The Renaissance Garden of the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania reflects the stylistics characteristic of a Renaissance-era representational residence’s surroundings and landscape planning, including the herbs and decorative plants that would have been grown in the 16th century. The earliest source to mention the garden of the Vilnius residence, connected to the upper levels of the palace by a set of stairs, is a letter from the ruler of Lithuania and Poland Bona Sforza (1494–1557) dated to 1539. Perhaps the garden, reminiscent of a so-called secret garden (giardino segreto), echoed an Italian park design. The stairs and other elements (an arbour) were designed by the Italian architect and sculptor Bernardino Zanobi de Gianotis. An Italian priest Francesco tended the plants in the garden.
The ruler of Lithuania and Poland Sigismund Augustus (1544/1548–1572), who extended the Renaissance palace in Vilnius, also enlarged the garden. A large garden is depicted near the palace in the image of mid-16th-century Vilnius from Georg Braun’s atlas. A splendid Baroque plan Italian garden with cherries, sculptures and fountains is mentioned in the beginning of the 17th century.
Relics from various periods surviving in the cultural layers of the Lower Castle are evidence of the history of the garden. Investigation of the site revealed plaited formations, typical of medieval gardens, ponds dating to the times of the Renaissance, other hydrotechnical installations, exotic plant pollen and fragments of vases and Baroque garden sculptures. Some of these artefacts can be seen in the exposition at the National Museum – Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania.
