A Lithuanian castle town associated with Vytautas and his death in 1430.
Trakai (New Trakai) was the primary residence and symbol of power for Vytautas the Great, Grand Duke of Lithuania. The castle, built on a lake island, was the center of Lithuanian ducal administration in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries.
Vytautas died at Trakai in 1430 shortly before a planned royal coronation that would have made him King of Lithuania, a project blocked by his cousin Jogaila. The castle and its island setting became closely identified with Lithuanian state formation and Gediminid political identity.