Kaunas Castle
Encyclopedia
Kaunas
Kaunas is the second-largest city in Lithuania and has historically been a leading centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the biggest city and the center of a powiat in Trakai Voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since 1413. During Russian Empire occupation...
, Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
. Archeological evidence suggests that it was originally built during the mid-14th century, in the Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
style. Its site is strategic – a rise on the banks of the Nemunas River near its confluence
Confluence
Confluence, in geography, describes the meeting of two or more bodies of water.Confluence may also refer to:* Confluence , a property of term rewriting systems...
with the Neris
Neris
Neris is a river rising in Belarus, flowing through Vilnius and becoming a tributary of the Neman River at Kaunas...
River. At the beginning of the 21st century, about one-third of the castle was still standing.
History
The precise construction date of the first Kaunas Castle is unknown. Archeological data suggests that a stone castle was built on the site during the middle of the 14th century. Situated on an elevated bank near the river junction about 100 kilometres (62.1 mi) from the capital city of VilniusVilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
, it served as a strategic outpost and guarded nearby cities as well as trade routes.
Teutonic Knights
The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem , commonly the Teutonic Order , is a German medieval military order, in modern times a purely religious Catholic order...
Winrich von Kniprode
Winrich von Kniprode
Winrich von Kniprode was the 22nd Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights. He was the longest serving Grand Master, holding the position for 31 years ....
issued an order to gather information about the castle, specifically the thickness of its walls, as preparation for an assault on the castle. During 1362, Kaunas Castle underwent a siege by the Teutonic Order. The siege of the castle lasted three weeks. During this attack, the Teutonic Knights constructed a siege tower
Siege tower
A siege tower is a specialized siege engine, constructed to protect assailants and ladders while approaching the defensive walls of a fortification. The tower was often rectangular with four wheels with its height roughly equal to that of the wall or sometimes higher to allow archers to stand on...
and erected wall-penetration machinery; primitive fire arms might have been used, since gunpowder
Gunpowder
Gunpowder, also known since in the late 19th century as black powder, was the first chemical explosive and the only one known until the mid 1800s. It is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate - with the sulfur and charcoal acting as fuels, while the saltpeter works as an oxidizer...
technology was emerging in Europe. At that time, the castle walls were over 11 meters (36 ft) high, when its firing galleries are factored in. According to Wigand of Marburg
Wigand of Marburg
Wigand of Marburg was a German herald of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia and one of the notable chroniclers of the Middle Ages.Wigand expanded upon the earlier work of Nikolaus von Jeroschin...
, the castle's garrison consisted of about 400 Lithuanian
Lithuanians
Lithuanians are the Baltic ethnic group native to Lithuania, where they number around 2,765,600 people. Another million or more make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the United States, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Russia, United Kingdom and Ireland. Their native language...
soldiers, commanded by Kęstutis
Kestutis
Kęstutis was monarch of medieval Lithuania. He was the Duke of Trakai and governed the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, 1342–82, together with his brother Algirdas , and with his nephew Jogaila...
's son Vaidotas
Vaidotas
Vaidotas or Wojdat was a son of Kęstutis, Grand Duke of Lithuania. In reliable historical sources he is mentioned only twice....
. After three weeks, the Knights managed to breach the castle’s walls, and soon afterwards the castle was taken. On Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
Sunday in 1362, the knights conducted a Mass at the castle to commemorate their victory.
Apparently, of the castle's defense force of 400, only 36 survived. Questions remain with regard to the castle's defenders' lack of support from outside during the siege. In any event, Kęstutis soon regained and rebuilt Kaunas Castle, but it remained a point of contention between Lithuanians and Teutonic Knights for many years. In 1384 Kaunas Castle was re-captured by the Teutonic Knights. At this time Grand Master
Hochmeister
The grand master is the holder of the supreme office of the Teutonic Order. It is equivalent to the grand master of other military orders and the superior general in non-military Roman Catholic religious orders...
