- Place
- Vilnius City Municipality
- Region
- Vilnius
- Type
- active late-Baroque Catholic church
- Address
- 1 Šnipiškių Street, Vilnius
- Coordinates
- 54.69275, 25.27877
- Visit duration
- 30-45 minutes outside services
- Best time
- morning or late afternoon to compare the Baroque ensemble with the surrounding modern city
St Raphael Church, Šnipiškės Church of St Raphael the Archangel
A Jesuit ensemble across the Neris
Vilnius voivode Kazimierz Sapieha gave the Jesuits a plot in Šnipiškės in 1697. Land clerk Michał Koszczyc began building the church in 1703, and by 1709 its walls and part of one tower were standing.
The church was blessed in 1730 and its high altar installed in 1752. A Jesuit monastery arose alongside it between 1703 and 1740, so the place is best understood as a religious ensemble rather than an isolated facade.
Late Baroque outside, Rococo within
VLE classifies the church as late Baroque and its interior as Rococo. The towers received their mature form in the later eighteenth century, leaving the long building campaign legible in the architecture.
The church originated in a historic suburb; today, high-rises of the central business district rise behind it. The contrast is particularly vivid from the Green Bridge and the lower end of Kalvarijų Street.
Piarists, a military store, and parish revival
After the Society of Jesus was suppressed in 1773, the church and monastery passed to the Piarists. It became a parish church in 1791 but suffered heavy damage when Napoleon's army occupied Vilnius in 1812.
The church closed and became a military store in 1832 after the Piarists were suppressed. Repaired and returned to Catholics in 1860, it has remained active; heritage institutions now use the former monastery.
The Šnipiškės Jesus and practical access
Local devotion centres on the Šnipiškės Jesus, a figure of Christ carrying the Cross. The present sculpture in the right aisle recalls an earlier roadside chapel on Šnipiškės hill and links the interior to the suburb's religious memory.
On 2026-07-22 official opening was Monday-Thursday 06:30-13:00 and 15:00-18:30, seasonal on Friday, Saturday 08:30-18:30, and Sunday 06:30-14:00 and 15:00-19:00. Recheck before visiting, as numerous multilingual Masses shape access.
The original figure, the chapel, and today's image
The chapel on Šnipiškės hill was built during the plague in 1710, and a figure of Christ carrying the Cross was venerated there from about 1720. Stories about its making and miracles belong to devotional tradition and should be distinguished from documented facts about the chapel, historic photographs, and the sculpture's later fate.
Soviet authorities demolished the chapel. The original figure, long thought lost, was discovered badly damaged in the church basement in 2017, restored, and is now kept at the Church Heritage Museum. The right-aisle altar contains not that original but a replacement carved after it by former sacristan Vincentas Balzukevičius.
