Editing Trakai (section)

===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.