Senieji Trakai Castle

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Senieji Trakai Castle is a historic brick fortress in Senieji Trakai, Lithuania. It was built before 1321 by Grand Duke Gediminas, who moved Lithuania’s capital from Kernavė to Trakai. The site hosted the wedding of Grand Duke Kęstutis and Birutė and was the birthplace of Grand Duke Vytautas in 1350. The Teutonic Knights destroyed the castle in 1391, and it was abandoned because a new castle had already been built in nearby Trakai by Kęstutis. In 1405 Vytautas granted the ruins to Benedictine monks. The present monastery on the site dates from the 15th century and likely contains remains of Gediminas’ castle. Archaeologists studied the hill fort in 1996–1997 and found evidence of a former rectangular stone wall surrounding the hill; residential buildings probably stood near the church and churchyard.