Gintautas Zabiela
WHERE WAS THE CASTLE OF VORUTA SITUATED?
Summary
Among the names of places, dating back to the 13th century, Voruta has not been discovered yet. In 1251 Mindaugas defended himself against the allies attacks in this castle. From the beginning of the 19th century up to this day Voruta has been sought in 13 places in Lithuania and Byelorussia. The search was superficial and yielded no positive results. The most weighty hypothesis of Romas Batūra, according to which Voruta was identified with Vilnius, is also much criticised.
Voruta was mentioned only in the manuscript of Hipatius. The
analysis of the text shows it to be an authentic and reliable source.
According to the description of the castle and historical situation the
Voruta castle can be best identified with the Šeimyniškėliai hill-fort
(Anykščiai region). This is the largest hill-fort in East Lithuania.
However, the fact of the castle's existence in the 13th or 14th century, was not mentioned in the historical sources. In 1935 Eduardas Volteris put forward a hypothesis about the Voruta castle being situated there, but did not ground his arguments on facts.
Historical and linguistic data do not contradict the place of
location of Voruta on the hill-fort of Šeimyniškėliai. This was confirmed
by the archaeological excavations in 1990. The analysis of 100 sq meters
showed a short existence of the castle in the 13th century. There was a cemetery near the hill-fort. The whole complex of archaeological structures came into existence and disappeared simultaneously. Voruta fell into decay soon after the death of Mindaugas. Therefore the name of Voruta was not left in the other historical sources.
Lietuvos
istorijos metraštis. 1991 metai. Vilnius, 1993. P. 21.
Articles
Poetry of Voruta
Lietuviškai
По-русски
