Places of interest
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GEDIMINAS CASTLE Evaluate
A mound with a tower of red bricks on it solemnly overhangs the city. The castle tower named after Grand Duke Gediminas, the founding father of the city, has long been a symbol of the capital. Legend has it that tired after a hunt, Gediminas stopped off in the Šventaragis Valley and saw a dream about an iron wolf who was howling like hundred wolfs.
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A mound with a tower of red bricks on it solemnly overhangs the city. The castle tower named after Grand Duke Gediminas, the founding father of the city, has long been a symbol of the capital. Legend has it that tired after a hunt, Gediminas stopped off in the Šventaragis Valley and saw a dream about an iron wolf who was howling like hundred wolfs. The pagan priest Lizdeika told him that the iron wolf meant a city famous in the whole world. That is how Gediminas established Vilnius.
Vilnius supposedly got its name from the Vilnia River flowing at the foot of the castle hill. At that time, the core of the city consisted of three defensive castles — the Lower, the Upper, and the Crooked — and several small villages. Under the rule of Gediminas, these castles comprised the defensive complex and the political centre of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. This castle is related to the establishment of the city. It was first mentioned in 1323 when Gediminas started sending invitations to foreign craftsmen and merchants to come and settle in Vilnius. In these letters, Vilnius for the first time is called the capital of the Great Duchy of Lithuania.
The Gothic octagonal tower was once a part of the western Upper Castle. Today the museum in the Gediminas Castle Tower hosts an exhibition that includes reconstructed models of the 14th and 17th century Vilnius castles, some armament, and iconographic material of the old Vilnius.
In the modern times, Gediminas Castle Tower is the symbol of statehood. The Tower was the place where a group of volunteers first raised the Lithuanian tricolour flag — the symbol of Lithuania — at the retreat of the German army on January 1, 1919. Every year at noon on January 1, which is now Lithuanian Flag Day, one tricolour is solemnly substituted with a new one.
Vilnius supposedly got its name from the Vilnia River flowing at the foot of the castle hill. At that time, the core of the city consisted of three defensive castles — the Lower, the Upper, and the Crooked — and several small villages. Under the rule of Gediminas, these castles comprised the defensive complex and the political centre of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. This castle is related to the establishment of the city. It was first mentioned in 1323 when Gediminas started sending invitations to foreign craftsmen and merchants to come and settle in Vilnius. In these letters, Vilnius for the first time is called the capital of the Great Duchy of Lithuania.
The Gothic octagonal tower was once a part of the western Upper Castle. Today the museum in the Gediminas Castle Tower hosts an exhibition that includes reconstructed models of the 14th and 17th century Vilnius castles, some armament, and iconographic material of the old Vilnius.
In the modern times, Gediminas Castle Tower is the symbol of statehood. The Tower was the place where a group of volunteers first raised the Lithuanian tricolour flag — the symbol of Lithuania — at the retreat of the German army on January 1, 1919. Every year at noon on January 1, which is now Lithuanian Flag Day, one tricolour is solemnly substituted with a new one.
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