Lithuania · Restored
Biržai Castle
Biržai Castle is a 16th–17th century bastion fortress in northern Lithuania built by the Radziwiłł family and sited on the artificial Lake Širvėna. The complex combined broad earthen bastions and embankments with a residential manor, gate tower, barracks and an arsenal; it was rebuilt and enlarged through the 17th century and later restored and reoccupied as a museum and cultural site.
Its prime
1682
Today
Restored
As it stood in 1682
The shape it held in its prime.
Low, angular earthen bastions and revetted embankments form a star-like fortification beside the artificial Lake Širvėna; ramparts rise from the waterline and are punctuated by a prominent gate tower giving access to an inner courtyard. Within the curtain stand a compact residential manor, clustered service buildings including barracks and an arsenal, and visible gun positions on the grassy bastions facing the lakeside approach.
Its story
The story of Biržai Castle.
Construction of Biržai Castle began in 1586 on the order of Krzysztof "Piorun" Radziwiłł, to protect his lands and the northern Lithuanian border with Livonia. In preparation, a dam across the Agluona and Apaščia rivers created the artificial Lake Širvėna, covering about 40 square kilometres; the major works were finished in 1589. It was the first Italian-style bastion fort in Lithuania and one of the first in north-eastern Europe.
Biržai served as an essential Lithuanian stronghold in the wars with Sweden. Besieged by about 8,000 Swedish troops on 7 August 1625, its garrison surrendered after a second siege that September and the stronghold was destroyed. From 1637 Duke Krzysztof II Radziwiłł rebuilt it much larger, replacing the Italian style of fortification with the Dutch; in the autumn of 1655 the castle fell to the Swedes again, who blew it up on their retreat.
From the second half of the 17th century the castle was the main seat of the Biržai-Dubingiai line of the Radziwiłł (Radvila) family, transferred here from Dubingiai Castle; restoration ceased after Bogusław Radziwiłł, the line's last male descendant, died in 1669. Reconstructed from ruins in the 1980s in Renaissance-Baroque style and most recently restored in 2013, it now houses the "Sėla" regional museum, a library and a restaurant.
Step inside
9 places to explore in 1682.
The record describes 9 distinct spots at Biržai Castle — including 3 interiors: residential manor — principal chamber, arsenal and barracks interior, evangelical-reformed church interior. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and walk through every one — more scenes means more photos, more angles and more rooms of the immersive experience.
Create History
Recreate Biržai Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1682 — a photoreal walk that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate Castle to Explore →Whose castle
Clans who held Biržai Castle.
The families that held Biržai Castle for a decade or more across its history — follow a name to its clan.
Radziwiłł
Built from 1586 by Krzysztof "Piorun" Radziwiłł; main seat of the Biržai-Dubingiai Radziwiłł line into the late 17th century.
