The Museum of Applied Arts and Design (one of the departments of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art) is located in the Grand, or eastern, wing of the Old Arsenal of Vilnius Lower Castle. The Renaissance palace of the Old Arsenal was built in the middle of the 16th century on the former Gothic defensive walls of the Lower Castle on the initiative of the Polish kings of Lithuania, Sigismund the Old and Sigismund Augustus, under the direction of the castle's caretaker, U. Hosius, and later under the direction of the architect, J. Breytfuss. Judging by the entry in the 1545 plan of Vilnius by F. Hohenberg, the palace was originally the residence of the young Queen Elisabeth of Habsburg, wife of Sigismund Augustus. Apparently, immediately after her death, the Old Arsenal of Vilnius became one of the largest in the region and Lithuania's main repository of arms and ammunition, supplying all the fortresses of the state - Kiev, Smolensk, Polotsk, etc. - from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. The old arsenal was badly damaged in the mid-17th century during the Russian invasion and the six-year occupation of Vilnius. It was repaired and has been abandoned since the second half of the 19th century. Architectural and archaeological research on the building began in 1972. The eastern wing was rebuilt in 1986 according to the project of architect E. Purlis and adapted to the needs of the museum. Soon afterwards, an exposition of 14th-20th century applied arts was installed here. After the Lithuanian Art Museum joined the Council of Europe's Cultural Routes programme "The Baroque Route in Lithuania", the exhibition "Applied Baroque Art in Lithuania" was held in the palace in 1996-1999. In 1999, a memorable exhibition of Jan Mateika's monumental battle canvas "Žalgiris Battle" and copies of flags was organised together with the National Museum of Warsaw, the Museum of the Polish Army, the Museum of the Great War, the Museum of the History of Trakai, the Museum of the Rokiškis Region and the Museum of Šiauliai "Dawn", and was visited by almost 200 000 people within five months. The Museum of Applied Arts hosted the exhibition "Christianity in Lithuanian Art" from the end of 1999 to the end of 2004, followed by exhibitions of Lithuanian sacred art, works acquired for the rebuilding of the Palace of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Palace of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania's finds and projects.
