Paper short abstract:

The importance of Gediminas' Hill and Tower in Vilnius is grounded in medieval and folk legends. After the landslides in 2017 the graves of the rebels were discovered on the hill reviving the great historical narrative and folk legends right before the Centennial of the restored Lithuania in 2018.

Paper long abstract:

Gediminas' Castle Hill is a historic mound on which the Gediminas' Tower is located in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. This is a key historic site, the importance of which is grounded in the medieval legends about the founding of Vilnius and its founder, the Grand Duke Gediminas. In the folk tradition, the image of a great army which slumbers under Gediminas' Hill and which if awakened can join the fight for the freedom and independence of the homeland was widespread. The ruins of the castle and the Gediminas' Tower have been preserved up till today. It is the symbol of both Vilnius as the capital and Lithuania as the state. In 2017, a natural disaster took place when after a heavy rain the hill was severely damaged by landslides. First, it was regarded as a bad omen both for the state and its people. However, the landslides uncovered 22 unmarked graves of the main leaders and other insurgents of the so-called January Uprising of 1863-64. The rebels were brutally executed by the Russian forces and secretly buried on the top of the hill. This time, the historical discoveries were regarded as a sign of a miracle - as if the personified hill itself would have decided to shake off the soil and to uncover the graves of the national heroes right before the Centennial of the restored Lithuania in 2018. It gave a second rise to the dissemination of the Lithuania's great historical narrative and folk legends.