Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania

Many museums in Lithuania are free on the last Sunday of the month. We were in the Palace of the Rulers. This is a restored building. You can see the remains of the basement, where the ideal masonry, Gothic corners, arches have been preserved. There were no guides anymore, we read the information on the stands (English, Lithuanian), an audio guide. It takes 2-3 hours.

Brand new history. Already in the 13th/14th century there was a wooden or stone palace here, but after the great fire of 1419 a two-storey Gothic stone palace was built here. In the decades that followed, the palace was renovated and expanded (a fourth wing and a third storey were added) and the style of the building was adapted to the architectural fashion of the time: from Gothic to Renaissance to Baroque. After the palace was badly damaged by the Russians in 1655, it was not restored and the decline began, which, after 1795, resulted in the demolition of almost the entire palace. The Jewish merchant Abraham Schlossberg incorporated the remains into his house and this "Schlossberg House" was incorporated into the completely rebuilt grand ducal building between 2002 and 2018. The palace now also houses the National Museum of Lithuania, which makes a visit to this very skillfully rebuilt palace even more attractive!

Nice museum with detailed history & plenty ancient artifacts. Built on top of old castle ruins.

This beautiful building is right next door to the cathedral and we went on a Sunday when entrance was free. Of course, we weren't the only ones taking advantage of this offer and so we had to queue to get in. That said, it was definitely worth the wait. It's similar in many respects to many of the grand palaces of Europe (Wawel Castle in Poland springs to mind) but there was a well guided tour which showed off all the art work and grandeur stored in the museum - including some paintings by Botticelli. I don't know how much tickets normally cost but it's worth going to regardless.

Really, really well-made museum. The palace itself is beautifully reconstructed as well. Only "problem" was that I spent around 1 hour and 45 minutes touring exhibition 1 and 2 before it closed, so I didn't have time to see the rest, but maybe I'll come back.

I had one day in Vilnius and visited this beautiful place that well worth a visit for history buffs and art lovers. There is a lookout point at the top floor with great panorama of Old Town. As an extra bonus it was small Boticelli exhibition during my visit. Allocate a few hours for a visit, if you want to fully enjoy all the art. There are also guided tours available at the Palace. Palace is located on a Cathedral Square among other attractions such as Gedeminas Monument , Gedeminas Tower, etc. During Xmas time there is a Xmas market and festive train fir children to ride. Highly recommend to visit.

I didn't expect Lithuania to have such a long history, and It was a pity to learn about city landmarks getting destructed during worldwars and occupations. It is a first-class museum and magnificent in its kind. Don't let the modest facade fool you. The hall's beauty is breathtaking. But the amount of info and artifacts is certainly overwhelming, and I personally prefer museum just focus on one storyline rather than showing all their treasures all at once.

This museum is a must visit in Vilnius. The information is split up in 4 paths. We chose the path about weapons and the other about architecture. The path about weapons was a bit shorter than the rest but provided a good view in the medieval weaponry of the European countries. The architecture part was very interesting and it also told the history of Lithuania from beginning until the 19th century. They also rebuild an old barn and as seen in the picture they made a mini version of the inside of houses. Overall the staff was friendly and the museum was clean and well-kept. The information provided was also enough to really know what was going on.