Vilnius 700. Treasures of Vilnius

This year, Vilnius, our nation’s capital city, celebrates its 700th anniversary — in 1323, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Gediminas, mentioned the name “Vilnius” for the first time in his letters to Western Europe. Since then, Vilnius has experienced many ups and downs, stories were created here, and the city itself made its own stories. We, the Money Museum, want to talk about Vilnius and money, so today we will tell you about the most romantic side of money — treasures. We present the most impressive treasures found in Vilnius.

Although we mentioned that the word “treasure” has a romantic aspect (after all, we all have at least once dreamed of finding treasure and have heard legends about places where chests of money are hidden), their prehistory is rarely very nice or romantic. At best, the treasure is money that had once been lost and never found. However, most of the time, large amounts of money were hidden during disasters such as wars. The owner of the money would hide it from the troubles of the time, hoping to one day return and reclaim it. Unfortunately, sometimes they would die or be imprisoned, and the money remained hidden (often buried in the earth, sometimes hidden in tree trunks, etc.). Many years later, it would be found, much to the joy of treasure hunters and historians.

The history of Vilnius is very rich, there have been many significant events here, so there are likely many treasures as well A few have already been found. Let’s discuss the most interesting treasures found in Vilnius. 

The Ribiškės treasure

The treasure of coin alloys was found in the spring of 1930 in Ribiškės (now the southern part of Vilnius). The treasure dates back to the mid-13th century. The treasure, weighing about 60 kg, consisted of coin alloys: about 400 Lithuanian semicircular rod-shaped ones, 19 Kyiv hryvnias, and nine Novgorod hryvnias. The alloys, thought to have been wrapped in 10 pieces of fabric, were in a copper container. Prior to World War II, about 400 Lithuanian alloys, Novgorod hryvnias, and mostly Kyiv hryvnias were held in the collections of the numismatists Povilas Karazija and Konstantinas Stašys and other individuals. Karazija even supposes that this led to a fall in silver prices in Vilnius in 1930, because traders resold this treasure. It turns out that this treasure was found by farmers who hid it, sold it, and even planned to melt it into spoons. Karazija himself brought attention to this, so the press and police were involved and the treasure was saved.

As many as 165 alloys are stored in the Museum of Science of Vilnius University, several at the M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art, and in the Łódź Museum (Poland).

Treasures of the Palace of the Grand Dukes

During the construction of the Palace of the Grand Dukes, intensive excavations of the surrounding environment took place here for several decades. In addition to the impressive abundance of other important findings, a lot of money was found, as well as dozens of larger or smaller treasures.
 
The most impressive was discovered in July 2002 when the territory of the Palace of the Grand Dukes was explored with a metal detector. The treasure consisted of half of the Lithuanian triangle alloy (called roubles), Jogaila’s (19 minted in 1387–1387, 16 — circa 1388, 14 — 1388–1392), Vytautas’ (13 minted in 1392–1396), and a fragment of Karolis I of Prague’s groats. Studying the treasure helped to accurately date the early coins (pinigėliai) of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and solved some issues of dependence. The coins found are very rare, of some only a few pieces are known. The treasure is believed to have been buried after 1396 (the latest coin in the treasure — Vytautas’ denar — was minted between 1392 and 1396). The treasure is stored in the National Museum of Lithuania.

Tilto Street treasure

Nowadays, it’s not just archaeologists who find treasures. In 1999, workers were fixing the house located at Tilto g. 19. The floor broke, the workers collapsed, and discovered buried one of the largest treasures found in Lithuania. The treasure consisted of about 15,900 copper and bilon coins (mainly Jonas Kazimieras’ Lithuanian and Polish shillings and their forgeries) and 39 silver coins (21 Polish, 14 Prussian, and four from Riga, mostly three- and six-groats). The treasure was buried after 1698 (the newest coin — the six-groat of Prussia’s Friedrich III — was minted in 1698).

