[2][3] The new building was founded in 1661 by Polish Primate Michał Stefan Radziejowski, who also established Warsaw's Holy Cross Church.

It was erected by Prince Karol Stanisław Radziwiłł, who commissioned the German architect Efraim Szreger to draw up a plan for a comprehensive new façade.

This impressive façade was built in a style typical for the reign of King Stanisław II Augustus, with dominant columns supporting the cornice.

[2] In 1864, after the January Uprising was brutally crushed by Russians, the monastery was liquidated by the Tsarist regime as a stronghold of Polish patriotism.

The church was the background for the song "Siekera, Motyka", in the Polish Movie, "Forbidden Melodies"[4] It served as a procathedral until the reconstruction of St. John's Cathedral.