Lida Castle: A Historic Fortress of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in Belarus
Visitor Information
Google Rating: 4.5
Popularity: Medium
Official Website: lixmuseum.by
Country: Belarus
Civilization: Medieval European
Site type: Military
Remains: Castle
History
Lida Castle is located in the city of Lida, within the modern territory of Belarus. It was built by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, beginning in 1323 under the orders of Grand Duke Gediminas. Positioned on the southeastern outskirts of Lida, the castle stood as a frontier fortress guarding the border between the Grand Duchy and the neighboring southern Slavic lands.
Constructed as the first stone castle in the Grand Duchy’s realm, Lida Castle formed part of an important line of defenses against the Teutonic Knights, alongside other key fortresses such as Novogrudok, Kreva, Medniki, and Trakai. Over its early decades, it served a dual role as both a military bastion and a residence for feudal lords. The castle also played host to notable historical occasions, including the 1422 wedding of Grand Duke Władysław II Jagiełło and Sophia Holshanska.
Throughout the 14th and 15th centuries, Lida Castle endured multiple attacks. It was besieged by the Teutonic Order on at least three occasions (1384, 1392, 1394), confronted forces from Smolensk in 1406, and was involved in conflicts with Prince Svidrigailo’s troops in 1433. The castle also faced assaults by Crimean Tatar detachments in 1506 and withstood Russian military action in 1659.
By the 17th century, the fortress’s strategic importance began to wane. During the Great Northern War in the early 18th century, Swedish forces severely damaged the castle, destroying its towers with explosives. The site’s last known military use took place in 1794 amid the Kościuszko Uprising, a Polish-Lithuanian national insurrection against Russian domination.
In the late 19th century, after a significant fire ravaged parts of Lida in 1891, sections of the castle were dismantled, with its stones repurposed to rebuild the city. Restoration efforts commenced in the 1920s during the period when the area was administered by Poland and have continued sporadically since then. Archaeologists such as M. A. Tkachov, O. A. Trusov, and A. K. Kravtsevich later conducted excavations to further document and conserve the site. Today, Lida Castle is preserved as an architectural monument and cultural venue.
Remains
Lida Castle occupies an artificial sandy mound approximately 5 to 6 meters high, formed in a rectangular shape. It lies at the junction of the Lideya and Kamenka rivers, with marshland surrounding the site and a twenty-meter-wide moat separating it from the city on the northern side. Its irregular, trapezoid-like layout measures roughly 93.5 meters across the northern side, 83.5 meters on the east, 80 meters along the south, and 84 meters on the west.
The fortress features walls about 15 meters tall, constructed mainly of large, partially shaped stones joined by smaller stones and mortar. These walls measure around 2 meters in thickness at the base and taper to about 1.5 meters near their tops. Internally, wooden beams or planks reinforce the walls, adding strength and stability. Brick was sparingly used, mostly for structural details and decorations such as corners, towers, arches, and facades. A distinct ornamental band appears on the eastern and northern walls showcasing Baltic (Wendish) masonry style through alternating brick patterns.
Crowning the walls is a brick parapet roughly 70 centimeters thick, featuring trapezoidal openings called embrasures. These allowed defenders to use bows, crossbows, and eventually light firearms. Below the battlements, a wooden gallery, supported by beams extending from the walls, runs along the interior perimeter. Wooden staircases at the northwest and southeast corners provide access, and the gallery is covered by a sloping wooden roof.
Two corner towers anchored the castle’s defenses. The southwestern tower, square in shape measuring about nine meters per side, dates back to the first half of the 14th century. Its walls were three meters thick, but today it exists mostly as ruins. The northeastern tower, roughly twelve by twelve and a half meters with walls up to three meters thick, was built later between the late 14th and early 15th centuries. This tower was adapted for cannon use and features an arched brick entrance facing the courtyard. It also contains internal staircases embedded within the walls.
Access to the castle was controlled by three gates. Two were situated along the eastern wall: a smaller, ground-level gate with a pointed arch used for daily entry, and a larger gate with a semicircular arch, adorned with a relief of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania’s coat of arms. The larger gate likely featured a drawbridge for defense. A third gate stood on the southern side approximately 22 meters from the southwestern tower. Elevated about four meters above the courtyard floor, this gate was probably designed as a secret or emergency exit, reachable only by ladder.
Within the courtyard, archaeological work has revealed the foundations of several buildings important to castle life. Residences and commercial structures were present alongside a court, an archive, and beginning in 1568, a prison. Excavations uncovered barracks along the northern, western, and eastern walls divided into smaller rooms, each heated by tiled clay stoves set on stone and brick bases. Near the western wall, a rectangular building measuring about six by four meters likely served as the commandant’s residence, identifiable by its stone foundation and tiled stoves.
To the southeast of the castle, spaces housed a smithy and a kitchen for soldiers. Two wells were located within the eastern part of the courtyard: a smaller one near the northeastern tower for general use, and a larger one dedicated to watering horses and other animals. These were connected by a paved path, while the courtyard’s center was covered with cobblestones.
Excavations also brought to light a variety of artifacts illustrating daily life and military activity at the castle. Among finds were metal items such as soldiers’ spurs, horseshoes, knives, flints, scissors, keys, locks, arrowheads, and crossbow bolts. Ceramic and glass vessels including pots, mugs, jugs, and cups were uncovered, alongside bone tools and stone projectiles used in catapults. Coins from the 14th century bearing the names of Lithuanian princes Keistut and Vytautas further attest to the castle’s historical ties.
Today, the castle’s preservation is partial. The southwestern tower largely survives as a ruin, and parts of the western wall were dismantled in the 19th century. However, restoration and conservation proceedings resumed in the twentieth century, with major work during the late 1970s and renewed efforts in the early 21st century aimed at restoring the castle’s appearance as it was in the 14th century.
