Description of the attraction
An ancient legend tells that in 1364 a Lithuanian nobleman named Goshtautas invited 14 Franciscan monks to the country and presented them with houses so that they could settle in the country. When Gostautas left, all the monks were killed. Some time later, the nobleman invited other Franciscan monks. He settled the new monks in a different place, and in the place of the murdered monks he built a church named after the Holy Cross.
In 1524 the church burned down. In 1635, Bonifratra priests settled in this place. They began their activity by building a new Church of the Holy Cross, founded a nearby monastery of the same name and opened a hospital on the territory of the monastery. Later, the hospital was turned into an asylum for the mentally ill. The Hoshtautas Church was used as a monastery building. The psychiatric hospital operated here until 1903, when it was transferred to new buildings built specifically for the psychiatric hospital.
In 1737 the church burned down again. In 1748 the church was restored, the interior was completely renovated, six altars were erected, and a baroque pulpit was installed. The facade and the building of the monastery itself are also decorated in the Baroque style. Although after this restoration, elements of rococo appeared in the exterior of the building. Inside the temple, stone, cruciform arches majestically rise above the spacious room. An interesting combination of architectural elements of baroque, rococo and neo-rococo.
On the territory of the temple there is a source considered to be miraculous. Legends say that the spring appeared unexpectedly near the statue of the Immaculate Conception. This is exactly the place where the slain Franciscan monks were tortured. They say that the water of this spring has a particularly beneficial effect on patients suffering from eye diseases.
There is also a miraculous cross in the church, which is installed above the main altar. Below the cross is the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary with the Child. Presumably, the painting was painted in the 17th century, but the exact origin of the painting is unknown. She is also numbered among the miraculous creations. A copy of the miraculous painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Child, in the form of a fresco, can also be seen on the main facade of the Church. It is located under an arched pediment built in 1737 between the two side towers of the church.
Between 1914 and 1924, special services were held in the church for students of Lithuanian schools. During the period when Vilnius was occupied by Poland, the church did not hold services in Lithuanian. In 1843, the Bonifrathra Order was abolished, and only their representation remained on the site of the monastery. In 1909 the church was renovated again. At the end of the First World War, in 1924, Bishop Jurgis Matulaitis invited the Bonifratrs to return to the Monastery of the Holy Cross. The return of the monks to the monastery was very timely. They renovated the church, erecting six altars in it. They also arranged a shelter for the elderly and a free canteen for the needy "Caritas" at the holy monastery.
At the beginning of World War II, the brothers from Vilna were recalled the Order of Bonifrathra. In 1947, the monastery sheltered the sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary congregation. However, they did not dominate here for long. The Soviet authorities closed both the monastery and the temple in 1949. Residential apartments were located in the buildings of the monastery.
In 1976, the church was restored and a concert hall of the Vilnius Philharmonic Society, the so-called "Small Baroque Hall", was arranged in it. Organ music concerts were held here.
The Vilnius Archbishopric received back its buildings only after the change of the state system, in 1990. The temple and the buildings of the monastery were restored, consecrated and transferred again to the nuns of the congregation of sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
