The history of the Visitation Nuns of Vilnius begins in 1694 and is connected with the intense activity of Bishop Konstantin Kazimierz Brzostowski. Among other things, he built the Trinitarian Church of the Holy Trinity (before 1700, 1715-1721) in Verkiai near Vilnius, which he connected with the bishop's residence and the Calvary functioning there. In 1722, he established the Piarists in the city, who developed a model of education different from that of the Jesuits. He also helped to check the missionaries, who were involved in the education of the clergy, near which the hierarch built a church from 1729 for the Visitation Sisters (completed around 1750), who in turn were involved in the education of girls.

The temple and monastery were built on land donated to the nuns by Anna Waszkietówna Karasiowa, wife of the mayor of Vilnius. Situated on one of the hills (known as Mons Salvatoris - Mountain of the Saviour) in the suburb of Subočiai, the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, together with the Missionary Church of the Ascension of the Lord standing next to it, became the dominant feature of the southern part of the city, towering over the Uniate churches on the Vileyka River and the Bernardine quarter. The location of the two churches was not accidental, as the Visitation Nuns and the Missionaries were united by the charism of religious renewal promoted in early 17th century France, where both congregations were founded and from where Queen Louise Marie brought them to the Republic in the middle of the century. These two Vilnius institutions are also a testimony to the strong position of the Livonian nobility in the 18th century Polish-Lithuanian state and in Vilnius itself. The missionary church was founded by representatives of the local milieu - the Plater family, voivode Jan Andrzej and military officer Jan Teofil - and the convent's school for visiting nuns was willingly attended by well-to-do young ladies from Livonia, often from families converted to Catholicism only at the end of the 17th century.

It is noteworthy that below the hills of the Subočianske suburb, in Bakszta Street, in the former Gosiewski palace, a convent of the Sisters of Mercy (szarytki) was located. This was a congregation founded, like the missionaries, by St Vincent a Paulo, and brought to Poland in 1652 by Ludwika Maria.

Architecture

The Church of the Visitation of the Sacred Heart was built in two stages. Between 1729 and 1737, the architect Joseph, usually identified with Józef Pole (Pohl), worked on it. It seems that he built the temple according to plans submitted by the founders and nuns. On the other hand, between 1744 and 1751, Johann Christoph Glaubitz built the dome and the corrugated gable of the façade, and designed the altars (consecration 1756).

The Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus took the shape of a Greek cross with a triple-convex façade in great order with composite pilasters. The front elevation was crowned with a gable with a simple face, but with a rich - nervous silhouette. On the chancel side, the body of the church is diversified by a small tower topped with a golden heart. The church is covered by an octagonal cupola on a two-storey tambour. The shape of the church grows out of the late Baroque trend inspired by Guarino Guarini (the church of S. Gaetano in Vincenza) and Roman architecture, including links with the church of SS. Luca e Martina Pietra da Cortona.

The Visitation monastery was abolished in 1864, with Orthodox nuns moving in and converting the church into an Orthodox church. The Visitation nuns returned to their convent in 1919. They had to flee again in 1948. A year later, the monastery was turned into a prison and the church was divided into three storeys by a reinforced concrete ceiling, irretrievably destroying its valuable furnishings and decor.