The prototype for a number of Jesuit temples in Europe at the time was the Roman church Il Gesù. One of the most outstanding ecclesiastical realisations of the early Baroque in the lands of the former Republic is the present-day temple in Nesvizh in Belarus.

In the heart of Rome's centro storico, near Pizza Venezia, rises one of the most recognisable monuments of the Eternal City - the Church of Il Gesù - of the Holy Name of Jesus, built in 1568-1584. It is the mother church of the Society of Jesus, a programmatic building of Counter-Reformation sacral architecture, which was the prototype of a number of Jesuit churches built in all Catholic countries of Europe at the time, including the historic Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (St. Adalbert and St. Stanislaus the Bishop in Kalisz, St. Peter and St. Paul in Krakow or St. Casimir in Vilnius).

Foundation of the church in Nesvizh
One of the most outstanding realisations of early Baroque Jesuit architecture north of the Alps is the Corpus Christi church in Nesvizh in the territory of modern Belarus. It was built in 1587-1593 (consecrated in 1601), from the foundation of Mikolaj Krzysztof Radziwill "the Orphan" (1549-1616), creator of the Nesvizh Ordinance, politician (at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, leader of the pro-Habsburg party in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania), traveller and diarist (author of Peregrynacja abo pielgrzymowania do Ziemiele Swietej). The author of one of the first Baroque temples built from scratch in the Polish-Lithuanian monarchy was a Jesuit monastic architect, the Italian Giovanni Maria Bernardoni (active in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth between 1583 and 1605).

Architecture of the parish church
The Nesvizh church stands out for the grandeur and monumentalism of its architecture, powerfully proclaiming the triumph and power of post-Tridentine Catholicism and the splendour and glory of its princely founder - a devout Catholic (and a recent convert from Reformed Evangelicalism). The temple was designed on the plan of the Latin cross (according to the recommendation of St. Charles Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan, co-founder and fervent promoter of the resolutions of the Council of Trent), as a three-nave, three-bay basilica with galleries (dismantled during reconstruction in the first half of the 18th century) over the side aisles. Adjoining the semicircularly closed chancel are the sacristy and treasury rooms. At the intersection of nave and transept rises an imposing dome on pendentives and an octagonal tambour. The two-storey main façade, topped by a triangular gable, is clearly inspired by the solutions of the façade of Il Gesù.

The two-storey main façade, topped with a triple gable, is clearly inspired by the façade of Il Gesù. One of the most important elements of the Corpus Christi church is the Holy Cross altar located in the north-eastern arm of the transept (near the entrance to the burial crypts). This outstanding example of Mannerist plastic art was made in 1583 at the request of Mikolaj Krzysztof Radziwill in Venice, from where it arrived in Nesvizh in 1586. The altar is flanked by the sepulchral monuments of the duke himself (on the right, in the pose of an orant) and of his wife, Elisabeth of Wiśniowiecki (left). Also placed nearby are the tombstones of the sons of the "Orphan": Mikołaj and Krzysztof Mikołaj. The extremely interesting sepulchral programme of the temple was discussed in detail by Tadeusz Bernatowicz in his monograph on the artistic patronage of the "Orphan".

Investment in Nesvizh required huge financial outlays. According to T. Bernatowicz's findings, the finished stone elements of the decoration of the Corpus Christi church (as well as the castle in Nesvizh) were not only the most valuable but also the most expensive. According to T. Bernatowicz's findings, the finished stone elements for the decoration of the Corpus Christi church (as well as the Radziwiłłs' castle) were brought from artistic centres in Italy mainly by water transport: by sea vessels to the mouth of the Nemunas River, then by boat up the river to Swierżno Nowe, less than 30 km from Nesvizh. The costs were several times lower than by land.

Niasvizh Jesuit Temple and its functions
From the time of its construction, the Corpus Christi church in Niasvizh fulfilled several functions at the same time: it was a monastic (Jesuit) temple, a princely church and at the same time the parish of the capital of the Radzivill Ordinance. The temple is also the necropolis of the Radziwiłł family - unique in Europe. Under the church are vaulted crypts, in which over 100 representatives of the Nesvizh Radzivill line were buried in the 16th-20th centuries. In addition to the founder himself, buried in the family mausoleum are: Grand Hetman of Lithuania Michał Kazimierz "Rybeńko"; Voivode of Vilnius Karol Stanisław "Panie Kochanku"; Jozef Pilsudski's aide-de-camp, Stanisław Wilhelm, killed during the Polish-Soviet War.

Surrounding the church are the historical buildings of the Jesuit college (now in possession of an Orthodox church) and the presbytery. After the dissolution of the Jesuit order (1773), the function of parish priests was exercised by diocesan priests. During the period of communist rule, it remained the only active church in the diocese of Pinsk. The Corpus Christi Church is a key element of the still legible concept of the Mannerist Ideal City realised in Nesvizh - the capital of one of the three Radziwill Ordinances (established in 1586) - by Mikolaj Krzysztof Radziwill.

In 2005, the castle-park complex and church were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Restoration work at the post-Jesuit church
. The restoration of the Corpus Christi church has been the subject of numerous agreements. The issues related to the revalorisation of the Corpus Christi church have been repeatedly discussed by the Polish-Belarusian Consultative Commission on Cultural Heritage. Their result was the comprehensive conservation of the tombstone and epitaph plaque of Mikołaj Krzysztof Radziwiłł 'Sierotka', carried out in 2000-2001 by a team of Polish conservators under the direction of Dr Janusz Smaza (the work was financed by the Brzeź Lanckoroński Foundation).In 2006, according to the project of Dr Ryszard Jurkiewicz, drying and waterproofing of the foundations and crypts was carried out. The project of the Ciechanowiecki Collections Foundation was financed from the funds of the MKiDN 'Cultural Heritage' programme. In 2016, there was an accidental discovery of a unique original painting decoration on the facade and elevations of the temple. In 2017, under the direction of Paweł Sadlej, the first stage of a joint Polish-Belarusian project for the conservation and restoration of the wall paintings on the northern façade was implemented (the beneficiary of the funding from the funds of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage programme "Protection of Cultural Heritage Abroad" was again the Ciechanowieccy Collections Foundation).