The city wall around the southern parts of old town Vilnius and its only remaining city gate, the famous Gates of Dawn. Gates of Dawn was built from 1503 to 1522 as a part of the defensive fortifications for the city of Vilnius, which at the time was the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The gate has also been known as the Medininkai Gate, because it led to the village Medininkai south of Vilnius. Today, Gates of Dawn is the only remaining gate of the nine historical city gates, the others were destroyed on the orders of the Russian government at the end of the 18th century. Presumably, Gates of Dawn got this name because the morning sun would shine in through this gate when it opened at dawn.