Medininkai Castle

Medininkai Castle (Lithuanian: Medininkų pilis), a medieval castle in Vilnius district, eastern Lithuania. Castle was built in the first half of the 14th century. The defensive perimeter of the castle was 6.5 ha; it is the largest enclosure type castle in Lithuania, and one of the largest castles in Central and North-Eastern Europe.

It was built on plain ground and was designed for flank defence. The rectangular castle's yard covered approximately 1.8 hectares and was protected by walls 15 metres high and 2 metres thick. The castle had 4 gates and towers. The main tower (donjon), about 30 metres high, was used for residential quarters. The walls and towers of the shell structure are made of field stones and bricks in the Baltic brick bonding method. The castle's structure is similar to that of the castles of Lida, Kreva and Kaunas.

The origins of Medininkai Castle date back to 1311 as mentioned in the Chronicon terrae Prussiae chronicle. It is likely that the castle was originally built from timber and was adapted for frontal defence. The current brick and stone castle was built in the late 14th century likely by the Grand Duke Algirdas, during this period, the castle served as a refuge for the local population during attacks by the Tatars and the Teutonic Knights. However, it was later besieged and burnt down by the forces of the Teutonic Knights, together with the future Grand Duke of Lithuania Švitrigaila in 1402, following which it fell into disuse as a defensive structure, although Grand Duke Vytautas the Great did not abandon the castle outright and later visited it several times.

The castle was used as the summer residence of the Grand Duke of Lithuania and the King of Poland, Casimir IV Jagiellon. The children of the monarch and their tutor, Jan Dlugosz, often visited Medininkai as well.

From the late 15th century onwards, the castle was gradually abandoned following a series of fires, the most significant of which occurred in the early 16th century. Because of the increased use of firearms, this type of castle was no longer suited for defensive purposes and was later used as a residential castle. During the 17th–18th centuries it was reorganized into a farm and a bakery. The wooden structures that comprised the Medininkai Manor were relocated to the castle courtyard, where they remained until the early 20th century.

Text adapted from “Medininkai Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Medininkai Castle ranks #1,705 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #13 of the 29 mapped in Lithuania. Founded 1311, it is older than 62% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 582 atlas entries founded in the 14th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,646 times in the last 60 days, more than 61% of the atlas. 1 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Vilnius, 29 km away. See how Lithuania compares in the castle statistics.

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