Church Heritage Museum

About this place

A museum in a former seventeenth-century church and convent, showing the treasures of the Vilnius archdiocese: silver vessels, vestments, manuscripts and paintings. Its central holding is the Vilnius Cathedral treasury, and its story is extraordinary. In 1655, with Russian armies approaching, the cathedral's most valuable possessions were hidden inside a secret wall. Their location was forgotten for centuries. They were rediscovered in 1985 during restoration work in the Soviet period, and the find was kept secret until Lithuanian independence in 1990 for fear of confiscation. The collection spans the medieval period to the nineteenth century, including silver figures of saints, crosses and liturgical vessels of fine goldsmiths' work. The building itself — St Michael's — is among the earliest Baroque buildings in Lithuania, and holds the mausoleum of the noble Sapieha family. Practical points: entry is ticketed, and the museum is relatively small so the visit is under ninety minutes. It sometimes closes two days a week — check before going.