At the foot of the castle there was the residence Vytautas the Great, the grand Duke of GDL, now the restored Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania. To honour the founder of Vilnius, Grand Duke Gediminas the castle was named after him.
It is believed that the castle was built by Gediminas himself during the reign of his father Vytenis (Duke Vytenis died in 1315). After his father's death, Gediminas became the Grand Duke of Lithuania and took care of the country, not only defended it, but also managed all the eastern Lithuania with Vilnius and protected it from the Crusaders, built the castles in more important strategic places. While hunting, Gediminas visited the famous Šventaragis Valley where the remains of the great dukes were cremated and noticed a hill with a simple castle to protect the Temple of Thunder, which could be the most suitable place to build a fortress for the entire region.
There is also a more realistic version of the presentation of Vilnius: it is said that Gediminas had luck hunting for taurus on this hill. The skin of the taurus and its gold-plated horns were kept in the state treasury for a long time. The Grand Duke Vytautas in 1429, was getting ready for the coronation and gave one horn as a present to the Roman Emperor at the Lutsk Congress. In 1419 a fire broke out and the wooden castle burned down. Some stronger materials such as unbroken stones and bricks and lime mortar to bind them were used for the reconstruction. The new brick castle was built in Gothic style and had three towers, the representative palace and farm buildings. The western tower, which has survived to our time, was four stories high. The castle was surrounded by defensive walls with loopholes. In the 17th century the Upper castle was abandoned, and a prison for the nobles was installed in it. During the 17th-18th centuries during the wars with Russia, the castle was badly damaged and never was rebuilt.
Reviews