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MALBORK
The Castle
The UNESCO-protected brick beast that is Malbork Castle
came to prominence in 1309 when the Teutonic Knights
moved into an already established albeit far smaller fort
and turned it into their military and political headquarters.
The largest brick castle in the world, which at its height
covered a total of 21 hectares, was the centrepiece in what
was once a ring of 120 castles surrounding the Teutonic
Knights’ territory.
The Poles failed to follow up their historic victory at Grunwald,
but nonetheless the writing was on the wall for the
knights. Mounting debts to pay for the upkeep of a largely
mercenary army had spiralled out of control, and ultimately
it was these unpaid knights who seized the fortress in a
mutinous mood as payment for services rendered, before
selling it on to the King of Poland in 1457. Their former
leader, the disgraced Grand Master, was jeered out of
town on a peasant cart as he made his final journey from
his former stronghold.
For the next three hundred years Malbork served as
a Royal Residence, and became a stopover point for
monarchs making the journey between Gdansk and
Warsaw. This ended in 1772 when Poland was partitioned
and Malbork fell under Prussian control. The
castle was turned into a military barracks and a cotton
workshop added to the Grand Masters Palace. For the
next three decades old Malbork took a hammering, with
cloisters and windows bricked up, gateways enlarged
and outhouses dismantled. That the castle survived
further attempts at ‘modernization’ was thanks only to
a protracted campaign by the citizens of Berlin. Spurred
by this public outcry the Prussian state embarked on
Malbork In Your Pocket
something of a U-turn, and a huge programme of restoration
was undertaken. The results were impressive,
and by the early 20th century much of the castle had
regained its original look.
But the 20th century wasn’t kind to Malbork. On May 1,
1933 the swastika was raised over the castle, and for the
next twelve years it was to become a favourite haunt of highranking
Nazis. Plans were drafted to build an amphitheatre
in the castle grounds, and it was in the Great Refectory that
Nazi Gauleiter Albert Forster made a landmark speech in
1939 announcing that the territories on the left bank of
the Wisla were to be incorporated into the Reich. Malbork’s
grandeur wasn’t lost on the Nazis, and for the next few years
its imposing courtyards and halls were used for swearing in
ceremonies by the Hitler Youth and League of German Girls.
With the tide of war turning steps were taken to protect
Malbork, and in 1944 all stained glass was painstakingly
removed. Even still, Malbork and its castle were smashed as
the Marinenburg Task Force and 2nd Russian Strike Force
faced off in 1945. Over half the castle was destroyed, and
black and white pictures from the day show the castle as little
more than a desolate set of ruins. With no hope in sight the
retreating Nazis dynamited the bridges spanning the Nogat,
and the Siege of Malbork was lifted.
This all left Malbork in bad shape, with the brunt of the damage
affecting the east side. Plundered by looters and abandoned
by the state - who understandably had the unenvious
task of rebuilding what was left of Poland - Malbork fell into
abject decline. Finally, on January 1,1961, the Malbork Castle
Museum was founded and restoration work given the green
light. It was a huge effort, but the meticulous restoration work
was finally rewarded in 1997 when the castle was recognized
by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
frombork.inyourpocket.com
What to See
Visible from 20km away Malbork is best appreciated by
paying to cross over its northern drawbridge and spend
an hour or two exploring its extraordinary interior. Made up
of three distinctly different ensembles known as the High
Castle, Middle Castle and Outer Bailey and surrounded by
a vast dry moat, the most impressive sights all lie within
the High Castle, the Brethren Knights’ original monastery,
and the Middle Castle which served as the centre of the
Teutonic Knights’ political activity. Among the jaw-droppingly
awesome collection of buildings, impossible to miss are
the 14th-century Palace of the Grand Masters, the original
residence of the so-called Grand Master of the Teutonic
Order. The vaulted interiors are marked by columns that fan
out like palm trees, supposedly to remind the knights of their
Palestinian roots, and it’s inside the main refectory you’ll find
one such palm supporting an entire ceiling - a cannonball hole
can be spotted on a nearby wall from when Polish soldiers
tried to collapse the pillar. They missed by just the narrowest
of margins, the result of their vandalism still in evidence.
