All Saints Church, Vilnius

All Saints Church in Vilnius is a stunning Baroque-style church with a rich history. The church was built between 1620 and 1630 and was initially built for Carmelites. In the second half of the 17th century, the church was linked with a monastery to form a single complex. The monastery was built by adapting existing buildings and included a main two-storey building, several other buildings, and a two-storey novitiate house with a small courtyard at the city wall. The Carmelites actively participated in public life during the 16th–18th centuries, holding religious feasts and processions.

The Church of All Saints is located at the end of a street where the main gate to the Jewish ghetto was located during World War II. There was a tunnel through the sewers connecting the church with the ghetto, and the priest of the church would provide bread to be taken into the ghetto through the tunnel. The priest also hid some Jews who were smuggled out of the ghetto through the tunnel. Some Christian Lithuanians also helped smuggle food into the ghetto.

The bell tower of the church is high and massive with elaborate decorations. After a fire in the 18th century, it was restored and finished with a rococo-style dome roof. Marcin Knackfus prepared the project for the church's altar. Above the high altar rises another altar reminiscent of a royal throne with a canopy. The belfry was erected, and the sculptures in the interior were created in the 18th century. In 1859, the polychrome interior décor was enriched.

The Church of All Saints is located east of a square where the Convent of the Barefoot Carmelites once stood alongside a Baroque Church of St. Joseph the Betrothed established in 1638 by the Vice-Chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania Stephen Pac. Its exterior was reminiscent of the Church of St. Theresa in Vilnius. In 1877, the Church of St. Joseph the Betrothed was demolished by the tsar's order to be replaced by a market, which is now a square.

In Soviet times, the Church of All Saints was used as a museum of folk art after reconstruction between 1967 and 1975. Today, the church remains a significant cultural and historical landmark in Vilnius, attracting visitors from all over the world.