Three Centuries within Poland. Malbork Castle from incorporation to partition 1454–1772

The exhibition Three Centuries within Poland. Malbork Castle from incorporation to partition 1454–1772 is a historical exhibition, which covers over three hundred year-long history of the Polish castle of Malbork.

In 2006, the Infirmary rooms at the Middle Castle were adapted to house exhibits from the 17th and 18th centuries, the period when the castle belonged to Poland. The new exhibition continues the story of modern Malbork between 1454 and 1772. Two dates are extremely important for its history. The first one is the date of the outbreak of the Thirteen Years’ War and the act of incorporation of Prussia into the Kingdom of Poland. Malbork, like some of the cities of the State of the Teutonic Order, was incorporated into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth thanks to the Second Peace of Toruń in 1466. Royal Prussia was established with the Malbork Voivodeship, where senior representatives of the Crown and local administration held office. Malbork Castle became the arsenal and royal residence. For more than three centuries it served as an important administrative and economic centre within Poland. The second important year is 1772, when the castle was taken over by the Prussians, who, under the Partition Treaty, occupied the whole of Royal Prussia except Gdańsk. The exhibition is housed in two attic rooms above the Infirmary and the kitchen of the Great Refectory, restored under the Norwegian Financial Mechanism. It consists of nineteen panels, which present selected issues from the castle’s history, including matters relating to administration, economy, visitors and residents, as well as religious relations, the turbulent times of the Swedish Wars and the Northern War. It also covers architectural transformations of the castle and its surroundings and the role of the city of Malbork. The materials used for the exhibition come mainly from the collections of the Malbork Castle Museum and include engravings, oil paintings, numismatic items, artistic crafts and Baroque sculptures. There are also numerous reproductions of documents related to the castle and the city from the collections of the Gdańsk and Warsaw archives, presented in showcases and on panels for educational purposes.