Berdyczów lies in Ukraine, in the Zhytomyr Oblast, 44 km south of Zhytomyr, on the Hnyłopiat River. Historically, it belonged to the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which became part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth under the Union of Lublin in 1569. Back in the Middle Ages, as we read in the Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland and Other Slavonic Countries , around 1430, Grand Duke Svidrigail "granted for his merits this entire uninhabited wilderness on the Piat and Hnyłopiat rivers to Kalenik, governor of Putywel and Zwinogród, the progenitor of the House of Tyszkiewicz, who was with him 'for his head for advice, for his right hand for war'".

In 1593 Berdyczów was granted a city charter and developed as a noble town belonging to the Tyszkiewicz family. In the middle of the 17th century, the starosta of Zhytomyr and then Kiev voivode Janusz Tyszkiewicz founded a church and a monastery with ramparts and a drawbridge as a votive offering for his rescue from Turkish captivity, to which he was sent after the Tzentor Crusade in 1626-1627. Legend has it that he dreamt that his deceased mother, Sophia of Zasławska, had dreamt to him and ordered him to build "a fortress that has never been used for centuries". Tyszkiewicz vowed that he would do so, and on his return to Poland, on 19 July 1630, he made a bequest to the Lublin Tribunal, according to which he gave a square in Berdyczów, together with an inaccessible fortress on the hillside on the river side, "with all its circuumferency for the church and monastery of the Discalced Carmelites, with the village of Skryhylówka, and with 1,500 ZP to be paid in two instalments".

Four years later, in spring, the Bishop of Kiev, Andrzej Szołdrski, laid the first stone for the foundation of the lower church, which was to receive the name of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St Michael the Archangel, John the Baptist and Evangelist. When the construction was completed, Tiškevičius donated a 16th-century painting of the Virgin and Child to the monastery, which became famous as miraculous. The monastery itself was fortified, garrisoned and armed. During the years of wars with the Cossacks, the town was destroyed and the Carmelite fathers had to leave the monastery. They took the miraculous image with them and hid it in Lviv. Upon their return, a long-standing dispute began with relatives of Janusz Tyszkiewicz, who died in 1649, who invaded the monastery. The Carmelites took legal action and, after a years-long trial, in 1717 they succeeded in obtaining a tribunal decree that upheld the founder's bequests and obliged those guilty of attacking the monastery to pay the cost of rebuilding it. At that time, Berdyczów was owned by the famous diarist, Krzysztof Adam Zawisza -- grandson of Katarzyna Konstancja, née Tyszkiewicz, daughter of Brześć voivode Jan Eustachy Tyszkiewicz, and husband of the Grand Duchess of Lithuania -- Teresa Rosa Tyszkiewicz. He recalled in his memoirs how he left "to pacify his interests with the Discalced Carmelite priests about Berdyczów":

"I stood by the good Archdeacon's road in Berdyczów on 15 July [of 1717 - note ABR], the eve of the Blessed Virgin of the Scapular, for the feast of the fest of the monks there introduced by us after the recent disturbances. I agreed fairly with their Carmelite priests for the arrival of the provincial, a worthy and noble priest of great gentleness, from the house of Brzostowski, and according to the custom of the Order, by the name of George of St. Adalbert, who lived in Berdyczew for a whole week. We did him comforts and favours both living and departing, according to our possibilities and country. We travelled frequently while living in Berdyczów, going to Białopole, to the apiaries and enjoying hunting."

After Krzysztof Zawisza's death in 1721, the reconstruction of the monastery continued, and the Berdyczów estate passed to his daughter, Barbara Franciszka. She bequeathed them as a dowry to her husband, Prince Mikolaj Faustin Radziwill, Voivode of Novogrudok, heir to Zdzięciol, Hłusk, Porzecza and Krosa. Berdyczów was the most important of these acquisitions, but the estates of both spouses were so indebted, and their marriage so fruitful in offspring, that despite their titles and estates, they were considered indigent. The energetic Duchess Barbara shouldered the burden of debt relief for the estate, which she succeeded in doing after years of hard work, and in 1751 bequeathed to the Carmelites an additional endowment in the form of the Berdyczów juridica, from which rents were drawn. One of the couple's sons, Udalryk Radziwiłł, became heir to Berdyczów - an educated and talented man, extremely ambitious, although he failed to win either recognition or an office where he could realise himself. As heir to Berdyczów, he defended the town and the monastery against Russian troops who entered the borders of the Republic in 1733. At that time, the Carmelites began construction of the upper church, and the fortress was repeatedly attacked, so the prince launched raids during which hajdamaks were captured and sent to forced labour to build the church.

