Malbork Castle

The Castle in Malbork (German: Marienburg, Polish: Zamek w Malborku) was built in Prussia by the Teutonic Order, a German Roman Catholic religious order, as an Ordensburg (fortified castle of the order). The Order named it Marienburg (Mary's Castle). The town which grew around it was also named Marienburg. Since 1945, when it became part of the nation of Poland after World War II, it has been called Malbork. The castle is a classic example of a medieval fortress, and on its completion in 1406 was the world’s largest brick Gothic castle. UNESCO designated the "Castle of the Teutonic Order in Malbork" and its museum as World Heritage Sites 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 (Toruń).

Medieval Times:

The castle was founded in 1274 by the Teutonic Order during its rule of Prussia. It is located on the southeastern bank of the river Nogat. It was named Marienburg after the Virgin Mary, patron saint of the Order. The Order had been based in Acre (present-day Israel). When this last stronghold of the western Crusades fell to Muslim Arabs, the Order moved its headquarters to Venice. In 1309, in the wake of the papal persecution of the Knights Templar and the Teutonic takeover of Danzig, Siegfried von Feuchtwangen led the Order to relocate its headquarters into the Prussian part of its monastic state. They chose the site of Marienburg, conveniently located on the Nogat in the Vistula Delta. As with most cities of the time, it was based on water for transportation. The castle was expanded several times to house the growing number of Knights. It became what some claim is the largest fortified Gothic building in Europe. It 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 52 acres (21 ha), four times the acreage of the enclosed space of Windsor Castle. The developed part of the property designated as a World Heritage Site is 18.0380 ha. The favourable position of the castle on the river Nogat allowed for 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 at Marienburg castle.

In the summer of 1410, the castle was besieged following defeat by the armies of Władysław II Jagiełło and Vytautas the Great (Witold) at the Battle of Grunwald. Heinrich von Plauen successfully led the defense in the Siege of Marienburg (1410), during which the city outside was razed. In 1456, during the Thirteen Years' War, the Order—deserted and opposed for establishing taxes to pay high ransoms for prisoners taken by the Polish king—could not pay its mercenaries. Hochmeister Ludwig von Erlichshausen moved the seat of the Order to Königsberg. Stibor de Poniec of the Clan of Ostoja raised funds from Gdansk for a new campaign against the Order. Learning that the Order's Bohemian mercenaries had not been paid, Stibor convinced them to leave by promising them their unpaid wages. He used the money from Gdansk to pay them. Following the departure of the mercenaries, King Casimir IV Jagiellon entered the castle in triumph in 1457.

Under mayor Bartholomäus Blume, the city 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. In 1466 both castle and town became part of Royal Prussia. It served as one of the several Polish royal residences. 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 Northern Wars.

Modern Times:

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 critizised the defacement of the castle. Throughout the Napoleonic period, the army used the castle as a hospital and arsenal. After Prussia was liberated again, 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. It 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 the 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. At the conclusion of the war, the city of Marienburg and castle became part of Poland. A fire in 1959 caused further damage. The castle has been mostly reconstructed, with restoration ongoing since 1962. The main cathedral in the castle, fully restored just before WWII, is still in ruins.