Old Trakai Castle - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Senieji Trakai Castle was a castle

Castle

A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...

in Senieji Trakai

Senieji Trakai

Senieji Trakai is a historic Lithuanian village located east of Trakai. According to the census of 2001, it has 1501 inhabitants – Lithuanians, Poles and Russians. The Saint Petersburg – Warsaw Railway passes through Senieji Trakai.The central part of the village is proclaimed an architectural...

(literally: Old Trakai) in Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

.

The first enclosure type brick castle was built by Grand Duke

Grand Duke

The title grand duke is used in Western Europe and particularly in Germanic countries for provincial sovereigns. Grand duke is of a protocolary rank below a king but higher than a sovereign duke. Grand duke is also the usual and established translation of grand prince in languages which do not...

Gediminas, who transferred the capital of Lithuania from Kernavė

Kernave

Kernavė was a medieval capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and today is a tourist attraction and an archeological site . It is located in the Širvintos district municipality located in southeast Lithuania...

to Trakai (today's Senieji Trakai) before 1321. The weddings of Kęstutis and Birutė

Birute

Birutė was the second wife of Kęstutis, Grand Duke of Lithuania, and mother of Vytautas the Great. There is very little known about Birutė's life but after her death a strong cult developed among Lithuanians, especially in Samogitia.-Marriage:...

were held there and it was a birthplace of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas in 1350.

The castle in Senieji Trakai was destroyed by the Teutonic Order in 1391, was subsequently abandoned and never rebuilt since the new castle

Trakai Peninsula Castle

Trakai Peninsula Castle is one of the castles in Trakai, Lithuania. It is located on a peninsula between southern Lake Galvė and Lake Luka. Built around 1350–1377 by Kęstutis, Duke of Trakai, it was an important defensive structure protecting Trakai and Vilnius, capital of the Grand Duchy of...

was erected in Trakai

Trakai

Trakai is a historic city and lake resort in Lithuania. It lies 28 km west of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. Because of its proximity to Vilnius, Trakai is a popular tourist destination. Trakai is the administrative centre of Trakai district municipality. The town covers 11.52 km2 of...

by Kęstutis

Kestutis

Kęstutis was monarch of medieval Lithuania. He was the Duke of Trakai and governed the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, 1342–82, together with his brother Algirdas , and with his nephew Jogaila...

. The ruins of the castle were granted to Benedictian

Benedictine

Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...

monks by Vytautas in 1405. It is supposed that the present monastery building dating from the 15th century holds the remains of the Gediminas' castle.

The archaeological research on the hillfort mound has been carried out in 1996-1997. The findings confirmed the existence of a former rectangular masonry castle wall which had surrounded the hill. It is supposed that the residential buildings had occupied the area near the church and the churchyard.

See also