St Anne's Church is the small red-brick church on the eastern edge of Vilnius Old Town, close to the Vilnia River. Built around 1495–1500, it is one of the finest examples of late, Flamboyant Gothic in brick anywhere in Europe, and its facade has barely changed in five centuries. The trick behind its lace-like front: the builders used 33 different kinds of clay brick.
St Anne's Church at a glance
- Where: Maironio gatvė, at the eastern edge of the Old Town, in front of the much larger Bernardine church and a few minutes from the Vilnia River.
- Built: around 1495–1500, on the site of an earlier wooden church that burned down in 1419.
- What it is today: a working Roman Catholic church, part of the UNESCO-listed Old Town of Vilnius (1994). Since 2018 it has been dedicated to the traditional Latin Mass.
- Time needed: 15–20 minutes outside, plus a few minutes inside if the church is open.
Five centuries of red brick
The first church on the site was a wooden one built for Anna, Grand Duchess of Lithuania and first wife of Vytautas the Great, which is why the church carries her patron saint's name. After it burned in 1419, the brick church you see today was begun on the initiative of Alexander Jagiellon around 1495. Nobody knows who designed it: it has been attributed to Michael Enkinger, who built St Anne's in Warsaw, or to Benedikt Rejt, but no written source confirms either. A fire in 1582 badly damaged the church, and members of the Radziwiłł family paid for the repairs.
Later centuries changed the details, not the outline. In 1762 the side arches of the main portal were walled up to strengthen the facade; a renovation in 1902–1909 opened them again and reinforced the walls with iron. The church stayed open in the Soviet period, and on 23 August 1987 the Lithuanian Liberty League held a rally against the Soviet occupation near the church, which the Soviet police broke up. In 2009 the roof was replaced, the facade reinforced and the long-lost side spires rebuilt.
What to look for
- The facade: a screen of pointed arches, thin brick ribs and slender pinnacles, all made from 33 kinds of shaped clay brick. Step back and notice how the arches are framed by rectangles, which keeps the busy design balanced.
- The two slim towers and the spires on the sides of the facade. The side spires were missing for a long time and were rebuilt in 2009.
- The neo-Gothic bell tower beside the church, built in the 1870s to designs by Nikolai Chagin. It copies the Gothic style so well that many visitors assume it is medieval.
- The interior: a single nave with Baroque altars, a striking contrast to the Gothic exterior.
- The Church of St Francis and St Bernard right behind, a far larger Gothic church that forms one ensemble with St Anne's and the old Bernardine monastery. Seen together, they show two very different scales of Gothic brick.
Napoleon's wish
The best-known story about St Anne's is a legend. When Napoleon passed through Vilnius in 1812 on his way to Moscow, he is said to have been so taken with the church that he wished he could carry it back to Paris in the palm of his hand. There is no record that he said it, but the story is told everywhere in Vilnius and it fits the building: it is small enough to imagine in a hand.
Tips for your visit
- For the full view, cross to the other side of Maironio gatvė: from there you can fit St Anne's, its bell tower and the Bernardine church into one picture.
- It is a working church with regular services. If you go inside, keep quiet and don't walk around during Mass.
- Combine it with a walk across the Vilnia River into Užupis and back through Literatų Street.
Nearby
- Church of St Francis and St Bernard: the large Gothic Bernardine church directly behind St Anne's, worth a look inside for its scale.
- Adam Mickiewicz monument: the statue of the Polish-Lithuanian poet, who studied at Vilnius University, in the small square beside the church.
- Literatų Street: a short lane in the Old Town lined with small artworks dedicated to writers connected with Lithuania, a few minutes' walk away.
- Užupis: the artists' district across the Vilnia, which declared itself a 'republic' on 1 April 1997 and has its own constitution on a wall in Paupio Street.
See Vilnius with World City Trail
Our Vilnius scavenger hunt turns the old town into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops and takes around 3 hours, with about 58 minutes of walking. It includes the Gate of Dawn, Town Hall Square and Literatų Street. You can play in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish or Dutch.
If you prefer a different format, there is also a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game in Vilnius.
Play the Vilnius scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Vilnius →
Play the outdoor escape game in Vilnius →
Facts checked in October 2026.