in the 17th and 19th centuries, it came to a prosaic end when the Soviets converted it to a warehouse. The Bernadine community regained their building after independence, restoring it to its former glory, and adding trails for sightseers wishing to explore the complex.
