The Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary stands on Przyrynek Street in Warsaw. Janusz I the Old, Duke of Masovia, and his wife Danutė of Lithuania founded it. The foundation stone was laid in 1409, and the church was consecrated in 1411. It was built in brick Gothic style on the site of an ancient pagan place of worship.
It began as a single nave with a ceiling and an arched presbytery, and before the end of the fifteenth century it became a three-nave basilica. The tower, built in 1518, is its most distinctive feature and appears in the oldest images of Warsaw. It is one of the city's oldest buildings and one of few surviving Gothic examples.
German forces severely damaged the church in World War II, and in 1944 the nave roof collapsed and the upper tower was blown up. It was reconstructed from 1947 to 1966 to a design by Beata Trylińska.
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