Gediminas Avenue treasure

In 2004, during the restoration of the former Vilniaus hotel building (Gedimino pr. 20), archaeologists found an old glass butter dish in the basement. There were nearly 600 silver coins in it. Most of them are from the Russian Empire, others — German and Austrian, issued from 1821 to 1918. 

A bottle of dark glass was found near the butter dish (such bottles were used by the brewery Šopen in the 19th century), and inside it was hidden paper money. They were rolled into tubes like cigars. These were Russian paper money issued from 1910 to 1917.

It is believed that in 1919, while fleeing from Lithuania, someone from the Vincas Kapsukas Bolsheviks, or perhaps even members of the Bolshevik government, who operated in this building, hid the money in the bottle. 

Today, this treasure can be seen at the Money Museum.

Raišiai treasure

In 2021, a person who did not want to reveal their identity went for a walk in the village of Raišiai (in Vilnius City Municipality, next to Pilaitė) with a metal detector and discovered several silver coins. The person was honest, so they reported the find to archaeologists. They searched the area for about a month and found a great treasure. According to specialists, 62 items can be attributed to the once scattered (the land was being worked and the entire treasure has perhaps not yet been found) treasure, of which the main and most valuable part is 58 silver coins and two silver alloys. The value of the hidden treasure, according to the existing findings, amounts to about 120–130 groats, which were most likely hidden here during the siege of Vilnius in 1390. The amount for those times was very high, so the money had to be hidden by a wealthy or even a very noble person. The coins included two Prague groats minted during the reign of John I of Luxembourg (a type of coin found for the first time), six of Charles I, nine of Vaclov IV, and one forgery of an unidentified ruler’s Prague groat. Of the denars from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania — 40 were minted under the reign of Jogaila, while almost all of the coins — around 1388–1390. Three coins are from earlier, portrait coins dating back to 1386–1387, and two coins with an illegible inscription and a lion, probably minted around 1377–1386, when Jogaila had not yet been elected king of Poland (the latter are particularly rare). In addition to coins, the treasure contains two triangular alloys (poltiny) of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the fourth quarter of the 14th century, a fragment of silver alloy, and the front part of a silver ring from the 14th century.

It is a unique composition and one of the most interesting treasures from the end of the 14th century found in Lithuania.

Vanagėlio Street treasure

In the summer of 2022, archaeological research was carried out during construction work on Vanagėlio Street, and a treasure of 500 coins minted in the 15th–20th centuries, as well as a treasure of Žygimantas Augustas coins, was found. The earliest of them are the denars of the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Kazimieras Jogailaitis, minted between 1440 and 1492, as well as the half-groats and groats of King John Albrecht of Poland, minted between 1492 and 1501. During the research, a large number of coins from the Grand Dukes of Lithuania and Kings of Poland, Žygimantas the Old and Žygimantas Augustus, were collected, with a wide variety of denominations: denars, double-groats, half-groats, groats, etc. Žygimantas Augustas’ rare coins with the Vytis, the Columns of Gediminas, and the ruler’s profile as well as obol coins deserve a separate mention. In addition, Žygimantas Augustas’ treasure of half-groats was also discovered — in one place, as many as 10 coins were found. 

Studies also found about 100 lead seals, dated to 16th–17th centuries, which were used in medieval Europe to mark textiles. It was like a brand that guarantees the quality of the fabric. Among the findings three gold-plated seals with the coat of arms of the Tudor dynasty of England stand out.

Sources:

•    https://www.vle.lt/straipsnis/vilniaus-lobiai/
•    https://www.vle.lt/straipsnis/ribiskiu-lobis/
•    https://straipsniai.lt/mokslas/vilniaus-lobiai/
•    https://www.bernardinai.lt/zyma/raisiu-lobis/
•    https://madeinvilnius.lt/naujienos/miestas/senamiestyje-rastas-monetu-lobis-ir-paauksuotos-plombos/