Editing Trakai (section)

==History==

===Beginnings===
The first settlements in this area appeared as early as the first millennium A.D. The city, as well as its surroundings, started developing in the 13th century in the place of [[Senieji Trakai]] (Old Trakai). According to a legend after a successful hunting party, Grand Duke [[Gediminas]] discovered a beautiful lake-surrounded place not far from [[Kernavė]], then capital of the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]], and decided to build a castle in the location. This was how the [[Old Trakai Castle]] was built in Senieji Trakai. The name of Trakai was first mentioned in [[Teutonic Knights|Teutonic Knights']] chronicles in 1337. This year is considered to be the official date of city's foundation. When Grand Duke Gediminas finally settled in [[Vilnius]], Senieji Trakai was inherited by his son [[Kęstutis]]. The [[Duchy of Trakai]] developed and the city entered its best decades.

===Golden age===
[[File:Trakai old castle.jpg|thumb|The old [[Trakai Peninsula Castle]]]]
[[Kęstutis]] moved the town from Senieji Trakai to its current location, which is sometimes known as Naujieji Trakai. The new location was a place of intensive construction: a new castle was built in the strait between lakes Galvė and Luka and known as the [[Trakai Peninsula Castle|Peninsula Castle]], and another one, known as the [[Trakai Island Castle|Island Castle]], on an island in Lake Galvė. A village grew around the castles. Vicinity of Trakai was protected by [[Senieji Trakai Castle|Senieji Trakai]], Strėva, Bražuolė, Daniliškės and other [[hillfort]]s from attacks of the Teutonic Knights. Despite the protection, both wooden castles were successfully raided by the Teutonic Knights several times in a row.

The town was in the center of a conflict between Grand Duke [[Jogaila]] (later to become King of Poland) with his uncle [[Kęstutis]]. In 1382 Jogaila's and Kęstutis's armies met near Trakai, but Jogaila tricked Kęstutis and imprisoned him in [[Kreva]]. A few weeks later Kęstutis died in captivity and Jogaila transferred the castles to his brother [[Skirgaila]], who became the governor of Lithuania Proper. However, his rule was briefly interrupted when in 1,383 joint forces of Kęstutis's son [[Vytautas]] and the Teutonic Knights captured the town. In 1392, Vytautas and Jogaila signed the [[Astrava Agreement]] ending their quarrel. Vytautas became the Grand Duke of Lithuania while Jogaila technically remained his superior. Vytautas also regained his father's lands, including Trakai. Despite his official capital being in Vilnius, Vytautas spent more time in Trakai. In early 15th century he replaced the older, wooden fortress with a stone-built castle. Some design elements were borrowed from the castles of the Teutonic Knights as Vytautas spent some time with the Teutons forming an alliance against Jogaila in earlier years.

[[File:Trakai Karaite house.JPG|thumb|left|A typical triple-windowed wooden Karaim house in Trakai]]
Trakai became a political and an administrative centre of the Duchy, sometimes named a ''de facto'' capital of Lithuania.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://viduramziu.lietuvos.net/socium/sostine2.htm |title=Viduramžių Lietuvos visuomenė |access-date=2 May 2007 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070317230848/http://viduramziu.lietuvos.net/socium/sostine2.htm |archive-date=17 March 2007|language=lt}}</ref> The construction of the brick castles was finished and a Catholic church was built. In 1409, the town was granted with [[Magdeburg Rights]]; it is one of the first towns in Lithuania to get city rights. The village started rapidly developing into a town. Also in 1409 Grand Duke [[Vytautas the Great]] made Trakai the [[capital city]] of Lithuania and relocated the State Treasury of Lithuania and [[Lithuanian Metrica]] to Trakai.<ref>{{cite web |title=Trakų atradimai – istorijos ir gamtos perlai |url=https://www.lrytas.lt/zmones/keliones/2019/02/04/news/traku-atradimai-istorijos-ir-gamtos-perlai-9105577 |website=[[Lrytas.lt]] |language=lt}}</ref> In 1413, it became a seat of the [[Trakai Voivodeship]] and a notable center of administration and commerce.

