Birzai Castle

Biržai, Lithuania

Biržai Castle is an earth bastion-type castle. The construction started in 1586 by the order of Krzysztof Mikołaj Radziwiłł. In 1575, preparing for this construction, a dam was built on the Agluona and Apaščia rivers at their confluence, and the artificial Lake Širvėna, covering about 40 km², was created. Major castle building works were finished in 1589.

Since the second half of the 17th century, the castle has been the main seat of the Biržai-Dubingiai Radziwiłł family line, which was transferred here from the Dubingiai Castle. Biržai Castle served as a major defensive structure during the wars with Sweden.

The castle was reconstructed from ruins in the 1980s, in the Renaissance-Baroque style. The residential manor of the castle houses a library and a regional history museum 'Sėla' (literally Selonia), founded in 1928.

References:

Comments

Your name



Details

Founded: 1586-1589
Category: Castles and fortifications in Lithuania

Rating

4.7/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

Raimond (15 months ago)
It’s very nice place, beautiful palace. Nice surroundings, just by the lake.
Cristi (16 months ago)
Great castle which now hosts a wide set of exhibits about the life of people in this area. We enjoyed the visit, thank you! Very nice personnel! The arsenal part is more focused on war events and items.
Jovita L. (17 months ago)
Not a castle at all, but more like a hall/palace. Only 5 euro entry to the Birzai museum, but we were not interested. The grounds are quite boring, no flower beds. Did like the nearby beach by the lake.
ieva Kaveckiene (18 months ago)
Beautiful castle with a large museum exhibition. Entrance is €5 per person and you get to visit the museum which has three floors and the arsenal building located right next to the castle. The exhibition was interesting. The organisation of the exhibits could have been better. Also, there’s not so much history that would be specific to the Biržai region. The video in the arsenal building is poorly made. After spending 15 min watching the film we were left with so many questions. Overall it was a great 2 hours spent wandering around the museum and its beautiful garden.
Robertas Katinas (18 months ago)
The castle has been restored quite well. The area around is also tidy, clean and nice. The museum inside has some interesting items, though I'd like to see some more. Biržai area has a rich history after all
Powered by Google

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Historic Site of the week

Clementinum

The Clementinum is a historic complex of buildings in Prague. Until recently the complex hosted the National, University and Technical libraries, the City Library also being located nearby on Mariánské Náměstí. The Technical library and the Municipal library have moved to the Prague National Technical Library at Technická 6 since 2009. It is currently in use as the National Library of the Czech Republic.

Its history dates from the existence of a chapel dedicated to Saint Clement in the 11th century. A Dominican monastery was founded in the medieval period, which was transformed in 1556 to a Jesuit college. In 1622 the Jesuits transferred the library of Charles University to the Klementinum, and the college was merged with the University in 1654. The Jesuits remained until 1773, when the Klementinum was established as an observatory, library, and university by the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria.