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Important dates

4th to 8th centuries
A fortified wooden settlement existed on the site of the Grand Dukes’ Palace in the Lower Castle Late 13th to early 14th century Part of the settlement was converted into a castle, and the first early brick buildings were built, during the reigns of either King Mindaugas, Grand Duke Vytenis or Grand Duke Gediminas
1323
Grand Duke Gediminas signed treaties and wrote letters probably from the Upper Castle 14th century The Lower Castle was surrounded by brick fortifications with towers 1386 and 1387 Jogaila, the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, lived in the castle for a period of time while he oversaw Lithuania’s conversion to Christianity, the setting up of the Diocese of Vilnius, and the building of the Cathedral
1390
The Teutonic Order attacked Vilnius and destroyed the nearby Crooked Castle. Participating in the attack was Henry Bolingbroke, the Earl of Derby, who was later to become King Henry IV of England, and Grand Duke Vytautas, the pretender to the throne of Lithuania
1402
The Teutonic Order lay its last unsuccessful siege to the castles in Vilnius. Jogaila’s brother Švitrigaila also participated in the siege
1413
Grand Duke Vytautas is known to have resided in the Lower Castle 1413–1414 A Flemish knight called Ghillebert de Lannoy, an envoy of John, the Duke of Burgundy, visited the Vilnius castles and described them
1430
With the support of Sigismund von Luxemburg, the future Holy Roman Emperor, Vytautas planned to be crowned King of Lithuania in Vilnius
1432
Sigismund, the son of Kęstutis and the brother of Vytautas the Great, became Grand Duke of Lithuania
1440
Casimir Jagiellon, the son of Jogaila, became Grand Duke of Lithuania
1455–1468
Casimir Jagiellon and his wife Elisabeth of Austria (known as the “Mother of Kings”), who was the daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Albert II, King of Bohemia and King of Hungary, often visited and resided in the Vilnius castles
1492
Alexander Jagiellon, Casimir Jagiellon’s son, became Grand Duke of Lithuania
1494
A legation from Moscow visited Vilnius to negotiate the marriage of the daughter of the Grand Duke of Moscow to Alexander Jagiellon
1495
The marriage took place between Alexander Jagiellon and Helena, the daughter of Ivan III, the Grand Duke of Moscow
Late 15th to early 16th century
Alexander Jagiellon moved his residence from the Upper Castle to the Lower Castle, and built a palace in the late Gothic style
1502
Sigismund Zanthay, an envoy from Alexander Jagiellon’s brother Ladislaus, the King of Hungary and King of Bohemia, was received in the palace
1506
Alexander Jagiellon died in the palace in the Lower Castle (his remains are buried in the Cathedral). He was succeeded by his youngest brother Sigismund the Old
1513
A fire destroyed the Lower Castle and the rulers’ palace
1517
Sigismund Herberstein, the envoy of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, visited the castle to negotiate the marriage of Sigismund the Old to Bona Sforza, a daughter of Gian Galeazzo Sforza, the Duke of Milan
1520–1530
After a fire in 1520 and before another fire in 1530, Sigismund the Old rebuilt and extended the palace in the Lower Castle in modern Renaissance style
1528
Sigismund the Old received Cornelius Schepper, the envoy of his son-in-law the King of Hungary Janos Szapolyan and of Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain
1529
The young Sigismund Augustus became Grand Duke of Lithuania
1535
Modenino, the envoy of Ercole II d’Este, the Duke of Ferrara, was received in the palace
1539
At Bona Sforza’s request, a staircase was built near her apartments, mention is made of a garden being planned for the palace
After 1544
After becoming ruler of Lithuania, Sigismund Augustus continued extending the Grand Dukes’ Palace, and built what came to be called the “New Palace”
1544–1545
Sigismund Augustus’ first wife Elisabeth Habsburg, the daughter of Ferdinand I, the Holy Roman Emperor, lived and died in the palace (she is buried in Vilnius Cathedral)
1545, 1546, 1551
Albrecht of Hohenzollern, the Duke of Prussia and a cousin of Sigismund Augustus, visited the palace. He later sent his cousin paintings, weapons, wines and horses
1548
Barbara Radziwiłł was installed in the palace as Grand Duchess of Lithuania
1551
Barbara Radziwiłł died in Krakow and her body was brought back to Vilnius and laid to rest in Vilnius Cathedral. Sigismund Augustus began to rebuild the Church of St Anne in the Lower Castle to serve as a family mausoleum
1554–1559
Catherine Habsburg, the daughter of Emperor Ferdinand I and widow of Francesco III, the Duke of Mantua, and sister of Sigismund’s first wife, became Sigismund’s third wife. She frequently visited the palace, and expressed very positive opinions about life in Vilnius
1555
Luigi Lippomano, the Bishop of Verona and first papal nuncio, was received in the palace
1560
Bishop Bernardo Bongiovanni, the envoy of Pope Pius IV, was received in the palace. He was greatly impressed on being shown the palace treasury
1562
The marriage took place between Catherine Jagiellon and John III Vasa, the future King of Sweden
From 1569
After the signing of the Lublin Union, the palace became the residence of the common rulers of Lithuania and Poland, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and hosted sittings of the Convocation of Vilnius
1580