===Decline and reconstruction===
[[File:Lithuania Trakai Old Post.jpg|thumb|The old post office building]]
[[File:Užutrakio dvaras 28.JPG|thumb|[[Užutrakis Manor]], which previously belonged to the [[Tyszkiewicz family]]]]
[[File:Troki. Трокі (T. Makoŭski, 1600).jpg|thumb|Panorama of Trakai, engraving by Tomasz Makowski (1600). The panorama shows the city's most important buildings, including the Tatar mosque.]]
After the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]] joined the [[Kingdom of Poland (1385–1569)|Kingdom of Poland]] to form the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] in 1569, the castles remained a royal property, but the town's importance gradually declined, with the nearby Vilnius and the political center of the Commonwealth in [[Kraków]] becoming far more important. Nevertheless, it continued to be the seat of the local [[Sejmik]]. In Polish sources, the town name was started to be referred to as ''Troki''. In 1477, the castle on the lake was a meeting place of King [[Casimir IV Jagiellon|Casimir IV]] with [[Venice|Venetian]] envoys. After that, the castle became a luxurious prison for political prisoners. [[Sigismund I the Old]] imprisoned the members of [[Goštautai]] family, believed to be conspiring with [[Michael Glinski]]. Also Helena, widow of King [[Alexander Jagiellon|Alexander]] was kept there in order to prevent her escape to the [[Grand Duchy of Moscow]]. The castle was refurbished by King [[Sigismund I the Old]], who set up his summer residence there; however, after his death in 1548, the castle gradually fell into disrepair.

During the [[Russo-Polish War (1654–1667)|wars between Russia and Poland]] between 1654 and 1667, the town was plundered and burnt. In the aftermath of the war with the [[Tsardom of Russia]] in 1655, both castles were demolished and the town's prosperity ended. The castle ruins remained a historical landmark. During the [[Great Northern War]] (1700–1721) Trakai was plundered again, as famine and plague swept the country.

[[File:Stanisław Masłowski (1853-1926), Troki - pejzaż (Landscape of Trakai) watercolor on paper, 1904.jpeg|thumb|left|''Troki - pejzaż'' - [[Landscape]] of Trakai (view of the [[Crimean Karaites|Karaim]] bank),<ref>See (in Polish): [[Maciej Masłowski]]: [[Stanisław Masłowski]] - Materiały do życiorysu i twórczości, [[Wrocław]], 1957, [[Ossolineum]], p.140</ref> 1904, [[watercolor]] on paper by [[Stanisław Masłowski]]]]
After the [[Partitions of Poland]] in 1795, the area was annexed by the [[Russian Empire]]. After [[World War I]], the area became part of the restored [[Second Polish Republic|Republic of Poland]]. In 1929, the Polish authorities ordered reconstruction and restoration of the Trakai Island Castle. The works in the Upper castle were almost complete in 1939, when the [[Invasion of Poland]] started and the area was soon annexed by the [[Soviet Union]], then by [[Nazi Germany]] during [[Operation Barbarossa]]. During the war, more than 5,000 Jews from the Trakai region were murdered by the Nazis. In 1944, during [[Operation Tempest]], the town was liberated by joint forces of the underground Polish [[Home Army]] and [[Soviet partisans]]. After [[World War II]] it was again annexed by the Soviet Union and made part of the [[Lithuanian SSR]] in the Soviet Union; subsequently many of the city's and area's ethnic Polish inhabitants left for the [[recovered Territories]] of the [[Polish People's Republic]].

In 1961, the reconstruction of the upper castle and a high tower construction were completed; however, the works came to a halt as a result of [[Nikita Khrushchev]]'s speech of 21 December 1960, where the [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|First Secretary]] declared that reconstruction of the castle would be a sign of glorification of Lithuania's [[feudalism|feudal]] past. Restoration work in the lower castle were not resumed until the 1980s and were completed by Lithuanian authorities in the early 1990s. Today the Island Castle serves as the main tourist attraction, hosting various cultural events such as operas and concerts.