A small Tatar community lived in Vilnius and its surroundings. In 1397 after defeating the Tatars, Grand Duke Vytautas settled the prisoners in the suburbs of Lukishkes. and in the vicinity of Vilnius. When the Tatars started attacking the region and penetrating deep into Lithuania, King Alexander Jagiellon ordered to surround Vilnius with a defensive wall. In 1498 the construction of the wall began: Vilnius was surrounded by a high and thick masonry wall with five gates on important roads at the entrances to the city. The Rūdininkai gate was the most important and the most luxurious, because usually the rulers passed through it. A closed 2.5-kilometre-long ring, encircling the whole Vilnius was formed. The height of the wall reached even 10-12 m in places, and the thickness of the masonry was from 90 cm to almost 1.5 m. The city could only be entered through 10 gates installed in the wall. During the first half of the 17th century, a bastion was built in the wall next to the Subačius Gate.
Later, when five gates were too crowded, five more gates were cut into the city wall. All the gates of the city were guarded, and every carriage entering the city had to pay a fixed toll. The poor used to pay in stones, one cart - one stone which could be lifted by the adult. Stones were gathered to repair the walls, and the money was collected for the guard maintenance.
When Vilnius was attacked by the Russians, their army was four times larger than ours. After the occupation of Vilnius suburbs, more than a third of Vilnius's army was killed, and only 1,000 soldiers and 1,500 townspeople remained to defend the city. At dawn, the Russians renewed their attack and targeted the gates of Dawn, Užupis, Subačius, Rūdininkai and Trakai. The city defenders fought devotedly and finally got reinforcements and repulsed the enemy. However, a month later, the Russians still occupied the city and stayed there for 121 years.
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