St Anne's Church and the Bernardine Complex in Vilnius: Architecture, Garden and Treasury

In this guide

💡 The Short Version: On Maironio Street beside the Vilnia River, St Anne’s Church (Šv. Onos bažnyčia) is a late Gothic red-brick church. Entry to both St Anne’s and the adjoining Bernardine Church is free (Vilnius Tourism); St Anne’s is closed on Mondays and opens in the afternoon from Tuesday to Friday (from 16:30). Behind it stands the fortified Gothic Bernardine Church, and the Bernardine Garden has nine hectares of riverside paths. A short walk away at Šv. Mykolo g. 9, the Church Heritage Museum Treasury costs €10 (bpmuziejus.lt) and shows the gold liturgical vessels hidden on the eve of World War II. Or book a tour: Vilnius: Old Town Walking Tour with Local Guide & Chocolatead (from €21, 4.9 stars from 26 reviews) is a 2.5-hour Old Town walk with a local guide, a way to see St Anne’s in the context of the rest of the Old Town.

⚠️ St Anne’s is closed on Mondays and open only in the afternoon on weekdays. Both St Anne’s and the Bernardine Church are active Roman Catholic churches, so sightseeing stops during services.

Visiting St Anne’s Church: tickets, hours and architecture

Completed between 1495 and 1500, St Anne’s was originally commissioned as a private court chapel by Grand Duke Alexander Jagiellon. Its red-brick exterior has remained almost unaltered for over 525 years, through the wars and fires that swept repeatedly across Vilnius.

St Anne’s is open Tuesday to Friday 16:30 to 19:00, Saturday 10:30 to 19:00 and Sunday 09:00 to 17:00, and closed on Mondays (govilnius.lt).

The Bernardine Church opens earlier and later: Monday 09:00 to 18:00, Tuesday 07:30 to 18:00, Wednesday to Friday 07:30 to 19:00, Saturday 08:30 to 19:00 and Sunday 08:30 to 18:00.

The Gothic brickwork

St Anne’s is known for its brick:

• 33 brick profiles: The tracery is not carved stone. Local craftsmen made thirty-three different moulded clay bricks, curved, bevelled, fluted and stepped, and laid them in lime mortar to form lancet arches and slender hexagonal pinnacles.
• The facade: The main western facade is framed by two tall corner turrets and a central gable of three intersecting arches, which echo the “Pillars of Gediminas” (Gediminaičių stulpai), the dynastic symbol of the Grand Dukes.
• The interior: Inside, the church is compact. After a fire in 1564 the roof was rebuilt in early baroque forms; the interior has three 18th-century stucco altars, a stone baptismal font and a wooden organ loft.
• The neo-Gothic belfry: The red-brick bell tower beside the church was designed by the Russian-born architect Nikolai Chagin and built in 1873, in the style of the 15th-century brickwork.

St Anne’s Church at night. Photo: Mojmir Churavy, Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

The Bernardine Church and Monastery complex

Standing directly behind St Anne’s is the Church of St Francis of Assisi and St Bernardine, commonly known as the Bernardine Church (Bernardinų bažnyčia).

Built by Franciscan friars (Bernardines) between 1469 and 1520, it was fortified because Vilnius had no defensive walls along the Vilnia River in the late 15th century:

• Defences: On the northern and eastern exterior walls, look for loop-holes, battlements and shooting galleries where archers and musketeers could repel attackers.
• Crystal vaulting: In the side chapels and the former monastery refectory, the ceilings have Gothic crystal rib vaults (kristaliniai skliautai), a geometric masonry pattern that gives the ceiling faceted, prismatic surfaces.
• 14 carved wooden altars: The interior keeps fourteen 18th-century wooden altars with gilded acanthus leaves, crucifixes and baroque statues of saints.
• 16th-century wall paintings: During conservation work in the 1980s, restorers removing Soviet-era whitewash uncovered Renaissance murals from around 1520, showing the Crucifixion, Saint Francis preaching to birds, and the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin Mary.

The neo-Gothic belfry beside St Anne’s Church. Photo: Mojmir Churavy, Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

The Church Heritage Museum Treasury (St Michael’s)

At Šv. Mykolo g. 9 stands the Church of St Michael the Archangel, a Renaissance church consecrated in 1629 and a former Bernardine convent. Today it houses the Church Heritage Museum (Bažnytinio paveldo muziejus, bpmuziejus.lt).

