Bišpilis (Jurbarkas) Mound

The mound of Jurbarkas, called Bišpilis (Višpilis, Viešpilis), is the closest mound to Skalva.

There is a steep gradient intruding into the left valley of the Imsrė River from the east side, which is separated from the other part by 5 m high mound and a moat.  On the eastern side, the mound connects with the field, a former foothill settlement. The current settlement has destroyed the traces of the previous one. The mound is elevated on the north and west sides. It can be seen that from the field, from the side of the Imsrė Valley, there used to be a road to the mound. The site in the east-west direction is 58 m long and 28 m wide.  This is not the actual former width, because the northern part of the site has slipped off washed away by the Imsrė River.

The first Lithuanian castle east of Skalva was mentioned in the middle 13^th century, but it is not named. It is speculated that this strong castle stood right here, on Bišpilis. It is very possible that the castle was here even before the appearance of the Crusaders in the 11^th century, and probably even earlier. Ditleb von Alnpeke writes in his poetic Livonian Chronicle that the Samogitians built the castle on Bišpilis round 1260, when the battle of Durbė and other intense battles took place. Some historians speculate that Bisene Castle used to be here, others argue that it was Kolainai Castle. This castle is the first victim of the Crusaders in Lithuanian land.

Kolainai Castle was first mentioned on April 23, 1290, when “brother Meinhard, the magistrate, violently attacked Kolainai Castle with five hundred horsemen and two thousand infantry”. In the castle there was Commander Surmin, with 120 men, and all but 12 of whom were mortally wounded. In the “Chronicle of the Prussian Land” it said that on February 2, 1291, the Konigsberg Commandry Bertold Bruhaven with many brothers and about 1,500 men, while marching by Kolainiai Castle, saw that it was not defended and burned it.

It is possible that the garrison of Bisenė Castle had a good rearward, a backup defense option: 4 km north of Bišpilis, in the village of Meškininkai, there is another large mound called “Bišpiliukas”. Artifacts from the 1^st millennium are found on its site, but the fortifications are typical of the period of the crusades.

Duke Vasilchikov was excavating in this settlement and the mound at the end of the 19^th and beginning of the 20^th century.  Some of the artifacts were taken from the palace by Germans; some are in the Vytautas Great War Museum in Kaunas. According to P. Tarasenko, the found ceramics artifacts belong to the 3^rd-8^th centuries; other artifacts are dated to the 9^th-14^th centuries. To the east and west of the mound (on both banks of the Imsrė Stream), in the 2.5 ha area at the mound foot, there was a settlement dating to end of the 1^st – beginning of the 2^nd millennium, which was explored in 2006.

In commemoration of the anniversary of Jurbarkas, a monument and a symbolic city gate were built near Bišpilis in 1989.

The mound of Jurbarkas, called Bišpilis (Višpilis, Viešpilis), is the closest mound to Skalva.

There is a steep gradient intruding into the left valley of the Imsrė River from the east side, which is separated from the other part by 5 m high mound and a moat.  On the eastern side, the mound connects with the field, a former foothill settlement. The current settlement has destroyed the traces of the previous one. The mound is elevated on the north and west sides. It can be seen that from the field, from the side of the Imsrė Valley, there used to be a road to the mound. The site in the east-west direction is 58 m long and 28 m wide.  This is not the actual former width, because the northern part of the site has slipped off washed away by the Imsrė River.

The first Lithuanian castle east of Skalva was mentioned in the middle 13^th century, but it is not named. It is speculated that this strong castle stood right here, on Bišpilis. It is very possible that the castle was here even before the appearance of the Crusaders in the 11^th century, and probably even earlier. Ditleb von Alnpeke writes in his poetic Livonian Chronicle that the Samogitians built the castle on Bišpilis round 1260, when the battle of Durbė and other intense battles took place. Some historians speculate that Bisene Castle used to be here, others argue that it was Kolainai Castle. This castle is the first victim of the Crusaders in Lithuanian land.

Kolainai Castle was first mentioned on April 23, 1290, when “brother Meinhard, the magistrate, violently attacked Kolainai Castle with five hundred horsemen and two thousand infantry”. In the castle there was Commander Surmin, with 120 men, and all but 12 of whom were mortally wounded. In the “Chronicle of the Prussian Land” it said that on February 2, 1291, the Konigsberg Commandry Bertold Bruhaven with many brothers and about 1,500 men, while marching by Kolainiai Castle, saw that it was not defended and burned it.

It is possible that the garrison of Bisenė Castle had a good rearward, a backup defense option: 4 km north of Bišpilis, in the village of Meškininkai, there is another large mound called “Bišpiliukas”. Artifacts from the 1^st millennium are found on its site, but the fortifications are typical of the period of the crusades.

Duke Vasilchikov was excavating in this settlement and the mound at the end of the 19^th and beginning of the 20^th century.  Some of the artifacts were taken from the palace by Germans; some are in the Vytautas Great War Museum in Kaunas. According to P. Tarasenko, the found ceramics artifacts belong to the 3^rd-8^th centuries; other artifacts are dated to the 9^th-14^th centuries. To the east and west of the mound (on both banks of the Imsrė Stream), in the 2.5 ha area at the mound foot, there was a settlement dating to end of the 1^st – beginning of the 2^nd millennium, which was explored in 2006.

In commemoration of the anniversary of Jurbarkas, a monument and a symbolic city gate were built near Bišpilis in 1989.