Lithuania’s biggest longsword tournament returns to Vilnius courtyard

Vilnius gets Lithuania’s biggest longsword tournament back in the Grand Duke’s Palace courtyard on June 20, turning a single day of fencing into a national-stage test of who really owns the country’s HEMA bracket. Alberio Kalavijas IV is set for 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., with open longsword, women’s longsword, women’s sabre, and a reenactment-style sword-and-shield division on the card.

The scale is not marketing fluff. Sigi Forge and the HEMA Event Calendar both describe Alberio Kalavijas IV as the fourth in the series and still the biggest longsword tournament in Lithuania, while HEMA Ratings gives that claim a concrete baseline: the 2023 edition drew 34 fighters, and the 2025 edition featured a mixed and men’s steel longsword division with 20 fighters. That kind of turnout matters because deeper fields sharpen bracket strength, raise the value of every win, and make a result in Vilnius travel-worthy for fencers chasing ratings and prestige.

The entry structure underlines that ambition. Competition costs 30 euros, with 5 euros added for each additional category, while spectators are admitted free. Rules for sabre and longsword, along with the reenactment-style sword-and-shield division, were still to be announced, and the event’s most current updates were being directed through Facebook. Even with those final details still pending, the message is clear: this is built as a marquee day, not a stripped-down local open.

For Vilnius, the tournament also doubles as a public showcase for the club that built it. Alber aus VU, the organizer behind Freifechter von Vilnius, describes itself as the largest HEMA sports club in Lithuania and the Baltic states. Vilnius University has identified the club’s leaders as Juozapas Bernotas-Pakeris and Emilija Klemkaitė, both history students, and Bernotas-Pakeris has said he started HEMA at 15 before helping found the club after earlier training in Klaipėda. That background explains why Alberio Kalavijas has grown into a flagship event rather than just another bracket day.

The tournament’s history also shows why this edition carries weight on the week’s competitive calendar. Alberio kalavijas II was staged at Vilnius’s defensive wall bastion in 2024 and expanded beyond fights into lectures, education, and musical performances, while a Vytis Historical Fencing post called that edition the biggest historical European martial arts tournament-festival in Lithuania. With a palace courtyard, multiple weapon sets, and a field large enough to matter on the ratings circuit, Alberio Kalavijas IV gives local and regional contenders a chance to bank a high-value result in front of the country’s most visible HEMA audience.