Yesterday I visited Trakai castle in Lithuania. The castle is situated on an island in the Galve lake. The original castle was built in the 14th century and helped the Polish-Lithuanian alliance with their fight against the Teutonic knights. It is a perfect location for a castle and almost impossible to take with its natural defences.

After the Battle of Grunwald, in which the Teutonic order was decisively defeated by the Poles and Lithuanians, the castle lost most of its military value. It became the summer residence for the grand dukes of Lithuania who turned it from a castle into a palace with beautiful decorations. After the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was established in 1569 the Polish kings, who were also grand dukes of Lithuania now, would also use the castle as summer palace.

Unfortunately, most of the castle was destroyed in the wars with Muscovy in the 17th century and it fell into disrepair. During the 19th century the idea emerged to rebuild the castle, but this didn’t happen until 1935 when renovation works finally started. The new castle was finished in 1961. If you look at the castle you can clearly see the new parts in red stone and the original castle walls in grey stone. Nowadays, the town of Trakai and its castle are one of the most popular tourist destinations in Lithuania and many people go there to sail, swim, relax and hopefully learn a bit about history.

Originally posted on Instagram on July 24, 2022