In the presence of Giovanni Andrea Caligari, the nuncio of Pope Gregory XIII, Merkelis Giedraitis, the Bishop of Samogitia, presented to Stephen Bathory the Pope’s gift of a specially blessed ceremonial sword and a pearl-encrusted hat. This ceremony was viewed in Lithuania as marking Stephen Bathory’s elevation to the position of grand duke
The envoy Achmed from the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire was received in the palace
1584
The Third Statute of Lithuania was drawn up in the palace, and later (in 1636) a special room was set aside for editing and updating it
Circa 1585
Stephen Bathory received in the palace Cardinal Ippolito Aldobrandini, the papal nuncio, who later became Pope Clement VIII and proclaimed the canonization of Prince Casimir
1589
Annibale di Capua, the papal nuncio of Pope Sixtus V, was received in the Vilnius palace
1601–1602
An envoy of the Grand Duke of Moscow visited the palace
1609
The Marquis Luigi Bevilacqua, an envoy of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, visited the palace
1610
After a fire, Sigismund Vasa had the palace rebuilt and remodelled in the style of Northern European Mannerism
1611
Anne Vasa, a Swedish princess and the sister of Sigismund Vasa, the ruler of Poland and Lithuania, lived in the palace
After 1624
Sigismund and Ladislaus Vasa remodelled the palace in the lavish early Italian Baroque style
1633
Wilhelm Kettler, the Duke of Courland, took an oath of allegiance to Ladislaus Vasa, the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, in the palace
1636
Juan Croy, Conte di Solre, the envoy of King Philip IV of Spain, was received in the palace
Il Ratto di Helena (The Abduction of Helen), the first opera to be performed in Lithuania (with music by Marco Scacchi and a libretto by Virgilio Puccitelli), was put on in honour of the Spanish ambassador
1639
Jacob Kettler, the Duke of Courland, took an oath of allegiance to Ladislaus Vasa, the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, in the palace
1643
Prince Valdemar Christian, the son of King Christian IV of Denmark, was received in the palace
1644
An envoy of the Shah of Iran was received in the palace
The opera Andromeda, based on Ovid’s Metamorphoses, was performed for the Lithuanian and Polish royal family, who had come to view the palace’s decoration and take part in the end of a carnival
Cecilia Renata Habsburg, the daughter of Emperor Ferdinand II, and first wife of Ladislaus Vasa, died in the palace. She is buried in Krakow Cathedral
1648
The opera Circe delusa, in honour of the formal arrival of Marie Louise Gonzaga de Nevers, a ward of King Louis XIII of France, and Ladislaus Vasa’s second wife, was put on in the palace
Ladislaus Vasa prepared to accept the French Order of the Holy Spirit from King Louis XIV. However, he died in Merkinė before the award could be made (his heart is buried in Vilnius Cathedral)
1655
The Muscovite and Ukrainian Cossack armies, led by Ivan Zolotarenko, occupied Vilnius and looted and destroyed the Grand Dukes’ Palace. Alexei Mikhailovich, the Grand Duke of Moscow, declared himself Grand Duke of Lithuania
1661
After a long siege, the Muscovite army was repulsed from Vilnius, and the castle and the destroyed palace were retaken. The Russian military leader was beheaded
Late 17th and 18th century
The Lithuanian nobility repeatedly demanded at meetings of the local sejmiks that the destroyed palace be rebuilt, and that the ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, as Grand Duke of Lithuania, should reside in it every third year
1766
The Parliament of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth decreed that the palace in Vilnius should be used for the needs of society
Late 18th century
Burghers and the nobility of Vilnius were permitted to live in the palace, while a plan was drawn up to adapt the palace for use by state institutions
1799–1801
On the orders of the Imperial Russian administration, the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania was destroyed
1831
The site of the former palace was adapted to serve as a barracks for the Russian army, and ditches and ramparts were built
Late 19th century
After the dismantling of the Russian fortifications, the site of the palace was levelled and laid out as a park
Early 20th century
The first archaeological excavations on the site of the Vilnius castles were carried out
1983
A plan was proposed to rebuild the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania in the Lower Castle, for it to function as a National Gallery of Art
1987
Systematic excavations of the site of the palace began, and the idea to rebuild the old residence of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania took hold
2000
The Lithuanian Parliament passed a law authorizing reconstruction of the palace
2001
The Government of Lithuania passed a decree that specified the guidelines for the reconstruction and use of the palace
10 May 2002
The reconstruction work began
 6 July 2009
Heads of state or governments from 15 states (Lithuania, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Ukraine, Latvia, Iceland, Finland, Georgia, the Vatican, Estonia, Belarus, Germany and Russia) participated in the symbolic opening of the completed, though not fully furnished, Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania in the Lower Castle
Published:: 2023-01-17 13:35 Modified: 2023-01-18 11:53
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