Situated to the east of Vilnius, Antokol was once a suburb, picturesquely situated by the Neris on wooded hills interspersed with streams. There, from the 16th century onwards, away from the hustle and bustle, wealthy noblemen were keen to establish their suburban residences. Among them was Piotr Nonhard (c. 1550-1633), a builder and horticulturist of Vilnius. In the following decades, the manor was owned by Bishop Jerzy Tyszkiewicz (1596-1656), and later by the Great Hetman of Lithuania and Vilnius Voivode Michał Kazimierz Pac (1624-1682), who donated the estate to the Jesuits for the organisation of a novitiate. Those who survived the death of the founder sold the estate to his successor in office, Kazimierz Jan Sapiega (c. 1642-1720).

Sapieha energetically embarked on the reconstruction of the old manor house, and in fact created a huge area, reaching as far as Rakanciszek, on which stood the palace with a parade and vegetable garden connected by a system of five gates with representative and utility courtyards, the Church of the Lord Jesus (1694-1717) with the function of a mausoleum with a Trinitarian monastery, and a game preserve. Further on, a farmstead was organised with craftsmen's workshops, a brewery and a brickyard, which not only provided organisational facilities but also a source of income for the estate.

Interestingly, Sapieha also acquired a group of artists after Michał Kazimierz Pac, the founder of the nearby St Peter and St Paul's Church. Among them was the talented architect and military engineer Giovanni Battista Frediani, who designed the palace. During the work on a residence that would match the ambitions of its new owner, some of the old walls were demolished and some were incorporated into the new palace. This determined the location of the building, a two-storey building with a mezzanine, on an east-west axis. Enlarging its area with two-storey arcaded loggias in the side elevations linked by new tower annexes, it was decided to organise the façade on the west side, dedicating the area lying below to a garden. As a result of the retraction of the older walls, the residence is situated obliquely to the garden, which was laid out perpendicularly to the Dyneburg tract (today's L. Sapiegos g.), planning the entrance to the palace courtyard through the Vilnius gate, thus from the city side. This in turn determined the extension of the façade, which became asymmetrical with respect to the rear elevation, hiding an additional room in the front course. However, this is not only a procedure related to the enlargement of the palace, but above all to an optical correction, as this makes its asymmetry with respect to the garden unnoticeable at the side entrance to the residence.

The façade of the palace of Casimir Jan Sapieha originally had a triangular gable, replaced by a segmental one before 1759 (reconstructed). The exterior staircase leads to a vaulted vestibule, connected with a ceremonial wide staircase, which leads to the representative and residential part situated on the first floor. The main, and particularly noteworthy, two-storey hall was referred to as the "great table room". In 1795, it was described as a "square hall" and had an area of 150 m2. Its windows overlooked the garden, and the interior was also illuminated by loggia windows (measuring 98-100 m2). It was also communicated with rooms in the front tower annexes (33-38 m2) and two 'glass' rooms (86 m2) situated along the staircase. One of the latter was called the sideboard room in 1795, and the other was the location of the staircase leading to the upper floors. This room was also connected to the rear tract, where there was a 'great room' (in 1795 referred to as the 'dining room', 70 m2), connected to the bedrooms of the master and mistress of the house in the rear tower annexes.

The scheme of interior layout - formal hall on the first floor, residential flats in the corners - is typical of the second half of the 17th century and known from many examples in the Republic. It should be noted that the palace was richly furnished. In the study in the south-west annex, i.e. at the front, the walls were lined with expensive and at the time wildly fashionable Dutch tiles ("pokoj pokoszczany") with depictions of architecture and coats of arms. This was also the material used for the cookers of the representative floor, which was decorated with portraits. The walls were also decorated with expensive fabrics - tapestries, including coats of arms. Interestingly, the palace was equipped with a water supply system, extending from the cellars to the first floor. Pipes may have led to rooms that were associated with the function of the sideboard, i.e. the storage of dishes and a place where food was heated and placed on decorative platters.

Unfortunately, very little of the original stucco and paintings have survived, which were executed by first-rate artists previously active in the Pacs' circle - Perti and Palloni. On the façade, however, panoplies - military motifs, but also busts made in the spirit of Roman antiquity - are still clearly visible today. They were intended to remind us of the 'ancient' genealogy of the Sapiehs.

The Antokol Palace was primarily seen as a summer residence. People spent time there roughly from May to October, indulging in leisure and social life, holding lunches, dinners and, above all, balls. It was also an escape from a city plagued by the typical problems of hygiene and bustle of the 17th-18th centuries. The character of the residence changed when it was purchased by the magistrate in 1808. In 1812, the French army was stationed in the palace and the Trinitarian monastery, organising a lazarette in the premises. After the First World War, the buildings continued to house a hospital, and after the Second World War the entire residence and church complex was taken over by the Soviet army. Returned to the city and the diocese of Vilnius, it is undergoing restoration and conservation work.