Legends of antiquity

A snake with human eyes, a mysterious underground passage, the gold of Khan Tokhtamysh: 
we tried to reveal the secrets of Lida Castle

Inquisitive minds are still fascinated by the mystery of the construction of the Egyptian and Mexican pyramids. But there is an example of such a grandiose structure in our country. In the 14th century, the two-metre thick walls of the Lida Castle were built from real boulders without any cranes. They saw bloody battles, love, courage and betrayal. The castle was attacked more than once, and in the 18th century, during the Northern War, it was practically destroyed by the Swedes. But now the beauty of Lida has been restored, and we can plunge into the harsh charm of the atmosphere of the Middle Ages.

Elizaveta Kobetskaya 

Entrance over stones

The castle fortress, which was supposed to perform defensive functions and serve as a princely residence if necessary, was built primarily for defence against the crusaders. It was erected all together at the confluence of the Lideika River and Kamenka River. Legend has it that in those days, every traveller on foot who wanted to enter the territory of the settlement had to bring a stone with him, and those who rode a cart had to bring several stones.
Initially, the fortress, built in the shape of a slightly irregular quadrangle, had only one tower — on the southwestern side. Now it is called Gedimin Tower, named after the founder of the castle. Later, his grandson Vitovt ordered another tower to be erected diagonally across the courtyard, which, of course, began to bear his name.

Castle legends

During excavations in the 1970s, archaeologists discovered only fragments of the foundation of the original tower from the time of Gedimin. They served as the basis for the reconstructed structure. On its walls you can see images of the castle in different eras, including those by Yazep Drozdovich, a famous Belarusian painter. 

The guides pay special attention to two pine trees near the castle walls. They say that one day the Franciscan monks intended to convert the inhabitants of the castle to their faith. The missionaries did not find understanding among the pagans — they took them and hung them on pine trees. And when someone decided to cut down the trees, instead of sap they bled. After that the pine trees were not touched. There was even a belief that after the trees died, misfortune would come to these lands. It is unknown who exactly and why harassed the coniferous couple, but they say that it happened on the eve of the Great Patriotic War...

Rare exhibits 

In the exhibition located in the Gedimin Tower, you can see the unique bricks that were used in the construction of Lida Castle.
“They are called ‘gloving’ because on the surface there are traces from the master’s hands, grooves from the fingers. It is not known whether this was how they removed excess clay, or whether this was how they increased the adhesion area between the brick and the lime mortar,” Tatyana Lipnitskaya, senior researcher at the Lida History and Art Museum, notes.
 The oldest type of tiles with which the castle towers were covered has also been preserved — with a protrusion-spout on the outside or a spike on the inside as a fastening element. Most often, the corners of roof slopes were built from such tiles, clinging to each other. There are also ancient tiles.
“Furnaces in the Middle Ages looked completely different from what they look like now. They were round, up to a metre in height and in diameter. 
The thickness of the wall of such an adobe stove reached 40 centimetres, and inside it, they placed a stove tile or tile that looked like a jug, and the stove resembled a honeycomb. Due to this, the heat-transfer surface increased,” the specialist continues.  
Among the rarest exhibits, which were found on the territory of Belarus literally once or twice, are a device for bloodletting and a small, if not tiny, silver coin. The princes never lived in Lida Castle, but they could stop here while passing through, for hunting or to inspect the garrison. Therefore, princely chambers are recreated in the tower — strict and even ascetic, where only the animal skins used as carpets and bedspreads remind of warmth and comfort. 

Combat rounds

Visitors to Lida Castle have access to battle galleries with loopholes with a beautiful view of the lake, which, according to Lida residents, has the shape of a heart. They are located at a height of about 10 metres above the ground.
“Most of the flooring is located on the castle wall itself. Its thickness here, at the top, is about one and a half meters, and where the loopholes are, it is about 70 centimetres. Several loopholes have been preserved, where we see old authentic masonry made of large gloving bricks,” notes Tatyana Lipnitskaya.
The loopholes have different widths: there are narrow ones for archery with a range of about 70–80 metres, there are wide ones for crossbowmen who could shoot at 200 metres. But if the enemy had already gotten close to the walls, it was extremely difficult to knock him out. Therefore, the place for the fortress was chosen on the banks of the river, or even better, at the confluence of the rivers.

Royal wedding 

Along the battle gallery you can go to the Vitovt Tower, built at the beginning of the 15th century. Being ‘younger’, it was better preserved — walls 4 to 8 metres high have survived to this day, as well as fragments of the lower tier, thanks to which it was possible to restore the basement vault. 

There are several thematic halls in the Vitovt Tower. Among them is an interactive one dedicated to the wedding of King Jagiello and Sophia Golshanskaya. The groom was, according to various sources, from 60 to 71 years old, his fourth wife was 17 years old. It was she who became the founder of the Jagiellonian royal dynasty, giving the king two sons. 

“The newlyweds got married in the Transfiguration Church in Novogrudok, after which they came to feast and spend the night at Lida Castle. It was with their wedding in February 1422 that the appearance of the ceremonial royal gates in Lida Castle is associated, which were urgently built for the ceremonial entry of the king and queen,” explains a senior researcher at the museum.

The gloomy spirit of the Middle Ages

Valuable exhibits can also be seen in the exhibition of the Vitovt Tower. This, for example, is the Lida cord sword made by German craftsmen. It is the only one on the territory of Belarus, and throughout the world there are no more than a hundred such cords.
In the vaulted dungeon of the Vitovt Tower there is an exhibition of torture devices for witches. True, it has nothing to do with the history of the castle itself; the Inquisition was not rampant here, but it corresponds to the gloomy spirit of the Middle Ages and is very popular among tourists.
Archaeologists who thoroughly explored the courtyard and surroundings of Lida Castle did not find any underground passage here. Nevertheless, rumours persist among people about its presence. But as practice shows, legends are usually based on real events. 
The story of a snake with human eyes is also connected with the underground passage. There are rumours that she lives there for many years, and appears to people on the eve of misfortunes. She was seen in Lida before the Great Patriotic War, and then before the accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. At the same time, in the spring of 1986, the western wall even collapsed.
In the 21st century, in the courtyard of Lida Castle, real knightly lists are held — fights between participants in historical reconstructions, where everything is adult: lathered horses, riders in armour, the rattling of weapons, wounds and fractures. 




By Oksana Nevmerzhitskaya

Photos by yeLIZAVETA KOBETSKAYA