In the second half of the 18th century, the Berdyczov monastery experienced the apogee of its splendour. On 9 October 1751, Kiev Bishop Kajetan Sołtyk came to inspect the monastery and fortress, which was to serve as a place of refuge for the population, as well as for defensive purposes. The religious role of the monastery and church increased with the completion of the upper church, its consecration (1754) and the coronation of the miraculous image of the Virgin Mary with papal crowns. As one description reads:

"Thus stood the magnificent and ornamental tabernacle of the N. As we read in one description: "Then the magnificent and ornamental tabernacle of N. Mary stood, already completely finished, on the foundations of the lower church, vaulted, with a dome and a beautiful facade structure, and two towers on the sides; the monastic walls were also built, with a fortress surrounding the walls, presenting a magnificent view from all sides".

At the Diet of Grodno in 1752, King August III petitioned Pope Benedict XIV to crown the image of Our Lady of Berdyczów. In response, the Holy Father sent the body of St Theodore and part of the flag of St George - the patron saints of soldiers - in an ornate coffin, which was of great significance given the defensive nature of the fortress. The ceremonial placing of the golden emerald-embellished crowns funded by the Holy Father was carried out by Bishop Sołtyk, assisted by the Uniate Bishop Volodkovich, on 16 July 1756. It is worth mentioning that the sermon was preached by the then 21-year-old Ignacy Krasicki - canon of Kiev, later Bishop of Warmia. The event grew to become a national holiday. A pilgrimage movement to the monastery began. On 28 August 1759, a ceremony was held to transfer the corpse of the founder - Voivode Janusz Tyszkiewicz - to the Berdyčov monastery. The speech was then given by Casimir Chojecki - the penultimate commander of the fortress, which he commanded until 1764.

At the end of the 18th century, the church and monastery was an impregnable fortress, surrounded by a powerful rampart, armed with 60 cannons deployed on bastions, with a drawbridge. During the time of the confederation, after the defeat at Zhytomyr, some confederates went to Bar, while their commander, Casimir Pulawski, came to Berdyczow. He asked the Prior to let him into the fortress and obtained permission to bring in 700 confederates and 800 civilians - residents of Berdyczów. For 17 days, from 28 May to 14 June 1768, they fought off attacks by the Tsarist army - as we read in the sources, "during which time as many as three storms were launched at the fortress, showering a hail of bullets on the monastery and church". Stanisław Kostka Ortyński, who had taken part in the Bar Confederation as a regimental officer of the Crown flags and units of Ukrainian nobility, hurried to help, but was defeated and wounded and taken prisoner near Koziatyn. Help did not come, and Puławski - faced with a shortage of food and gunpowder - agreed to surrender the fortress to Russian troops under the command of General Michal Kreczetnikov. A detailed description of the defence of the confederates in the Berdyczów fortress was described by a direct witness of this defence, Fr Bruno Ignacy, in a note entitled Pamiątka nadzwyczajnego zdarzenia w klasztorze Berdyczowskim praktyowanego 1768 roku , placed in Latin in the book of records of the monastery chapter (reprinted in "Czas", vol. VII, 1857). The author described the course of the siege and its conclusion, when Pulawki "not without bitter tears [...] went to the Jeneral to make arrangements", and also gave, the number of casualties on the side of the defenders: "One by a tree flying from the wall, which was to be thrown at the enemy, another by the wall knocked down, a third by a cannonball killed, a fourth by curiosity looking from the windows of the fortress, when the same bullet tore off his arm; in the scarcity of a good surgeon he died; three were killed by bullets from handguns when they stood boldly by the fortress windows; three ran out of the fortress together; and all ten of them, whose bodies along with the other three brought from the camps on the 28th day, await the last day of the universal resurrection in this church". It is worth mentioning that Marek Jandołowicz, a Carmelite and spiritual leader of the Bar Confederation, commemorated by Juliusz Słowacki in his drama Priest Marek (1843), was also associated with the Berdyczów monastery.

At the end of the 18th century, thanks to the efforts of the influential Radziwill family, Berdyczów experienced a period of prosperity. In 1765, by virtue of a royal privilege, the town was allowed to hold as many as 10 fairs a year, at which trade was conducted in horses, wax, animal skins and cattle, while expensive fabrics were imported from abroad. Berdyczów became a centre of international trade, with merchants from Austria, Prussia, Russia and the whole of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth arriving here several times a year. A great contribution to the development of trade was made by the Carmelite Fathers, who founded brick shops in the town, while the town's heir, Mateusz Radziwill, son of Uldaryk, issued regulations regulating Jewish trade in 1794-1795. Towards the end of the century, trade slowed down somewhat, and in 1770 a plague swept through Berdyczów, ravaging Podolia and Volhynia, and many Carmelites died carrying spiritual service to the sick inhabitants. There was a renewed boom during the Napoleonic wars, when grain prices were lifted and merchants became rich on luxury goods.

