page_title: Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania
section_title: Construction
hierarchical_section_title: Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania / History / Construction
caption_attribution_description: English: Palace of the Grand Dukes in 2002
context_page_description: The Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania is a palace in Vilnius, Lithuania. It was originally constructed in the 15th century for the rulers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the future Kings of Poland. The palace, located in the lower castle of Vilnius, evolved over the years and prospered during the 16th and mid-17th centuries. For four centuries the palace was the political, administrative and cultural centre of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was demolished in 1801. Work on a new palace started in 2002 on the site of the original building and it took 16 years to complete it in 2018. The palace was rebuilt in Renaissance style to match the Cathedral of Vilnius and, according to the testimony of one of the couriers of Grand Duchess Bona Sforza, such initial reconstruction from 1520 to 1530 cost 100,000 gold ducats and was ordered by Grand Duke Sigismund I the Old. It is believed that the reconstruction was made for the proclamation ceremonies of Sigismund II Augustus, the only son of Sigismund I the Old, as the Grand Duke of Lithuania.
context_section_description: After the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, Lithuania became independent again. In 1994 archeological excavations were put on hold due lack of funding. In 1994 Lithuanian Institute of History established Castles' Investigation Group that supervised archeological excavations. Schlossberg's house was used as Group's headquarters and housed collection of archaeological material found on the site.
  By the end of 1980s archeological excavations covered more and more territory, exposure of excavated basements to environmental factors (e. g. weather) led to decay of the materials (in particular, wooden structures and bricks). To solve this problem, it was decided in 1988 to erect temporary buildings – greenhouses (also as known as "hangars" due to their brownish colour and shape of these buildings). By early 1990s three options of palace site's future were circulating in the public. First option was about covering excavated basements of the palace with soil, but it was deemed to be uneconomical option. Second option was about erecting purpose-built building on palace's site to conserve the ruins, but opponents of this option noted possible visual pollution to the Vilnius Old Town (as it was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1994). Third option was about constructing building similar to the original building. Latter option received most attention from politicians and lobbied by President of Lithuania Algirdas Brazauskas. In 1993 architectural design competition was held and out of seven projects Rimas Grigas' design won the competition.
  By the first half of 1990s, function of the palace in the future was raised. Initially, palace was proposed as future Presidential Palace, but Artists' Palace had been used for that function instead. By the end of the decade, Kazys Napoleonas Kitkauskas suggested to use palace as the National Gallery of Art (building of former Museum of Revolution has been used instead since 2009). In 1999 Lithuanian Art Museum stated that palace's building will be used as residential palace museum.
  As part of a programme of nation-building, the Seimas in 2000 passed legislation to reconstruct the palace. Ground was broken in summer of 2002 on the southern part of the site of the original building. By year 2002–2004 and 2005–2006 the palace's project was changed mainly due to archeological findings found on the site and discussions about Schlossberg's house architectural value. Fragments of Schlossberg's house became part of the eastern wing of the restored palace. The building (and museum that was planned to own the building) was partially opened during the celebration of the millennium of the name of Lithuania in summer of 2009, although it was not yet fully completed due to the lack of funding. By the end of July 2009, construction work resumed and the building again became inaccessible for the public.
  Several historians who were against the reconstruction provided many arguments for why the reconstruction of the palace was unnecessary. It was argued that the newly built palace would destroy the urban landscape formed over the last 300 years. Vilnius Cathedral would be overshadowed by the palace, and the Gediminas' Tower would not be visible from the side of the cathedral. Also it was noted that materials and technologies unknown at the time of original construction (e. g. reinforced concrete) have been used. Also the reconstruction was financed by the state, while many authentic historic buildings (mainly manor houses) are in critical condition.
  On 6 July 2013, the part of the palace known as Bloc A was officially opened to the public, 760 years after the coronation of Mindaugas. From 2014 to 2018 the part of the palace known as Bloc B was under construction. The Bloc B and museum building as a whole opened on the 6 July 2018.
caption: Palace's site by the summer of 2002
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