Also to visit is the breathtaking St. Mary’s Church, the Grand
Masters’ final resting place and the impressive courtyard in
the centre of the Middle Castle. Many rooms are open to the
public, including during the summer a wonderful recreation
of the Castle’s mill hidden away in a garden in the southwest
corner of the High Castle. In contrast to the spartan, simple
style of the Grand Masters Chambers the rest of the castle
is a trove of treasures, and includes an enormous collection
of weaponry as well as an amber exhibition. Other rooms
are devoted to the Teutonic life and feature the requisite
collection of armour, flags and goblets.
Keep an eye out for the 112-page Illustrated Guidebook
to Malbork Castle published by the Castle Museum by in
Polish, German and English costing 26 zł and available in the
tourist information and the Castle Museum shop.
Malbork Castle (Zamek) B-3, ul. Starościńska 1,
tel. (+48) 55 647 09 02, www.zamek.malbork.pl.Q
Castle Open 09:00 - 20:00. Castle Museum Open 09:00
- 19:00. Closed Mon. Tower Open 09:00 - 19:00. Admission
39.50/29.50zł. From July admission 47.50/37.50zł.
Prices include the choice of a place on a guided tour or an
audioguide. Y
Exhibition of Medieval Siege Engines (Wystawa
Machin Oblężniczych) B-3, ul. Starościńska 1, tel.
(+48) 601 37 78 02, www.zamekmalbork.pl. It’s appropriate
that one of the most impressive castles in the
world should have an exhibition of the type of equipment
used against it. This collection is the largest of its type in the
world and a wide range of equipment is on display including a
Siege Tower. All of the equipment has been recreated using
original materials and designs and some time spent here
adds to the wonderful all-round experience of a day at one
of the world’s most impressive Medieval fortresses. Q Open
09:00 - 18:00. From June 26 open 10:00 - 19:00. Admission
6/5zł, children under 5 free.
Cemeteries
Commonwealth War Cemetery (Cmentarz Brytyjskiej
Wspólnoty Narodów) A-5, ul. 500-lecia.
Located about 5km from the centre of town on the road
to Kwidzyn, commemorating Commonwealth servicemen
from both WWI and WWII and one of three similar
cemeteries in Poland (the other two being in Poznań
and Kraków), Malbork’s haunting Commonwealth War
Cemetery features several rows of simple graves mark-
malbork.inyourpocket.com
MALBORK
ing the final resting places of 14 British soldiers from
WWI and 232 British, Canadian, Australian and New
Zealand soldiers, sailors and airmen from WWII who
either lost their lives on or over Polish soil or who died
in the country as a POW.
Soviet Army Cemetery (Cmentarz Wojenny
Żołnierzy Armii Radzieckiej) A-5, ul. 500-lecia. A
beautiful example of pompous Russian arrogance and the
absurd mindset of the Soviet Union, this small cemetery
came about as a way of celebrating the so-called liberation
of Poland by the Red Army during the closing days of WWII.
Specifically commemorating the Red Army soldiers who lost
their lives liberating Malbork and the surrounding area, the
cemetery in its current form dates from 1948 and features
eight mass graves containing the remains of 529 soldiers
who died in Malbork, Stare Pole, Zwierzno, Żurawiec and
other parts of the region. A large concrete monument painted
red takes pride of place, and is covered in typically heroic
figures, acts and deeds.
Restaurants
Przystanek Patrzałkowie ul. Kościuszki 25, tel.
(+48) 55 272 39 91, www.patrzalkowie.pl. Recommended
to us as the best place to eat in Malbork we
hadn’t visited at press time – something we aim to rectify
in time for our August issue. The fact that the restaurant
is an established family business and member of the Slow
Food movement augur well and you can expect traditional
Polish dishes which use the freshest, locally produced,
seasonal produce. On top of that they do their own baking
and we’ve been told to keep an eye out for their range of
home produced cakes.QOpen 10:00 - 22:00. (12-25zł).
TA6GBSW
May - July 2012
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