Rauna Castle ruins are located in the village of Rauna

Rauna

Rauna is an extinct genus of prawn, containing the single species Rauna angusta, described from the Solnhofen limestones of southern Germany....

, in Cēsis District

Cesis District

Cēsis District was an administrative division of Latvia, located in the Vidzeme region, in the country's north-east. It bordered the former districts of Valmiera and Valka to the north, Limbaži and Riga to the west, Gulbene to the east, Ogre and Madona to the south. It was organized into two...

, Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

.

History

Rauna castle was built in 1262 and became the winter residence of the Archbishop of Riga

Archbishop of Riga

The Archbishopric of Riga was an archbishopric in Medieval Livonia, a subject to the Holy See. It was established in 1186 as the bishopric of Livonia at Üxküll, then after moving to Riga it became the bishopric of Riga in 1202 and was elevated to an archbishopric in 1255.- Archbishops of Riga :The...

. The biggest reconstructions occurred under the reign of Archbishop Jasper Linde (reigned 1509–1524). One of the new towers built received the name Garais Kaspars "Tall Jasper", after the archbishop. A small settlement developed around the castle, which later became the village of Rauna.

The devastation of the castle started in 1556 with attacks from the Livonian Order

Livonian Order

The Livonian Order was an autonomous Livonian branch of the Teutonic Order and a member of the Livonian Confederation from 1435–1561. After being defeated by Samogitians in the 1236 Battle of Schaulen , the remnants of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword were incorporated into the Teutonic Knights...

, which lasted until the end of Livonian War

Livonian War

The Livonian War was fought for control of Old Livonia in the territory of present-day Estonia and Latvia when the Tsardom of Russia faced a varying coalition of Denmark–Norway, the Kingdom of Sweden, the Union of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland.During the period 1558–1578,...

. The worst damage to the castle occurred from 1657–1658, during the Second Northern War

Second Northern War

The Second Northern War was fought between Sweden and its adversaries the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , Russia , Brandenburg-Prussia , the Habsburg Monarchy and Denmark–Norway...

 between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Swedish Empire

Swedish Empire

The Swedish Empire refers to the Kingdom of Sweden between 1561 and 1721 . During this time, Sweden was one of the great European powers. In Swedish, the period is called Stormaktstiden, literally meaning "the Great Power Era"...

. The castle was deserted after that and slowly turned to ruin. In 1683 the king of Sweden ordered the destruction of anything that resembled a fortress in the Rauna Castle, so all towers of the castle-front were demolished. Today the Rauna Castle ruins are preserved. Many walls and even the bases of the towers remain.