History of the Castle

Malbork Castle (German: Ordensburg Marienburg) – a castle in Malbork, on the right bank of the Nogat, erected in several stages from 1280 to the mid-12th century. 15th century by the Teutonic Order. Initially, the conventual seat of the commander, from 1309 after Siegfried von Feuchtwangen moved the capital of the order to Malbork, the seat of the Grand Masters of the Teutonic Order and the authorities of Teutonic Prussia until 1457, in the years 1457-1772 the residence of the kings of Poland, from 1466 the seat of the authorities of Royal Prussia, from 1568 the seat of the Commission Morska, in 1772 occupied by the administration of the Kingdom of Prussia and devastated in the years 1773-1804; reconstructed in 1817–1842 and 1882–1944, destroyed in 1945, reconstructed again from 1947; in 1949 entered into the register of monuments, in 1994 recognized as a monument of history, in 1997 entered on the UNESCO World Heritage List; since 1961 the seat of the Castle Museum in Malbork.

In 1286, south of the castle, Malbork (the Old Town) was located, whose city walls were coupled with the defensive wall of the castle into a uniform defense system. In 1388, the New Town was founded east of the castle. In the years 1626–1635, the town and the castle were surrounded by a bastion rampart, and the bridge abutment on the left bank of the Nogat was covered with a horn work.

The castle complex in Malbork includes:

• High, four-sided castle, with a courtyard surrounded by a cloister, the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary with the burial chapel of St. Anna, dansker, Klesza and Sparrow towers
• The Middle Castle, erected in the place of the former outer ward, three-sided, with a large courtyard open to the High Castle (separated from it by a wall and a moat), with the chapel of St. Bartholomew, Great Commandery, Infirmary, Grand Refectory, Palace of the Grand Masters, Summer Refectory, Winter Refectory, Hen’s Leg Tower
• The Low Castle (Podzamcze), with Karwan, the chapel of St. Wawrzyńca and a number of farm buildings.
• The Malbork Castle is one of the finest examples of medieval defensive and residential architecture in Central Europe.