A masterpiece of late Gothic architecture, St. Anne's Church in Vilnius, Lithuania was constructed between 1495-1500 CE by decree of Grand Duke of Lithuania Alexander. The exterior of the church is composed of 33 different kinds of clay bricks, and its interior exhibits a Baroque altar. The elegant and unique brick church caught the attention of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte in 1812, who, in the midst of the Franco-Russian War, wished to carry St. Anne's Church back to Paris with him as a keepsake. The church has remained mostly unchanged despite several restorations, and stands today as an icon of the Vilnius Historic Centre, a medieval town inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List since 1994.
While Napoleon was unable to transport St. Anne's Church to France in 1812 to share with his people, CyArk's partner Christofori und Partner has succeeded in bringing the church and its history to the world, virtually. St. Anne's was scanned in the summer of 2010, and will soon become one of the completed projects of the CyArk 500 Challenge.
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