At the end of the 18th century, the Printing House of the Carmel of the Fortress of the Blessed Virgin Mary also began to operate on the basis of a privilege granted by King August III on 14 January 1758. The oldest edition dates back to 1760, and the Berdyczów printing house made a considerable contribution to the development of culture and education in the eastern borderlands of Poland. It published more than 800 book items, including devotional books, speeches, sermons, theological and historical treatises, novels and poetry, political pamphlets and occasional prints. One of the most popular was the "Economy Calendar" called Berdyczowsky printed in a circulation of 40,000 for more than a century. The income from it was used to support the monastery schools, for which learning materials and aids were also published. In 1777, for example, the Carmelite fathers published the first Polish encyclopaedia for children and young people - A Short Collection of Interesting Objections about Things of This World that Fall into Our Senses and Amazing Them for the Benefit of the Young facilitated by Concise Responses by Józef Iwanicki. In 1840, the printing house was moved to Zhytomyr. It is worth mentioning that the printing house had its own engravers, among whom stood out Teodor Rakowiecki, who worked for the Carmelites for many years, producing numerous engravings and copperplate engravings. His talent was recognised by King Stanisław August Poniatowski himself, who appointed Rakowiecki as a courtier and crown engraver in 1771.

In 1781, Berdyczów also hosted crowned heads. At the time, Princess Eleonora née Kamieńska Radziwiłł, Uldaryk's mother, was still hosting the Grand Duke and future Tsar Paul I, who was travelling under the name of Count du Nord with his wife, Maria Fyodorovna. The guests visited the monastery and the fortress. King Stanislaw August Poniatowski, on the other hand, visited here twice - in autumn 1781, while returning from Kamieniec, and later in spring 1787, on his way to Kaniów. He also viewed the fortress and was surprised by its shortcomings. A few years later, the fortress' garrison was conscripted into the regular army by order of Prince Joseph Poniatowski. After 1793, Berdyczów was incorporated into Russia as a result of the Second Partition of Poland, and became a district town in 1844. The Union of the Polish People, founded in 1837, was already active here at that time.

In the mid-19th century, the town and the sanctuary witnessed various events. On 15 March 1850, the wedding of Ewelina Hańska, heiress of Wierzchownia, and the famous writer Honorius de Balzac took place here. On 6 June 1857, the miraculous image of Our Lady of Berdyczów was reconsecrated by Kacper Borowski, Bishop of Luck and Zhytomyr - unfortunately, the crowns had been stolen earlier. The Tsarist authorities did not allow the procession to take place. After the January Uprising in 1863, the monastery was dissolved and a court was located in the building. At that time, Berdyczów belonged to Princess Marcelina Czartoryska of Radziwiłł and Countess Maria Tyszkiewiczowa of Radziwiłł.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the monastery housed the army, police and fire brigade. During the Polish-Bolshevik war, the monastery was again besieged, and there was a hospital arranged by Polish soldiers. In August 1920, Budyonny's army occupied Berdyczów - the hospital, which housed more than 600 wounded soldiers and medical staff, was burnt down, while the church and monastery were looted and devastated. Between the wars, the Bolsheviks opened a cinema in the lower church and a museum of atheism in the upper church. The monastery was for some time the headquarters of the NKVD, and part of the buildings were used as a prison. During the Second World War, the monastery housed Polish political prisoners from the Lwów Brigidine convent, who managed to escape when German troops entered the area. The monastery and church were burnt down either by the attacking Wehrmacht or the retreating Soviets.

In 1958, the USSR authorities began to rebuild the sanctuary, but there was no intention to return it to the Carmelites - a music and art school was placed there, and a gymnasium was set up in the lower church. After 1991, the authorities returned the ruined church to the faithful, the brothers returned to the monastery and renovation work began. Even before the Second World War, the image of Our Lady of Berdyczów disappeared in unclear circumstances - allegedly someone hid it out of concern for safety, replacing it with a copy, and it has not been returned to date. This copy was consecrated by the Holy Father, John Paul II, during his pilgrimage to Poland in 1997, in Krakow. On 19 July 1998, a ceremony was held for the re-consecration of the images of Mary and the Child by the Ordinary of Zhytomyr, Bishop Jan Purvinsky. The ceremony attracted thousands of pilgrims from various countries. Mass was celebrated in Polish, Ukrainian and English at a field altar set up in front of the ruins of the church, and was attended by numerous clergy, representatives of various levels of government and diplomats.

After 2000, funds for the renovation of the Berdyczow sanctuary also flowed in from Poland: in 2007 and in 2009-2012 the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage provided funds. On 3 December 2008, the inauguration ceremony of the Joseph Conrad-Korzeniowski Museum in Berdyczow took place in the lower church of the Berdyczow sanctuary. For this purpose, one of the wings of the monastery was renovated with funds from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. The location of the museum and the date of its inauguration are not coincidental, as Joseph Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, better known as Joseph Conrad, was born on 3 December 1857 in Berdyczów, as the son of Ewa née Bobrowska and Apollon Korzeniowski of the Nałęcz coat of arms.

In 2015, the feast of Our Lady of the Scapular (16 July) was a great event, attracting many pilgrims, also attended by diplomats from Poland, Romania, Japan, as well as Ukrainian authorities. A statue of John Paul II was unveiled in the square in front of the historic entrance gate to the sanctuary. Four years earlier, the Ukrainian episcopate declared the monastery complex a national shrine of Ukraine.