Medininkų piliavietės archeologiniai tyrimai

ENArchaeological research at Medininkai Castle began in the 1960s and, with some interruptions, lasted until the end of the castle’s reconstruction in 2011. This research, combined with architectural exploration, helped to determine solutions for the reconstruction of the castle and its constituent parts, providing data on the construction and auxiliary structures of this masonry castle, and the process of its construction. The research carried out during the Soviet era was described as both architectural and archaeological, since archaeological research was then one of the means of tracing the castles constituent parts, architectural details, and structural elements that had been lost over the ages. Soviet-era archaeological research was of a more exploratory type; after Lithuania regained its independence, the research became considerably wider in scope. It revealed an array of facts about the layout of the site’s cultural stratum and its relationship to the castle - but yielded less information about the structure of the castle itself. More recent archaeological research has been used to adapt the castle to the needs of the museum; while wider in scope, it is best described by the term “rescue archaeology” Although its most important objectives relate to the castle’s construction and development, recent research has also provided interesting insights into everyday life at the castle, as well as in buildings that lay within the territory of the castle at the time when the manor was located there. Although the exact dates of the castle’s construction and the stages of its development are still unknown, we believe that the latest research methods may provide answers in the near future.