The area has retained its traditionally rural character, though during recent decades it started to host transport and spedition businesses, related to the nearby Lithuania-Belarus border crossing at the Vilnius-Minsk highway.

[4] However, the first scientifically accepted note on the fortress is related to the year of 1385, when it was conquered by troops of the Teutonic Order, led by the grand master Konrad Zöllner von Rotenstein.

The grand duke Vytautas visited it a number of times, e.g. in 1415 it was there that he was writing a letter to master of the Teutonic Order,[11] and when referring his 1426 stay a medieval chronicle notes "unsere husse Medniki".

In the first half of the 15th century it was probably the largest construction of this type in Lithuania, by far larger even than the castle compound in Vilnius; its walls of 560 metres length embraced the internal yard of some 2 ha.

[20] Following the death of Prince Casimir, who passed away already considered a quasi-saint in Lithuania, in 1484 his remnants were buried in the castle, though not clear whether in the walls or in a purpose-built sepulchral crypt; they would remain there during the following over 150 years.

[21] The place played also important ceremonial roles, e.g. in 1494 the Muscovite legacy which accompanied princess Helena, fiancé of grand duke Alexander travelling from Moscow to Vilnius, were pompously met by Lithuanian representatives in Medininkai.

The imperial envoy Sigmund von Herberstein when coming back from Moscow in 1517 noted that he saw the Medininkai castle devastated; it is not clear whether this was the result of Muscovite troops having seized and routed the fortress or another cause, e.g. an accidental fire.

[31] The discipline within the monastery deteriorated; in 1523 the Canons left Bystritsa,[32] and in 1528 they were removed from Medininkai for "non-compliance with rules of the order"; it was manifested e.g. by drunken episodes and dereliction of duty.

The new church of Holy Trinity was built centrally by the main road leading to Ashmyany,[35] while the renewed parish and cloister received new donations from the grand duke Sigismund (1541)[36] and his son (1560,[37] 1562[38]).

[40] On the one hand, Medininkai boasted of various privileges for the mayor and city-dwellers, e.g. these which exempted them from transportation services;[41] on the other, none of the sources consulted contains information e.g. on staple right, and it is despite that the town was located on a busy commercial route from Vilnius eastwards.

[42] The town demonstrated some urban features like market square,[35] castle or parish church, but it lacked city walls or bricked houses; there is neither any information on functioning of municipal self-government.

[8] Extinction of the royal Yagiellonian line did not spell much change for Medininkai, except that the now electable Polish kings and Lithuanian dukes when residing in the Grand Duchy lived in Vilnius and no longer visited other locations, as was their habit before.

Its results were tragic; the Muscovite troops inflicted massive damage upon the area, not only by total destruction of numerous settlements, but also by abducting great share of the population into Russia.

[66] When taking possession of his new property in 1796 he seized also the Augustian hospital, evicted the sick and took over the estate; the county court ordered him to give back the land and the premises, but it is not clear to what effect.

[85] At this time the estate again changed hands; after the Kamiński family,[86] its new owner was general Ivan Mikhailovich Labyntsev;[87] he took over also the former religious property, of unclear status since the parish and monastery had been closed down.

[96] Already in 1905 the villagers resumed their efforts; this time they addressed the religious hierarchy; in a letter to the Vilnius bishop Edward Ropp they noted that there had been a new church constructed in Ławaryszki/Lavoriškės, so the old one might be moved to Medininkai.

During elections to so-called Vilnius Parliament, organized under the provisional Polish rule within allegedly an independent state of Central Lithuania, Medininkai formed part of the Wilno Południe electoral district.

It excluded minor colonies and settlements which are now de facto parts of Medininkai, like Kurhany/Pilkapiai (45 houses, 249 inhabitants) or Józefowo/Juozapinė (respectively 14 and 64)[101] Religious statistics reveals similar data; in 1927 the entire parish amounted to 2,877 faithful,[102] in 1931 to 3,017,[103] and in 1934 to 3,287.

[106] Elżbieta Komarowa, who commenced parcelation of her possessions already in 1908,[107] was anxious that implementation of agrarian reform might prove disastrous; she decided to sell the rest of her estates in advance, before the law comes into force.

[88] The process was marked by tension and conflict; when the villagers decided to purchase a plot for a future church, intervention of the official land estate office was needed to get the deal done.

In June 1940 the village and the entire Lithuania was incorporated into the USSR as the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic; administrationwise it formed part of the Szumsk/Šumskas Commune within the Vilnius County.

It carried out a number of combat operations against the Germans and during brief spells controlled minor locations, like Szumsk/Šumskas or Turgiele/Turgeliai; it is known that on February 23, 1944, its sub-units mounted an ambush near Medininkai,[113] but it is not clear whether the battalion has ever seized the village itself.

It spared the village the nuisance of growing heavy traffic, but on the other hand it turned Medininkai into a backwater spot with agricultural machinery and horse carts having been most or the only vehicles.

[138] In line with general political and economic change the "Red Banner" kolkhoz was disbanded, and its estates and properties were divided among local coopratives, enterprises and private individuals; some plots expropriated half a century earlier returned to heirs of the original owners.

Many households still keep small gardens, orchards or cultivated plots, but usually for own consumption and only with minor or no part of the production intended for sale; the same applies to poultry and pigs.

[151] A similar Medininkai company, Hegvita Agro, apart from activities listed also leases buses and specialised heavy equipment (snow ploughs, bulldozers, loaders, dump trucks) and offers services related to its operations.

In order to accommodate migrants detained by Lithuanian border guards in the fall of 2021 the Vilnius government built a temporary site, named Foreigners Registration Centre.

[170] Soon media, including foreign news agencies,[171] started to report discrimination of LGBT persons and sexual exploitation of women by Lithuanian servicemen,[172] and Medininkai attracted attention of the EU representatives.

Its Medininkai branch is co-organising various competitions for children and teenagers, sight-seeing tours across Lithuania, journeys in footsteps of Polish history in Vilnius and elsewhere, and excursions to Poland, including taking part in nationwide events like Narodowy Dzień Pamięci Żołnierzy Wyklętych.

Traditionally it hosted a rural cross with the pictore of Our Madonna from Ostra Brama; in the 1990s the authorities mounted atop also a large boulder with inscription honoring Mendogas the king and a wooden totem, styled after the old pagan symbols.