I.Prehistory. The Era of Vytautas the Great and Wooden Defense
It is both easy and difficult to talk about your hometown. When you live there, you get used to it and you no longer notice the details. Since I haven`t lived here for a long time, the work wasn`t very difficult. On the over hand, I wanted to look at the city in a different way, and the city wall, or what`s left of it, served me well.
Today, the mighty walls seem to us like an integral part of a medieval city, but Vilnius at the end of the 14th centuary looked completly different. It was an expanding, chaotic, wooden city, whose vital organs were protected not by a solid wall, but by several separat fortresses. During the reing Vytautas the Great (1392-1430) the philosophy of Vilnius defense was based not on the isolation intire city, but on the defense of strategic points - the High, Low and Crooked (Kreivoji pilis) Castles.
The city did not yet have clear stone boundaries, so every seriou enemy attack meant horror for the people of Vilnius. The gratest test for this system was the dramatic period of the late 14th century and the greatest paradox of history - Vytautas himself, fighting for the throne of Grand Duchy of Lithuania with his cousin Jogaila., led the Crusaders to the gates of his future capital. In September 1390 Vilnius was surrounded by a joint army of Teutonic, English and German knights, led by Vytautas himself with his regiments. The main target of the attackers was the Crooked castle (standing on the present Hill of Three Crosses), which was defended by a Polish garrison appointed by Jogaila and Vytauta`s brother Karigaila. The atackers used the most modern siege equipment of the time - throwing machins and primitive artillery. After a fierce assault,the castle was set on fire and completely destroyd. Chroniclars recorded a gruesom images: thousands of people burned alive in the wooden fortifications and Karigaila, who led the defens, was killed. The Crooked castle was never rebuilt after this tragedy. Jast a few years later, the wheel of history turned: Vytautas achieved his goal, became the rule of Lithuania and now he himself had to defend Vilnius from the same allies. During the siege of 1394 he together with Skirgaila successfully repealled the attack of the forces of the Teutonic Order Master Konrad von Jungingen. However the lesson had been learned.
Wooden castles, no matter how inaccessible they seemed on the hills of Vilnius, were extremely vulnerable to fire. In addition, the city growing around the foot of the castle - merchants, craftsmen and their wealth - remained completely unprotected in case of danger. During the time of Vytautas the Great, Vilnius understood the paintful truth: in order to survive, it was not enough to hide in the shadow of the rule`s castle. The city needed a new, modern and solid armor. Although Vytautas himself never started building the cyti`s stone walls, it was the tires and losses of his era that sowed the idea that materialized into the stone defensive rings of Vilnius a century later.
II. The Great Renaissance Project : Alexander`s Wall and the City`s Armor.
Fear is a powerful engine and at the begining of the 16th century Vilnius expierenced a real exsistential horror. A new, lightning fast and merciless force emerged on the distant horizons of the southern steppes - the Crimean Tatars. Their terrifying swarms were getting closer and closer to the heart of Lithuania. When 1502 the Tatar horsemen devastated the surroundings of Vilnius and burned the villages on the other side of Neris, it became clear that there was no more time to delay. The city needed a real, impenetrebale stone wall.
On september 6 1503 The Grand Duke of Lithuania Aleksandras Jogailaitis signed a historic privilege. With it he satisfied the request of the people of Vilnius themselves and allowed to surround the city with stone ring . Interestingly the ruler not only gave permission, but also freed the townspeople from part of the taxes and military obligations, so that all forces could be focused on one goal - constuction.
This project became the largest collective work of that time. The wall was built with the funds and hands of the Vilnius residents themselves. Every homeowner, merchant or craftsman had to contribute: some with money, some with briks and some with just physical labor. Those who could not afford to pay, carried fields stones from the surrounding fields themselves. Everything was used for construction - even the remains of pagan almshouses or old buildings.
Over the course of several decades ( construction was completed around 1522), Vilnius changed beyond recognition. The city was surrounded by a defensive wall about 2,5 kilometrs long and up to 10-12 meters high, the thickness of which in places ...
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