The Castle of the Teutonic Order in Malbork is the largest castle in the
world by surface area. It was built in Marienburg, Prussia by the Teutonic
Knights, a German Roman Catholic religious order of crusaders, in a form
of an Ordensburg fortress. The Order named it Marienburg. The town which grew
around it was also named Marienburg. The castle is a classic example of a
medieval fortress and, on its completion in 1406, was the world's largest brick
castle. UNESCO designated the "Castle of the Teutonic Order in Malbork" and the
Malbork Castle Museum a World Heritage Site in December 1997. It is one of two
World Heritage Sites in the region with origins in the Teutonic Order. The other
is the "Medieval Town of Toruń", founded in 1231 as the site of the castle Thorn.
Malbork Castle is also one of Poland's official national Historic Monuments, as
designated September 16, 1994. Its listing is maintained by the National
Heritage Board of Poland. History
= Origins= The castle was built by the Teutonic
Order after the conquest of Old Prussia. Its main purpose was to strengthen their
own control of the area following the Order's 1274 suppression of the Great
Prussian Uprising of the Baltic tribes. No contemporary documents survive
relating to its construction, so instead the castle's phases have been worked out
through the study of architecture and the Order's administrative records and
later histories. The work lasted until around 1300, under the auspices of
Commander Heinrich von Wilnowe. The castle is located on the southeastern
bank of the river Nogat. It was named Marienburg after Mary, patron saint of
the religious Order. The Order had been created in Acre. When this last
stronghold of the Crusades fell to Muslim Arabs, the Order moved its
headquarters to Venice before arriving in Prussia.
Malbork became more important in the aftermath of the Teutonic Knights'
conquest of Gdańsk and Pomerania in 1308. The Order's administrative centre
was moved to Marienburg from Elbing. The Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights,
Siegfried von Feuchtwangen, who arrived in Marienburg from Venice, undertook the
next phase of the fortress' construction. In 1309, in the wake of
the papal persecution of the Knights Templar and the Teutonic takeover of
Danzig, Feuchtwangen relocated his headquarters to the Prussian part of the
Order's monastic state. He chose the site of Marienburg conveniently located
on the Nogat in the Vistula Delta. As with most cities of the time, the new
centre was dependent on water for transportation.
The castle was expanded several times to house the growing number of Knights.
Soon, it became the largest fortified Gothic building in Europe, on a nearly
21-hectare site. The castle has several subdivisions and numerous layers of
defensive walls. It consists of three separate castles - the High, Middle and
Lower Castles, separated by multiple dry moats and towers. The castle once housed
approximately 3,000 "brothers in arms". The outermost castle walls enclose 21
ha, four times the enclosed area of Windsor Castle. The developed part of
the property designated as a World Heritage Site is 18.038 ha.
The favourable position of the castle on the river Nogat allowed easy access by
barges and trading ships arriving from the Vistula and the Baltic Sea. During
their governance, the Teutonic Knights collected river tolls from passing
ships, as did other castles along the rivers. They controlled a monopoly on
the trade of amber. When the city became a member of the Hanseatic League, many
Hanseatic meetings were held there. In the summer of 1410, the castle was
besieged following the Order's defeat by the armies of Władysław II Jagiełło and
Vytautas the Great at the Battle of Grunwald. Heinrich von Plauen
successfully led the defence in the Siege of Marienburg, during which the
city outside was razed. In 1456, during the Thirteen Years' War,
the Order – facing opposition from its cities for raising taxes to pay ransoms
for expenses associated with its wars against Kingdom of Poland – could no
longer manage financially. Meanwhile, Polish General Stibor de Poniec of
Ostoja raised funds from Danzig for a new campaign against them. Learning that
the Order's Bohemian mercenaries had not been paid, Stibor convinced them to
leave. He reimbursed them with money raised in Danzig. Following the
departure of the mercenaries, King Casimir IV Jagiellon entered the castle
in triumph in 1457, and in May, granted Danzig several privileges in gratitude
for the town's assistance and involvement in the Thirteen Years' War
as well as for the funds collected for the mercenaries that left.
The mayor of the town around the castle, Bartholomäus Blume, resisted the Polish
forces for three more years, but the Poles captured and hanged him in 1460. A
monument to Blume was erected in 1864. = Residence of the Polish kings=
In 1466 both castle and town became part of Royal Prussia, a province of Poland.
It served as one of the several Polish royal residences, fulfilling this
function until the Partitions of Poland in 1772. During this period the Tall
Castle served as the castle's supply storehouse, while the Great Refectory
was a place for balls, feasts, and other royal events.
During the Thirty Years' War, in 1626 and 1629 Swedish forces occupied the
castle. They invaded and occupied it again 1656 to 1660 during the Deluge.
= After the Partitions of Poland= After Prussia and the Russian Empire
made the First Partition of Poland in 1772, the town became part of the
Kingdom of Prussia province of West Prussia. At that time, the officials
used the rather neglected castle as a poorhouse and barracks for the Prussian
Army. In 1794 David Gilly, a Prussian architect and head of the
Oberbaudepartement, made a structural survey of the castle, to decide about
its future use or demolition. Gilly's son, Friedrich Gilly, produced several
engravings of the castle and its architecture, which he exhibited in
Berlin and had published by Friedrich Frick from 1799 to 1803. These
engravings led the Prussian public to "rediscover" the castle and the history
of the Teutonic Knights. Johann Dominicus Fiorillo published
another edition of the engravings on 12 February 1803, also wanting to encourage
public interest. Max von Schenkendorf criticized the defacement of the castle.
Throughout the Napoleonic period, the army used the castle as a hospital and
arsenal. After the War of the Sixth Coalition, the castle became a symbol of
Prussian history and national consciousness. Initiated by Theodor von
Schön, Oberpräsident of West Prussia, in 1816, restoration of the castle was
begun. In 1910 the Naval Academy Mürwik in Flensburg was built. The Marienburg
was a pattern for this new Red Castle. The restoration of the Marienburg was
undertaken in stages until World War II started.
With the rise of Adolf Hitler to power in the early 1930s, the Nazis used the
castle as a destination for annual pilgrimages of both the Hitler Youth and
the League of German Girls. The Teutonic Castle at Marienburg served as a
blueprint for the Order Castles of the Third Reich built under Hitler's reign.
In 1945 during World War II combat in the area, more than half the castle was
destroyed. = After World War II=
At the conclusion of the war, the city of Marienburg and castle became again a
part of Poland. The castle has been mostly reconstructed, with restoration
ongoing since 1962 following a fire in 1959 which caused further damage. The
main cathedral in the castle, restored just before World War II and then
destroyed in battle, is still in ruins. Nevertheless, Malbork Castle remains the
largest brick building in Europe. Burials in the mausoleum under the
Chapel of St. Anne Dietrich von Altenburg
Heinrich Dusemer Winrich von Kniprode
Conrad Zöllner von Rothenstein Konrad von Jungingen
Michael Küchmeister von Sternberg Konrad von Erlichshausen
See also Trakai Island Castle, similar
architecture References
Notes Bibliography
Further reading External links
Malbork Castle Museum "Malbork", Castles of Poland
The Malbork Castle Virtual Tour