Like most churches in the country, this house of worship is a condensed history lesson. The Gothic structure was built by Franciscan monks at the beginning of the 15th century with the tower added a little later. Invaders took advantage of its central location, first by the Napoleonic army that stored ammunition there before setting fire to it during their frantic flee during the winter of 1812, and then by the Russians who used it as an Orthodox church in the middle of the 19th century. The interior features a beguiling mix of Gothic arches and even an electronic organ. The Lithuanian political activist and writer Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas (1869-1933) is buried here.