Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania The Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania (; ) is a palace in Vilnius, Lithuania. It was originally constructed in the 15th century for the rulers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the future Kings of Poland. The palace, located in the lower castle of Vilnius, evolved over the years and prospered during the 16th and mid-17th centuries. For four centuries the palace was the political, administrative and cultural centre of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was demolished in 1801. Work on a new palace started in 2002 on the site of
Capital punishment in Lithuania sentences. From March 1990 to December 1998, Lithuania executed seven men by shooting with a single firearm: When Lithuania declared independence in February 1918, it inherited the 1903 criminal code of the Russian Empire. The code provided for the death penalty only for crimes against the state (for example, conspiring to intervene with the imperial succession), but military law of war provided for death penalty by shooting or hanging for some 30 different crimes including banditry, robbery, rape, and premeditated murder. When Lithuania updated its statutes in January and February 1919, the duality remained: the death penalty was abolished in