Architectural Detail from the Collection of the Malbork Castle Museum

Malbork Castle, like most medieval structures in the region of the southern Baltic coast, represents the Brick Gothic style. The natural environmental conditions in this part of Europe were the reason for structural and aesthetic differences in relation to the structures built in the west of the continent, which were based on stone. Difference between those two styles of Gothic architecture can also be observed in terms of decorative elements. In the State of the Teutonic Order, or more generally in northern and central Europe, external and internal decorative architectural details were made of terracotta rather than stone, which was commonly used for that purpose in the west. Decorative fragments on display from castles and churches in the area of the State of the Teutonic Order are extremely diverse in their form. With the exception of a few pieces of decorative keystones made of wood, all the details are made of fired clay, sometimes decorated with glaze – a type of fired, coloured quartz-based coating.