The text describes the Bernardine Church in Vilnius, founded back in 1469 by Casimir Jagiellon. Also described are the tombstones in this church, including those of Stanislaw Radziwill. After numerous fires and alterations in the church, among others, the corner tower survived from the original construction (Source: Tygodnik Illustrowany, Warsaw 1867, T:15, p. 280, after: Digital Library of the University of Łódź).

A modernised reading of the text

The corner tower of the former Bernardine Church in Vilnius.

One of the few monuments of medieval construction beyond the Niemen River is the Bernardine Church in Vilnius. It was founded by King Casimir IV Jagiellon in 1469, and despite numerous alterations and fires it still bears the outstanding feature of its original construction. No other church in Vilnius has as many tombstones and monuments as the Church of St Bernardine. From the 16th century until the present day, almost all of Lithuania's rich nobility and the wealthier bourgeoisie of Vilnius were buried here.

This traditional custom among Vilnius residents has even become a proverb, because to this day, when joking about someone's death, they say: "he was taken by the Bernardines" or: "they led him to the Bernardines." Of the tombstones, the most beautiful here is that of Stanislaw, Duke of Kadzidłło, Marshal of v. Among the tombstones, the most beautiful are those of Stanisław, Duke of Kadzidłło, Marshal of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, who died in 1599, Piotr Wiesiołowski, a provost and favourite of King Sigismund Augustus, and Władysław, Count Tyszkiewicz of Łohojsko, the Count of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, who died in 1684. In the interior of the church, the beautiful arched vault and the beautiful corner tower from the courtyard have survived from the original construction.

This turret is the only part of the Bernardine church that can compare favourably with the Gothic beauty of the neighbouring St Anne's Church, a masterpiece of medieval construction, the drawing of which was already placed in issue 5 of our "Tygodnik".