• The hidden cathedral treasury: On the eve of World War II the treasures of Vilnius Cathedral were concealed so well that they stayed missing for almost half a century, until their rediscovery in 1985.
• The collection: Golden liturgical vessels from the 14th century onwards, set with pearls and gemstones, and church textiles. Another room covers seventeen religious orders of Vilnius, including the great monstrance of the Bernardine Church, which was hidden from the Russian army in the convent garden in 1655.
• Tickets and hours: Adult admission is €10; the reduced ticket is €5 (bpmuziejus.lt). The museum is open Tuesday to Saturday from 11:00 to 18:00, and closed on Sundays, Mondays and public holidays.

Bernardine Gardens

Behind the Bernardine monastery wall, between the foot of Castle Hill and a bend of the Vilnia River, lies Bernardine Garden (Bernardinų sodas).

It began as monastic herb and vegetable plots cultivated by Franciscan friars in the 15th century, and was redesigned in 1888 by the artist Vladislovas Štrausas as a public park. It was restored in 2013:

• The musical fountain: The circular fountain on the main promenade performs a water and light show to classical music several times a day in summer.
• Planting: Beds of monastic medicinal herbs, a rock garden, perennial flowerbeds and weeping willows along the riverbank.
• Facilities: Entry is free. There are chess tables, children’s playgrounds and seasonal ice-cream kiosks. A pedestrian footbridge crosses the river from the park into Užupis.

The nave and baroque altars inside Bernardine Church. Photo: Diliff, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Tours and guided walks

Vilnius: Old Town Walking Tour with Local Guide & Chocolate

From €21 · 4.9 stars from 26 reviews · 2.5 hours · local guide and chocolate tasting

Vilnius: Old Town Walking Tour with Local Guide & Chocolatead: a walk through the Old Town led by a local, covering the city’s history, everyday life and hidden corners, with chocolate as part of the tour.

Vilnius: Old Town Walking Tour with Local Stories

From €25 · 4.9 stars from 20 reviews · 2.5 hours · Old Town with a local guide

Vilnius: Old Town Walking Tour with Local Storiesad: a local guide takes you through the Old Town for its history, architecture and local legends.

Vilnius: Guided Baroque City Tour

From €30 · 5.0 stars from 5 reviews · 2 hours · St Theresa’s, Dominican Church and the cathedral

Vilnius: Guided Baroque City Tourad: a guided tour of Baroque Vilnius, visiting the Church of St Theresa, the Dominican Church and the cathedral.

Official ticket or tour

Practical visiting tips

• Light for photos: The main facade of St Anne’s faces west towards Maironio Street, so mid to late afternoon, between 14:00 and 17:00, lights the red brick.
• Getting there: The ensemble is at Maironio g. 8–10, a 7-minute walk south-east from Cathedral Square. The nearest bus stop is Dailės akademija (Vilnius Academy of Arts).
• Footwear: The courtyards and riverside paths are cobbled; wear flat shoes.

What to see next

• Republic of Užupis Guide: over the footbridge across the Vilnia, the self-declared artists’ republic.
• Three Crosses Monument: up the wooded steps of Bleak Hill from the garden.
• Vilnius University and St John’s: 5 minutes’ walk west along Šv. Mykolo Street.
• Gate of Dawn: south through the Old Town to the pilgrimage chapel.
• Vilnius City Guide Hub: the city overview.

Common questions

Is entry to St Anne's Church in Vilnius free?

Yes. Entry to St Anne's Church and the adjacent Bernardine Church is free. You pay (€10 adult, €5 reduced) only for the Treasury of the Church Heritage Museum in the nearby Church of St Michael.

What makes St Anne's Church architecturally famous?

Its late Gothic red-brick facade has stayed almost unchanged for five centuries, and Vilnius tourism describes it as probably the city's most famous building (govilnius.lt). The western facade uses thirty-three different moulded brick profiles to form its arches, pinnacles and turrets.

Did Napoleon really want to take St Anne's Church to Paris?

According to popular legend, Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was so captivated by St Anne's during his 1812 Russian campaign that he wished he could place it in the palm of his hand and transport it back to Paris. In reality, French cavalry forces used the church as a warehouse and horse depot.

What are the opening hours of St Anne's Church?

St Anne's is open Tuesday to Friday 16:30 to 19:00, Saturday 10:30 to 19:00 and Sunday 09:00 to 17:00, and is closed on Mondays. The Bernardine Church is open daily, from 07:30 on Tuesday to Friday and 08:30 on weekends (govilnius.lt).

What can you see in the Bernardine Garden?

The Bernardine Garden (Bernardinų sodas) is a 9-hectare public park beside the churches along the Vilnia River, with walking paths, rose beds, a musical fountain and views up to Castle Hill.