- The Church of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary or as it is know among the local people, Sands Church of Blessed Mother Mary, because the pests in the area were known as Sands, was most likely build in the 14th century. The exact date cannot be determined. Franciscan documents refer to the beginning of the 14th century and other documents to the time when Lithuania was converted to the Roman Catholic fate in the end of the 14th century.

- The history of the church has seen some very tragic incidents in the past...

- In the 16th century, the church was nearly completely destroyed by two fires, with first one of them happening in 1553. The repair work lasted for fifty years. In 1655 the dark clouds and heavy atmosphere started to gather above this church, when the Cossacks attacked to Vilnius. The war had started already in 1648 with a Cossack uprising, but soon developed into a full scale war between Poland and Ukraine, but finally included most of the East-European countries along with Sweden, Ottomans and Tatars. After the Muscovy had joined the war, the Cossacks from the Muscovy army captured Vilnius and slaughtered the people who were at the church at that time. The friars and church-goers were killed without indiscrimination during the Holy Mass.

- After that, the church saw some more fires with one of them in the 18th century, destroying the church to a complete ruins. However, it was again renovated, just to see the Grand Armée of Napoleon with half a million men marching through Vilnius on their way to Moscow. The church was turned into a French military depot and during the Russian campaign, Napoleon also used the church as a field hospital for his troops.

- Finally in 1864 the church was in such a state, that Tsar closed the whole church and turned it into a archive. Some part of the church with it's precious Gothic Style construction were also demolished and modifications made to the interiors. After Lithuania gained it's independency the Franciscans tried to get their church back, but were unsuccesful, despite the restoration work started in the church. The restoration work was however ceased due to the second world war that broke out. The Franciscan friars were also arrested and sent to an exile in prisoner-of-war camps. After the war, Lithuania was attached to the Soviet Union and the church and friary were nationalized and archives were again established to the church. Not until 1998, the Franciscans finally obtained again the possession of their church.

- The renovation work is still going on, as there's always lack of money for these kind of places...

- I guess you could call us lucky to see the interiors of the church. We first visited the church during our way to Krakow. We just happened to walk past the church and of course, decayed church was something that I paid attention to. The church door was slightly open and we hesitated a bit and finally went inside. There was a Lithuanian woman inside, who didn't say much to us, just stared at us while we were looking around. Finally, when we went outside, she closed the doors. When we were on our way back to home, we again tried to go and see the church, but this time the doors were locked and there was not a soul around. Lucky...? 

- There is supposedly a renovation work going on, but at least during the two visits to the place, there was nobody working here, just the woman inside the church during our first visit and that's it. I guess that there's again the problems with money...like everywhere else.