Biržai Castle

Biržai Castle
Biržai, Lithuania
The manor in the castle of Biržai
Biržai Castle
Coordinates	56°12′N 24°45′E / 56.20°N 24.75°E / 56.20; 24.75Coordinates: 56°12′N 24°45′E / 56.20°N 24.75°E / 56.20; 24.75
Type	Castle
Site history
Built	1589

Biržai Castle is a castle in Biržai, Lithuania. Construction of the earth bastion-type castle started in 1586 by the order of Krzysztof Mikołaj "the Lightning" 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.^[1]

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.

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  Plan of the castle.

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  Ruins of the Biržai Castle by Franciszek Smuglewicz (National Museum in Warsaw)

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  Arsenal

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  Bridge

See also[]

• List of castles in Lithuania

References[]

External links[]

• The Association of Castles and Museums around the Baltic Sea
• Media related to Biržai Castle at Wikimedia Commons

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