St. Anne's Church in Vilnius

St. Anne’s Church at the Bernadine Monastery is 500 years old and remains a prime example of Gothic architecture. At least 33 different types of bricks were used for the original facade ornamentation. Bricks were used because Lithuania did not have sandstone, limestone, or other types of natural building materials.

The Church of St. Anne was built for Anna, Grand Duchess of Lithuania, and wife to Vytautas the Great. The church was burned down in 1419 and then rebuilt in brick on the orders of the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Alexander I Jagiellon. Consecrated back in 1500, the facade seen today is largely unchanged since its reconstruction in the 1400s.

According to legend, the church is so captivating that Napoleon Bonaparte—who spotted the church during the Franco-Russian War in 1812—wished to carry the church home with him to Paris “in the palm of his hand.”

The church is under major internal repairs so we were not able to enter on the day we visited.Read more