Belarus · Partial ruin
Navahrudak Castle
Navahrudak Castle is a medieval stronghold in Navahrudak (now in Belarus) that served as one of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania's frontier fortresses. The site preserves large brick tower remains and a later reconstructed brick tower; today the earthworks and ruins host medieval reenactment events.
First raised
1201
Its prime
1620
Today
Partial ruin
As it stood in 1620
What Navahrudak Castle looked like in its prime.
On a low grassy mound stand red-brick fortifications: a tall multi-storey rectangular keep with a rubble-stone battered base and a vertical stack of narrow rectangular window openings, and a separate brick tower with a pitched wooden roof and visible external supports. In prime condition the towers were linked by low red-brick curtain walls with crenellated parapets, forming a roughly oval bailey; packed-earth approaches and paths climb the grassy slopes to the gates.
Its story
The story of Navahrudak Castle.
Navahrudak Castle was one of the strongholds of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The 16th-century chronicler Maciej Stryjkowski named it as the site of Mindaugas's coronation as King of Lithuania and his likely burial place, though Lithuanian historians regard this as Stryjkowski's conjecture spun from legend rather than any record that the king lived at or even visited Navahrudak.
By the 14th century the fortress had a stone tower on the lines of the Tower of Kamyanyets, its other fortifications being timber. The Teutonic Knights under Heinrich von Plötzke stormed it in 1314, unsuccessfully, though the tower took substantial damage, and under Vytautas the Great four new stone towers were added. By the 17th century the main castle counted seven towers, apart from those of the Lesser Castle.
Navahrudak was among the northernmost forts besieged by the Crimean Tatars in the 16th century, was twice occupied by Russian forces during the Russo-Polish War of 1654–67, and was sacked by the Swedes in 1706 during the Great Northern War. Attempts to preserve the ruins began in the 1920s, and the castle grounds now provide the setting for medieval reenactment and theatrical jousting.
Step inside
5 places to explore in 1620.
The record describes 5 distinct spots at Navahrudak Castle, including the full exterior approach. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
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