The Vilnius Cathedral Treasury is the oldest and most extensive of all the treasuries preserved in Lithuanian churches. The first items it acquired were rich liturgical articles donated by Jogaila and Vytautas of the Gediminid dynasty and their wives, along with gifts from abroad sent to celebrate Lithuania’s official adoption of Christianity. Heads of state, nobility and bishops bestowed magnificent liturgical articles on the Cathedral: these were crosses, chalices, reliquaries, monstrances. In wartime the valuables were removed or hidden, the last time it happened when World War II began. On the eve of World War II, the contents of the Vilnius Cathedral treasury were hidden in a wall and bricked over. The treasure was discovered in 1985, but was not shown to the public until 1999-2003 exhibitions at the Lithuanian Art Museum. In 2006, the entire Cathedral treasury was returned to Vilnius Archdiocese, and since 2009 it has been on display at the Church Heritage Museum. 

Discovery of Vilnius Cathedral treasury. Photo by R. Budrys, 1985, Lithuanian National Museum of Art