Malbork Castle

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Malbork Castle

• listed as UNESCOs World Heritage Site

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Malbork is a town in northern Poland. It is
situated in the Zulawy region. There are about
41,000 inhabitants (2001).
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Introduction
Malbork Castle was built by the Teutonic Order as
Ordensburg and named Marienburg (what literally
means Mary's Castle") later. The city which grew
around was also named Marienburg, now called
Malbork.
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Foundation
In the early 13th century the Teutonic Knights
launched its first crusades to the territories
around the central stretch of the river Nogat in
order to convert the local Prussian inhabitants
to Christianity. At the beginning of the 1280s
the Teutonic Knights started building a castle
here which they referred to as Marienburg (St.
Mary's Stronghold). In just under 30 years they
raised a quadrangular convent building complete
with chapel, chapter house, dormitory, refectory,
an enclosed courtyard and a bailey situated to
the north. A long, high gallery was built leading
from the south-west corner to the Danske or
sewage-tower, which was also used for defence
purposes. The castle rose in rank and soon became
a capitol of one of the most powerful medieval
states.
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Thirteen Years War
During the Thirteen Years' War, in June 1457, the
Polish army seized Malbork. The running of the
castle was taken over by a royal sub-prefect.
Numerous inventories drawn up by court officials
in the 16th and 17th centuries show how the
function of various parts of the castle complex
changed over the years. The High Castle ceased to
be a convent and became instead the fortress's
service area. All foodstuffs were stored here.
The Middle Castle provided living quarters for
the army and also was adapted for strictly
military purposes, ammunition and firearms were
housed here.
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Royal Prussia
The castle complex which had been built and
developed by the Teutonic Knights retained its
original use under Polish rule. Enormous costs
were, however, involved in the maintenance of
this vast fortification and essential funds for
this purpose were always lacking. Evidence of
this can be found in the aforementioned
inventories. One of the very first (dating from
1565) records the appearance of a crack in the
north wall of the Great Refectory. This defect
marked the beginning of a problem which was only
recently fully resolved.)
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Deconstruction
In September 1772 Malbork was captured by
Prussian troops during the First Partion of
Poland. They took up residence in the High
Castle. However, this accommodation proved too
small and its extension began. This period
marked the beginning of nearly twenty years of
building and deconstruction work at the castle.
This work continued despite the fact that in 1799
an album showing various views of Malbork was
published. The book's authors wanted to make the
general public aware of the beauty of the
historic castle and persuade the relevant
authorities to put an end to its being
demolished. Despite these efforts, in the same
year a decree came from King Frederick William
III recommending that the High Castle be turned
into military stores.
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Reconstruction
Plans to rebuild the castle began to be drawn up
immediately after the retreat of Napoleonic
troops from the town of Marienburg. new ceramic
floors were laid and doors were mounted. New
stained glass windows portraying scenes from the
times of the Teutonic Order were mounted in the
Summer and Winter Refectory. In 1881, thanks to
the active attitude of the parliamentarians from
Western and Eastern Prussia, the government
decided to initiate the reconstruction of the
church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the High
Castle. By 1900 the most fundamental stages of
work to the High Castle had been completed. A
number of the main interiors had been rebuilt
the Church of Our Lady, St. Anne's Chapel, the
chapter house, kitchens, dining room and the
convent common room. Work on the Middle Castle
continued until 1918 and resulted in the
reconstruction of the east wing (including St.
Bartholomew's Chapel, the Master's Chamber and
the Infirmary) and the west wing together with
the Great Refectory. Only the interiors of the
Grand Masters' Palace were left in their early
19th-century form.
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Interwar years
After the First World War a plebiscite was held
to determine weather the inhabitants wanted to
belong to the newly founded Polish republic or to
Germany. Ninety-two percent of the inhabitants
voted in favour of Germany. During the interwar
period Malbork Castle was reconstructed. Having
been rebuilt and equipped with some items of
Neogothic furniture the castle was opened to
visitors as a museum, showing the workings and
day-to-day life of a medieval monastery. The
archaeological collection was very impressive.
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World War II
On 1 September 1939 in the Great Refectory
Gauleiter Forster officially announced the return
to Germany of territories lying on the left bank
of the Lower Vistula, and with this the
reinstatement of the province of West Prussia
within its former boundaries, but renamed
Reichsgau Danzig-Westpreussen. In May 1940 the
same room was used to stage a 'welcoming' for the
Banderia Prutenorum - replicas of the Teutonic
flags taken from Wawel Castle in Cracow. During
the Second World War the refectory bore witness
to swearing-in ceremonies for youths entering the
Hitler Youth and soldiers setting out for the
eastern front. In 1941 preparations began to be
made in order to protect Marienburg castle from
air-raids. These measures included the making of
a plaster-cast of the Madonna from the Church of
Our Lady and the dismantling of all the stained
glass windows in the church. On 8 March 1945
German forces blew up the bridges over the River
Nogat as they made their retreat.
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Post-1945
Communist Polish civilian administration had
already appeared in Malbork in April 1945, the
last organised departure of any remaining Germans
taking place in 1957. In June the Public
Committee for Castle Reconstruction and 500th
Anniversary Celebrations of the 'Liberation of
Malbork' unveiled a plaque on the gate of the
Middle Castle. It was hoped that the anniversary
celebrations would draw public attention to the
fortress which had lain in ruins since the war,
and of which only a part had been safeguarded
against further deterioration. From 1945 it was
owned by the Polish Army Museum, whose directors
decided to remove some of the castle's most
valuable items to Warsaw.
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Museum
Malbork Castle Museum was founded on January 1,
1961. The decision to create this museum was
accelerated by a serious fire which had broken
out on September 7, 1959 on the roofs of the west
and north wings of the "Middle Castle"
(Mittelschloß). July 3, 1965 saw the opening of
an amber exhibition in the partially rebuilt east
wing. This exhibition became one of the castle's
main visitor attractions. The "Light and Sound"
performances held here since 1980 have also
proved very popular with the public. In
December 1997 the castle complex was included on
UNESCO's world heritage site register.
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• made by
• Zosia Flasinska
• Kacper Krywult