The legend has been told that Birutė, the wife of Kęstutis, Duke of Trakai and Samogitia, was unsatisfied with the Old Trakai Castle. She was complaining that there was not enough water around it (because Birutė came from Palanga and longed for the crashing waves). Kęstutis started building a new castle on the peninsula and the couple moved there in 1376. The Crusader attack in 1391 was fatal for the stronghold, which was heavily damaged and never rebuilt. Vytautas the Great wished to preserve and maintain the castle, and in 1405 he invited the Benedictine monks to settle there. The monks were given a tenth of the manor's land, a plot of land with gardens and even 2 lakes. They settled in the ruined castle and built the Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Church of St Benedict.
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