The castle site is located on a small hill, on the W bank of a nameless lake. The site is quadrangular, elongated in the W-W direction, 150x130 m in size. It is surrounded on the N, W and W sides by a 40 m wide, 6-8 m deep moat, paved with stones in the upper part, which was filled with water.
The castle is very damaged by the various buildings that stood there and the economic activities that took place here. In the NE part of the site, on a 2 m high hill, there is a building dating from 1899. built in St. of the Annunciation of the Lord Virgin Mary and St. Benedict's Church and after 1770 a monastery building was built, in the NE part - a wooden warehouse. On the north side, the moat was filled in for the construction of the entrance to the castle. The site is covered with soil, large linden trees grow on its S, W and N edges.
To the south of the castle site, on an area of 2 ha, there is a foothill settlement, explored in 1995-1996. Up to 1.5 m thick 14th c. cultural layer with iron crossbow arrowheads, knives, awls, fragments of pentines, chain armor, brass brooches, pendants, bracelets, earring, cross, stone sharpeners, fine pottery.
1994-1997 A. Kuncevičius investigated a total area of 355 m2 in various parts of the castle site. On the outskirts of the site, at a depth of 0.5-1.5 m, a 2 m thick and 4 m high wall made of large stones and bricks was found surrounding the castle. It was covered with bed tiles. It was established that the castle was built in an uninhabited area, the walls were built on the terrace of the hill. After building the walls, the higher central part of the hill is excavated by filling the walls from the inside and thus leveling the castle yard. On the inner side of the walls, there were wooden galleries, where 102 iron crossbow arrowheads, 4 bow arrowheads, knives, cylinder locks, keys, scissors, rings, bracelets, clay spindles, and pottery were found in the cultural layer that formed there. In the central part of the castle site, a ditch running in the N-W direction suggests that the castle had a forecastle (probably in the S part). The cultural layer of the castle grounds is covered by a 1 m thick 15th-18th century. a layer from the times of the Benedictine monastery with finds from that time.
The history of Trakai Castle is not very clear, because until now there is no consensus as to which (Old or New (current)) Trakai Castle is mentioned in the 14th century. at the end The Trakai Castle belonging to Kęstučius was mentioned in 1375, when the Crusaders set up a night camp in front of the castle during their march to Lithuania. 1377 in February they attacked the new castle of Trakai. 1382 July 20 the castle surrendered to Jogaila, supported by the Teutonic Knights, who gave it to Skirgaila. Soon, Kęstutis unsuccessfully tried to take her back. 1383 September 12 the castle surrendered to Vytautas, supported by the Crusaders, after a battle during which it was bombarded from two sides. The crusaders supported by him left a crew of 60 men led by Jonas Rabe in the castle. The castle was attacked a couple of weeks later by the Lithuanian army led by Jogaila and Skirgaila. After a 6-week siege (from September 24 to November 3), during which masonry demolition machines were used, the castle surrendered and the Crusader crew retreated to Prussia. The castle was badly damaged, a rope length (17 m) part of its wall fell down. 1390 when the crusaders attacked Vilnius, the castle was burned by Skirgaila. 1405 Grand Duke Vytautas gave the castle to the Benedictine monastery and built a church.
The castle dates back to the 14th century.
The castle is located on the PR side of Old Trakai, 600 m south of the railway crossing.
Lit.: LAA, p. 151 (No. 663); Kuncevičius, 1996; 1998a; 1998b; 2001a; 2001b; 2001c; Poškiene, 1996; Rackevičius, 2002, p. 177-180.
