Lithuania plans new search for Vytautas the Great’s remains this autumn

Lithuania plans to begin a new search for the remains of Vytautas the Great this autumn, after the government approved scientific research at Vilnius Cathedral Basilica, LRT reported.

The research will examine possible locations of the grand duke’s remains. Broader studies of the cathedral are also planned, followed by a database of people buried there over different periods and a comprehensive bioarchive of remains samples.

Historians and archaeologists agree that the research will significantly expand knowledge of the cathedral over the next three years, as no systematic investigation has previously been carried out. However, they remain highly doubtful that it will succeed in finding Vytautas’s remains.

A sarcophagus in the Chapter Crypt of Vilnius Cathedral has stood empty for almost 100 years. It was made in 1930, when the 500th anniversary of Vytautas’s death was commemorated. The sarcophagus was intended to hold one of Lithuania’s most prominent rulers, who never became the country’s second king.

Serious professional archaeological research in the cathedral’s underground areas began around that time. Researchers had hoped to find an intact burial, possibly with insignia or regalia. Instead, moisture, high groundwater levels and flooding caused the wooden coffins to decay, leaving the human remains mixed together, said Alina Pavasarytė, a historian at the Museum of Church Heritage.

The search has continued ever since and has intensified in recent years, partly because the 600th anniversary of Vytautas’s death is approaching. It was also renewed after Saulius Poderis, a history researcher convicted of black archaeology, announced possible locations of the remains.

Poderis said he supports the theory that Vytautas was found during the interwar period, when the first systematic and large-scale research was conducted in the cathedral. He cited a letter by Ksaveras Bogušas, found in 1930, which reportedly stated that Vytautas was buried beside Alexander Jagiellon in the crypt.

According to the official version, the remains of three rulers, Alexander Jagiellon, Barbara Radziwiłł and Elizabeth of Austria, were found in the cathedral in 1931. All three, who are associated with Polish history, are now buried in the rulers’ crypt.

Poderis claims that Poland deliberately concealed the possible discovery of Vytautas’s remains. Vilnius was under Polish control during the interwar period, when relations between Poland and Lithuania were particularly tense. He described the decision as political and said it was made on the day the crypt was found.

Vytautas’s death anniversary was one of the most important state events in interwar Lithuania. The country was still building its identity after 1918, and the grand duke was chosen as a symbol of a strong state and Lithuania’s power. Because Vilnius belonged to Poland at the time, Vytautas also symbolised Lithuania’s historical claim to the capital.

“Vytautas is remembered in Lithuanian consciousness as one of the most prominent and successful rulers, who fostered independence, and as a symbol of 14th- and 15th-century Lithuania,” said Antanas Petrilionis, a lecturer at Vilnius University’s Faculty of History. He said Vytautas’s image and remains were important to Lithuanians because they needed a symbol they could see, not merely hear about.

Poderis said he had spent 17 years searching for answers and remained convinced by his theory. He identified the western wall of the rulers’ mausoleum as one of the most likely places where Vytautas may have been secretly reburied during the interwar period.