The Missionaries Church and Monastery

Jan Kazimierz Wilczyński, ‘Album of Vilnius’, series I, fascicle II.

The ‘Album of Vilnius’ was published after the 1831 uprising, at a time when the Imperial Russian government was involved in applying restrictions on the Catholic Church: it closed down monasteries and convents, and converted Catholic churches into Orthodox ones. One of the aims of the book was to record the country’s disappearing Catholic heritage, such as the churches and their artistic treasures. A wide view of the town and its environs opens out from the tower of the Visitandine Church, with the graceful twin-tower Late Baroque Missionaries Church in the centre. On the eve of the publication of the ‘Album of Vilnius’, in 1844, the Missionaries Church and its monastery were closed down by the Russian authorities, and the monastery was turned into a barracks. Such attacks on the Catholic faith were a painful experience for residents of Vilnius.

Text author Laima Laučkaitė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album VILNIUS. TOPOPHILIA II (2015). Compiler and author Laima Laučkaitė, RES PUBLICA (2018). Compiler and author Rūta Janonienė
Expositions: “Vilnius. Topophilia. Views of Vilnius from the collection of the law firm Ellex Valiunas”, 5 October – 26 November 2017, National Gallery of Art, Vilnius (curator Laima Laučkaitė).  ‘Vilnius Forever. A Dialogue of Artworks and Guides to the City’, 25 May 2022 – 30 April 2023 Lithuanian Art Centre TARTLE (Užupio St. 40, Vilnius). Curator Laima Laučkaitė.

Jan Kazimierz Wilczyński, ‘Album of Vilnius’, series I, fascicle II.

The ‘Album of Vilnius’ was published after the 1831 uprising, at a time when the Imperial Russian government was involved in applying restrictions on the Catholic Church: it closed down monasteries and convents, and converted Catholic churches into Orthodox ones. One of the aims of the book was to record the country’s disappearing Catholic heritage, such as the churches and their artistic treasures. A wide view of the town and its environs opens out from the tower of the Visitandine Church, with the graceful twin-tower Late Baroque Missionaries Church in the centre. On the eve of the publication of the ‘Album of Vilnius’, in 1844, the Missionaries Church and its monastery were closed down by the Russian authorities, and the monastery was turned into a barracks. Such attacks on the Catholic faith were a painful experience for residents of Vilnius.

Text author Laima Laučkaitė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album VILNIUS. TOPOPHILIA II (2015). Compiler and author Laima Laučkaitė, RES PUBLICA (2018). Compiler and author Rūta Janonienė
Expositions: “Vilnius. Topophilia. Views of Vilnius from the collection of the law firm Ellex Valiunas”, 5 October – 26 November 2017, National Gallery of Art, Vilnius (curator Laima Laučkaitė).  ‘Vilnius Forever. A Dialogue of Artworks and Guides to the City’, 25 May 2022 – 30 April 2023 Lithuanian Art Centre TARTLE (Užupio St. 40, Vilnius). Curator Laima Laučkaitė.