In the direction of the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vilna, Vilenskaya Street led from the Market Square (modern Soviet). Little is known about its ancient buildings. It acquired a more respectable appearance in the XVII century, at the same time its name changed - Dominican - due to the fact that in the middle of the century, a church and monastery of the Order of Dominican preachers were erected here at the expense of Frederick and Christina Sapieha. Like the Jesuits, they launched a wide cultural and economic activity in the city center. The church was built in the early Baroque style.

 The temple building was a three-nave basilica with a rather ascetic decor and massive forms. It was one of the largest churches in Grodno. It was second in size only to the Orthodox, Jesuit and Bernardine churches.

The length of the church, together with a kind of krukhta – a house at the entrance – was about 50 meters. This house, from which the temple grows, as it can be assumed, is the very stone of Sapieha, presented to the Dominicans in the years of the foundation of the monastery.

The interior had several altars and an ambo. The altar partition resembled the one in the Franciscan church and was decorated with various sculptures. The bust of Stanislav August Poniatowski located in the church was part of a spectacular sculptural composition. The bust was located under the canopy, which was held by the angels. The crown was placed in the upper part.

The stone building of the monastery running along Vilenskaya Street (now Sovetskaya) is fixed on the plan of 1753. The oldest part of this structure appeared, apparently, in the 30s of the XVII century. The monastery building was built gradually, for a long time. The work was carried out in the 20-30s of the XVIII century. The building was built with the expectation of rental use during the sejms, so it was much larger than was required to accommodate the monks themselves.

Along the street to the German Market (Dominican) there was a long wooden structure, which was replaced with a stone one after a fire in 1782. In this catastrophic fire for the city, the buildings of the Order of Preachers complex were also damaged. Both buildings of the Dominicans were used to house educational institutions. The Dominican school in the monastery building on Vilenskaya Street (Sovetskaya) traces its history back to the last quarter of the XVII century. In the period 1748-1749, this educational institution received the status of a higher school.

According to Yu.U. Nemtsevich, the Dominican Church was one of the most beautiful in Grodno.

The Dominican school (Studium Generale) operated at the monastery from the XVII century, which had the right to confer academic degrees. Initially, in the 70s of the XVIII century, another Dominican school was located in the building. Together with the Jesuit college, it was an educational institution that provided an excellent education. The gymnasium building has been preserved (Sovetskaya str., 6, 8). The Dominican Gymnasium was closed in 1833 due to the participation of students in the uprising of 1830-1831 and the sympathy of the prefect of the gymnasium, Priest M.T. Zelenko. The Grodno Provincial Men's Gymnasium began operating on its basis (since 1834). The monastery was liquidated in 1840 . In the second half of the XIX century, the building became a place of study for a women's gymnasium. At the end of the XIX century, this building for the first time housed the structure of city administration – the city council, which in the Russian Empire was an executive authority. The year of the council's placement was immortalized on the facade of the building: there was a figure of 1894 in the pediment. The council was in the building until 1915. In 1919, the city came under the control of the Poles, who placed a magistrate in the former Dominican school: he worked until the beginning of World War II.

After the war, various creative organizations were located in the building. Thus, based on the interesting history of this building, it can be conditionally considered the preserved Grodno town hall, a kind of replacement for the lost town hall building on the main square of the city.

In the courtyard of the preserved building on Sovetskaya Street, 6, there was once a beautiful Dominican garden.

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Opening hours: 9.00-17.00, lunch 13.00-14.00, day off – Saturday, Sunday