Konrad Zöllner von Rotenstein began reconstruction of Kaunas Castle and renamed it Marienwerder. The presence of the Knights in Kaunas meant that the entire defensive system of castles along the Nemunas was threatened. Confronting this situation, the Lithuanians launched an attack on the castle later the same year.
It seems likely that the Lithuanians mustered an army near Vilnius as a strategic maneuver, since Lithuanians could use the downstream flow of the Neris River to transport artillery and military provisions from Vilnius; the Knights were forced to use overland or upstream transport. During the 1384 assault, the Lithuanians deployed cannons and trebuchet
Trebuchet
A trebuchet is a siege engine that was employed in the Middle Ages. It is sometimes called a "counterweight trebuchet" or "counterpoise trebuchet" in order to distinguish it from an earlier weapon that has come to be called the "traction trebuchet", the original version with pulling men instead of...
s; the besieged Teutonic Knights had also installed cannons in the castle, which apparently destroyed the Lithuanians' trebuchet. Nevertheless, the castle was retaken by the Lithuanians.
Battle of Grunwald
The Battle of Grunwald or 1st Battle of Tannenberg was fought on 15 July 1410, during the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War. The alliance of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, led respectively by King Jogaila and Grand Duke Vytautas , decisively defeated the Teutonic Knights, led...
, Kaunas Castle lost its strategic military importance and was used as a residence. The castle served administrative purposes after the death of Vytautas the Great
Vytautas the Great
Vytautas ; styled "the Great" from the 15th century onwards; c. 1350 October 27, 1430) was one of the most famous rulers of medieval Lithuania. Vytautas was the ruler of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania which chiefly encompassed the Lithuanians and Ruthenians...
. Sigismund Augustus gave this castle to his wife Barbara Radziwill
Barbara Radziwill
Barbara Radziwiłł was Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania, and consort to King Sigismund II Augustus.- Biography :Barbara was the daughter of a powerful magnate of the Radziwiłł family, castellan, voivode and hetman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania Jerzy Radziwiłł, and Barbara...
in 1549. During the 16th century, the castle was strengthened and adapted to new defensive purposes by the construction of an artillery bastion
Bastion
A bastion, or a bulwark, is a structure projecting outward from the main enclosure of a fortification, situated in both corners of a straight wall , facilitating active defence against assaulting troops...
near the round tower. The diameter of the bastion was about 40 meters (131 ft) and the height of the bastion's walls was about 12 meters (39 ft); the wall worked in conjunction with a defensive trench. At the bottom of the bastion a firing gallery was installed, which was linked with the tower.
In 1601, Kaunas Castle housed courts and an archive. At some time in 1611, part of the castle was flooded by the Neris River. Due to its convenient location, it was used by the Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
military during its war with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, after which its military functions ceased. In the mid-17th century, large portions of the castle were again flooded. The castle was used as a prison in the 18th century; later the Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n administration granted permission for houses to be built in the castle's territory, which resulted in significant damage to the castle itself.
For many years afterwards, Kaunas Castle stood abandoned. In the 1960s the round tower was opened as a museum, but due to the tower's structural deterioration, the museum was transferred elsewhere.
Conservation of the castle
Protection of the castle began in 1930; nearby houses were demolished, and the territory was examined by archeologists. Further efforts to preserve the castle were made in the 1950s. At this time the round tower underwent some repair; later the firing bastion was excavated from beneath several overlying strata. The excavated bastion was in very good condition. As part of its protection, temporary roofing was put in place there, as well as on the remaining towers and walls. The remaining portions of the round tower were not reconstructed to their original height, nor were the castle walls; the bigger part of them are only remaining foundations of the walls.Archeological excavations continued at Kaunas Castle, interrupted by periods of inactivity. The evidence gathered from these archeological works suggests that the configuration of the castle, excluding the bastion, has remained in the form it took during its reconstruction in 1376.