Kernavė was a medieval capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and today is a tourist attraction and an archeological site. It is located in the Širvintos district municipality located in southeast Lithuania. A Lithuanian state cultural reserve was established in Kernavė in 1989. In 2004 Kernavė Archaeological Site was included into UNESCO world heritage list.
One of the old hillfort at Kernavė
Kernavė Church, built in 1920
The new church and the foundations of the old church
The foundations of the old church
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 partitions of Poland–Lithuania. The state was founded by Lithuanians, who were at the time a polytheistic nation of several united Baltic tribes from Aukštaitija, which by 1440, became the largest European state controlling an area from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south.
Columns of Gediminas
Gediminas' Tower and other remnants of the Upper Castle in Vilnius
Lubart's Castle in Ukraine, built by the son of Gediminas' Liubartas in the mid-14th century, is famous for the Congress of Lutsk which took place in 1429
Trakai Island Castle, built by Grand Duke Vytautas, which served as a residence of Lithuanian Grand Dukes