Trakai Castle, LithuaniaTrakai Castle, Lithuania
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trakai_(7).jpg
Author: Reza1615
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Trakai is a lake resort in southeastern Lithuania. Located 28 km to the west of Vilnius, it has a population of around 5,500 people (2011 estimate). The city is surrounded by some 200 lakes, with the deepest being Galvė.

The history of Trakai goes back to 1337, when it was first mentioned by the Germans, as Tracken. The area has been inhabited since the first millennium AD. Legend has it that the settlement was founded by Grand Duke Gediminas in the 13th century, after he discovered in during a hunting expedition. However as the city was first recorded in 1337, that is taken as its official founding date.

Trakai is said to have developed around the Peninsula Castle built by Grand Duke Kęstutis on an island in Lake Galvė. After Vytautas regained Trakai from Grand Duke Jogaila, he turned it into the political and administrative center for the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, although the official capital was Vilnius.

Approaching Trakai Island CastleApproaching Trakai Island Castle
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trakaibro.JPG
Author: Pernilla Larding
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Inside Trakai CastleInside Trakai Castle
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trakai_(5).jpg
Author: Reza1615
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The merger of Poland and Lithuania in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth took away Šiauliai's position, and the town began to slip behind in importance. It was plundered and razed during the war between Russia and Poland in 1654 and 1667, and its castle was in ruins. The Great Northern War of 1700-1721 again brought destruction to Trakai, as did the plague that swept Lithuania.

With the Partition of Poland in 1795, Trakai became part of the Russian Empire. Following World War I, it was made part of the Republic of Poland. However, it was soon annexed by the Soviet Union in the Polish Defensive War of 1939, occupied by Nazis during the Second World War, and after the war reverted to the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. The independence of Lithuania made Trakai part of the newly independent nation.

Church of the Visitation of the Holy Virgin Mary, TrakaiChurch of the Visitation of the Holy Virgin Mary, Trakai
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trakai_Church.jpg
Author: Julius
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Visiting Trakai

There are trains and buses to Trakai from Vilnius. The journey takes less than an hour.

Places of Interest in Trakai

  1. Trakai Island Castle
    This was the power base for Vytautas the Great during the 14th and 15th centuries. Destroyed during the Russian invasion of 1655, it was restored and rebuilt by Soviet authorities in the 1950s.

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Hello and thanks for reading this page. My name is Timothy and my hobby is in describing places so that I can share the information with the general public. My website has become the go to site for a lot of people including students, teachers, journalists, etc. whenever they seek information on places, particularly those in Malaysia and Singapore. I have been doing this since 5 January 2003, for over twenty years already. You can read about me at Discover Timothy. By now I have compiled information on thousands of places, mostly in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and I continue to add more almost every day. My goal is to describe every street in every town in Malaysia and Singapore.

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