Lithuania's biggest longsword tournament returns to Vilnius in 2026
Vilnius hosted Lithuania’s biggest longsword tournament at the Grand Duke’s Palace courtyard, with five divisions, free spectators and a €30 entry fee.
Alberio Kalavijas IV gave Vilnius a rare kind of sporting stage: a full day of HEMA in the courtyard of the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, with fencing scheduled from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. on June 20, 2026. Public listings put the entry fee at €30, plus €5 for additional categories, while spectators were admitted free.
That matters because this was not presented as just another club open. The tournament was billed as the fourth in the Alberio Kalavijas series and still the biggest longsword event in Lithuania, which turns every bracket into a marker of where the national scene stands. Freifechter von Vilnius was listed as an organizer, and the venue sharpened the message: the Grand Duke’s Palace courtyard is part of a national museum complex at the Lower Castle site, with exhibits tied to the grand dukes’ castle, fortifications and weapons collection.
The five-division structure showed how far the event has moved beyond a single weapon showcase. Listings identified open longsword, women’s longsword, women’s sabre and a reenactment-style sword-and-shield division, with the overall program described as five divisions in total. That breadth is part of the draw. It brings in more clubs, creates more chances for fighters to test themselves across categories and gives the tournament more weight than a one-bracket afternoon.
The clearest sign of its competitive pull came from the 2025 edition. Alberio Kalavijas III took place in Vilnius on June 14, 2025, and HEMA Ratings recorded competitors from Freifechter von Vilnius and HEMA Kaunas - Renesanso Kalavijo Mokykla. It also logged a mixed and men's steel longsword field of 20 fighters, proof that the event was already drawing enough depth to register as a serious national measuring stick.
That is why Alberio Kalavijas has become more than a calendar item for Baltic HEMA. In Vilnius, it has evolved into a title that tells fighters, clubs and neighboring scenes who is setting the pace in Lithuania’s longsword hierarchy, and why the capital is increasingly the country’s center of gravity for the weapon.
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