Deutschordensburg

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Marienburg, seat of the Grand Master since 1309

From the 13th century onwards, numerous religious castles were built on the territory of the Teutonic Order . They served the mission as a military base and monastery .

Location and conservation

Well-known order castles were created by the Brothers of the Sword and the Teutonic Order in the area of ​​the southeastern Baltic coast . Their distribution area extends from West Prussia through East Prussia , Lithuania and Latvia to Estonia . Typical of the Ordensburgen is the construction in the style of the north German brick Gothic and the complex as a moated castle , since the castles were mostly in the lowlands and were therefore relatively unprotected.

Some of the order castles have been preserved to this day (or have been rebuilt) and are now used for tourism - the best-known example is the order castle Marienburg an der Nogat , some castles were misappropriated (industrial use of the castle Labiau in today's Russian Polessk , in the northern part of the former East Prussia), many castles survived as ruins ( Balga in Russia) and some castles have been completely destroyed ( Königsberg ).

In today's Poland

Order castles in Prussia

In today's exclave Kaliningrad and in Lithuania

Ragnit Castle

In what is now Latvia

Ruin of the Ordensburg in Wenden. Seat of the land masters in Livonia.

In today's Estonia

Castrum Danorum in Tallinn, now the seat of the Riigikogu

literature

  • Karl Emil Gebauer : Time of the construction of various castles of the Teutonic Order in Prussia. According to the provisions of the history of Prussia by J. Voigt . In: New Prussian Provincial Papers . Volume 10, Königsberg 1850, pp. 470-472.
  • Johann Christian Wutzke : Remarks about the possession of Prussia, which started from the waterways. About the origin of the castles and fortresses, their purpose, construction and their current condition . G. Reimer, Königsberg 1836.