[1] The castle – then located on a border area in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania – was built in 1433 for Lithuanian noble Jonas Goštautas, voivode of Trakai and Vilnius, replacing the original wooden fortress.

[3] On 31 December, 1655, when the castle was besieged by troops of the Tyszowce Confederation, Janusz Radziwiłł, one of the most powerful people in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth considered by some as the traitor, died here.

[5] Based on the preserved plans of the fortress, found in the archives in Saint Petersburg, the residential part of the castle has been restored (west wing in the style of late Gothic).

[2] The papal nuncio wrote in his diary I also saw twenty suits of royal armour of which four were of most wondrous workmanship, namely with a beautiful sculpture and figures set with silver [...] It cost six thousand scudos.

[11] The king's possessions included a rich collection of tapestries (360 pieces), commissioned by him in Brussels in the years 1550–1560, which decorated the castle's walls.