Erected between 1694 and 1717 in Vilnius Antokol, the Church of the Heart of Jesus (also known as the Trinitarian Church) is one of the most interesting examples of central Baroque architecture in Central and Eastern Europe. It was founded by Casimir Jan Sapieha, Grand Hetman of Lithuania, as an ancestral mausoleum, as evidenced by its unique form and monumental character. The design of the church is attributed to the Italian architect Giovanni Battisca Frediani of Lucca, although there are no clear sources confirming the authorship.

The temple is distinguished by a central plan on a circular plan, with a large dome over the nave, which symbolically emphasised the monumentality and timelessness of the memorial function. The form is similar to that of the church in Stoczek Warmiński, built a few decades earlier as a votive offering for peace with Sweden Both buildings are characterised by perfect symmetry, a concentration of space under the dome and the absence of a separate chancel. In Vilnius, the interior clearly served as an ancestral mausoleum, although the founder was never buried there, a peculiar paradox.

The façade of the church is segmented by pilasters and flanked by slender towers with pyramidal helmets, and houses a unique iconographic motif - a frieze with reliefs depicting Christian knights imprisoned by the Turks. This is a direct reference to the mission of the Trinitarian Order, who ransomed Christians from Muslim slavery from the late 12th century onwards.

The interior of the church is organised around eight monumental pillars, with semi-circular altar niches arranged between them. The upper part of the walls is crowned by arched window openings. All this is topped by a massive dome with an octagonal lantern, filled with clearances. This design enhances the impression of light, height and sacral centrality.

An unusual architectural solution is the sacristy, placed not on the side but transversely behind the main altar, which reinforces the symmetry of the layout. This departure from typical monastic patterns indicates the church's unique status as a mausoleum, not just a place for liturgy.

The church was originally decorated with rich stucco decoration, the authorship of which was once attributed to Pietro Peretti. However, this thesis is now being doubted by researchers.

In 1812, the church was plundered by Napoleonic troops, and after the takeover of Vilnius by the Soviet authorities, it was closed. It was not until 1993 that the church was returned to the Trinitarians, and since then intensive restoration work has been carried out. The interior still requires considerable restoration work, but the renovated façade restores the former splendour of this unique monument of Baroque sepulchral art.

After the fall of the January Uprising in 1864, the temple was converted into an Orthodox church by the Tsarist authorities, and part of the decoration, including the altars and the tomb monument of Prince Aleksander Sapieha, was destroyed. Later, an unsightly porch was also added, which partly obscures the original frieze of the façade.

Of the preserved furnishings, it is worth mentioning the late Baroque altars, today unfortunately devoid of most of the original paintings and sculptures. In one of them, the painting 'Jesus, I trust in you' was placed in recent decades, while the statue of Christ of Madrid was moved to the church of St Peter and St Paul.

For more information, see the text by Karol Guttmejer