The Extract from the "Annals of Lithuania": "Grand Duke Gediminas awarded all his sons before his death. Two of his sons were made grand dukes: Jaunutis in Vilnius, his capital, and Kęstutis in Trakai and the entire Samogitian land. The chronicle tells the story of Kęstutis, a prince on horseback, who "liked the area between the lakes a mile away from Trakai very much, settled there and founded a town, named it New Trakai, and moved the capital from the old Trakai to the new Trakai".
The castle of the Trakai Peninsula, known as the Great Castle, was built on a peninsula between Galvė and Bernardinai lakes. It was started in the 14th century by Grand Duke Kęstutis. The castle was built on a mound known as the Hill of Sacrifices. The castle was intended to help repel the attacks of the Teutonic Knights and to shelter the residents in case of a threat. The castle on the peninsula took a long time to build. It was one of the largest castles in Lithuania, with an area of 4 hectares with 11 defensive towers of different sizes.
A stone wall and a wide defensive moat separated it from the town. The quadrangular towers were erected in the corners. One of them was used to guard the castle gates, while the others were used to defend the walls. The empty courtyard was used to gather the army or the inhabitants in case of danger. The Grand Duke lived in the great south tower. The tower overlooked the entire castle complex on the peninsula, and it was possible to observe the roads of Old Trakai and Vilnius too. In 1383, the Crusaders attacked the castle and won the battle. When the fighting subsided, after Kęstutis' death, his son Vytautas started rebuilding the castle. Masonry and bricks were used instead of wood. The building materials were produced in a double lime kiln installed on-site.
Afterwards, the castle lands were handed out to the nobility, and noble enemies of the state and prisoners of war were imprisoned in the castle itself.
It is said that a little later, the townspeople began to dismantle the walls of the castle, taking bricks and stones with them. In the disastrous year of 1655, the castle was destroyed.
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