Trakay castlеs

Trakai Castle is a memorial place associated with the Lithuanian statehood and the struggle against the crusaders. The monument consists of several castles. The first was built under Gediminas at the beginning. XIV century. and was in the town of Old Trakai (54 ° 36'18.0 "N 24 ° 59'03.0" E). The place remembers the wedding of Prince Keistut and Biruta, the future national hero of Lithuania, the victor of Grunwald, Prince Vitovt, was born here. The castle was destroyed by the crusaders in 1391, it is believed that fragments of its walls are present in the buildings of the Benedictine monastery of the 15th century, which stands on the site of the castle. Second castle (54.646 ° N 24.937 ° E). was built in 1350-1377. Lithuanian prince Keistut on the peninsula between the lake. Galve and Lake Luke. In the last quarter of the XIV century. it was attacked several times by German knights, in 1390 it was burned. The fortress was destroyed during the Russian-Polish war of 1654-1667. Then the ruins were handed over to the Dominican monks, but they did not begin to restore the castle in a medieval form. Several towers and walls have survived from the time of Keistut. The third castle was built on an island on the lake. Galve (54.652 ° N 24.934 ° E), they began to build it at the end of the XIV century. under Keistut (it is known that in 1377 the German knights destroyed it), and completed it already under Vitovt in 1409. The castle was the residence of Vitovt, here he died in 1430. The last Jagiellon Sigismund II Augustus, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, made it his summer residence. The castle was badly damaged in the wars of the 17th-20th centuries, in fact, it was destroyed to the ground, and in 1951-1961. built anew, completely reconstructed in the form of the 15th century.

Tags: castles and fortresses, 14 century, 15 century, Grand Duchy of Lithuania