POLAND: MALBORK CASTLE AND WESTERPLATTE

June 20, 2019 

We had gotten to our Gdansk hotel in the wee hours of the morning, but we had plans already in place for our first day in Poland, so we got up after about four hours of sleep, grabbed a piece of toast from the breakfast buffet, and met our guide in the lobby.  Her name was Barbara (pronounced bar-BAR-uh), but she told us to call her Basha.  We hopped in her car and drove about 40 miles to Malbork Castle, where another guide specific to the castle was waiting for us.

Thank you, Google Maps

Located 20 miles from the Baltic Sea on the Nogat River, Malbork Castle was one of about twenty castle fortresses built by the Teutonic Knights in Northern Prussia:

Malbork Castle is one of those places that I can't believe I had never heard of or seen pictures of. 

•It is the largest castle in the world if measured by land area. 

•It is constructed of 10 million bricks. 

•It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

•It was built by the Teutonic Knights (German-Catholic knights--think Crusades), with the first phase begun in the 13th century. 

•It was the spiritual, military, and administrative center of the Teutonic Kingdom of Prussia. 

•It is the most heavily fortified castle of the Middle Ages. 

•About 500 monks lived here at any given time. 

•It was restored three times: in the 19th century, in the early 20th century, and after World War II.

Why was it restored twice in the 20th century? Because THIS is what it looked like at the end of World War II:

The castle was severely damaged by the Russians (NOT the Germans) in the final stages of the war, not from the air but from the ground. They were fighting for control of the bridge over the Nogat River.

This castle was the first site we visited in Poland and the beginning of my growing admiration of the Poles. We would later see structures like this all over Poland that had been almost--but not quite--demolished in the war but had been meticulously rebuilt during those post-war years when people were struggling just to stay alive.

The Poles began restoring Malbork Castle for the third time in 1945, and they have worked on it continuously since then. Some significant areas in the castle were opened to the public as recently as two years ago. 

The castle has three main parts: the High Castle, which is the oldest section, the Middle Castle, built some time after 1310, and the Palace of the Grand Master, built between 1382 and 1399.

We entered by crossing the first of THREE moats that were once filled with running water. In the interior of the castle complex there is also a fourth dry moat that could serve as a refuge for cattle, horses, and even people in case of attack.

This photo taken from within the first wall shoes an old section of an inner wall on the left and the rebuilt section on the right:

Here, the old construction on the bottom of the towers is easily distinguished from the new construction on top:

I like the contrasting keystone at the top of one of the arches:

Dark bricks are old, light bricks are new. So much restoration work!

Pieces of the Gothic decorative stone window bars survived and have been augmented by new metal pieces:

The bridge over another moat:

The architectural detail and artistry is mind-boggling:

Crossing a bridge over another moat and passing through another iron gate:

Bob, maybe we should look into this burglar-proof design for our front door:

We arrived at what looked like a medieval village:

In areas that were still the original brick, the damage done by bullets and other artillery was evident:

Before we passed over the last moat and through the last iron gate into the inner sanctum of the castle, we had to pass by the Grand Masters of the Teutonic Knights, placed here by Frederick the Great of Prussia in 1877. They used to surround a two-meter-tall statue of an earlier Frederick the Great, the King of Prussia from 1740-1786, who was standing on a tall pedestal. I'm not sure what happened to him. They Teutonic Knights were part of a monastic order. In battle they were distinguished by a white cloak marked with a large black cross.

We were allowed to pass and crossed the final bridge into the heart of the complex:

Looking down into the moat:

I think this is the "dry moat" where horses and other animals could be kept during a seige:

The deep moats are counterbalanced by the towering walls:

But be careful about standing under the tower. That hole used to be part of the "waste removal system" (aka toilet):

Our path was lined with solid stone cannonballs:

We entered a stunning cobblestone courtyard with a little pagoda in the center:

. . . topped by a statue of two geese. I'm not sure if they are fighting or mating:

The Gothic details are stunning, and again, it's so interesting to try to figure out what survived and was has been restored:

Such wonderful contrasts between up and down, high and low:

I thought the outside of the castle was unbelievable, but the inside was doubly so.

The cloisters, a covered walk with slender Gothic arches, encircles the courtyard:

This large room, called the Chapter House, was one of the most important rooms for the monastic community as it was where all important issues were discussed, where state issues were settled, and where foreign policy was made:

Close-up of the intricate floor tiles:

This is the central heating system. Thirty underground ovens burned coal or wood. The smoke was released through vents in the outer wall, and then the warmth from the glowing embers was channeled upstairs to this room, where the "lids" were removed from the vents to let the warm air circulate throughout the room. Ingenious. 

The Chapter House is a magnificent display of wealth and power. Only those with practically infinite financial and labor resources could create something like this so long ago:

Beautiful frescoes on the walls:

Back in the hallway on our way to another part of the castle, I was struck by detailed ornamentation found everywhere, including these mushrooms "growing" at the base of a pillar:

. . . and these faces on top of the pillars or at random spots along the hallway:

And let's not forget the hallways themselves. I think the one on the right is one of the longest hallways in the world. It is the final escape route in case of an invasion. At the end of the long hallway is . . . 

. . . the latrine! If you really, really need to go, choose another latrine. The walk to this one is much  too long.

Remember that potty hole that I found myself standing under? Here is something similar seen from above:

Signage in the room notes that "impurities would fall directly into the wet moat that flowed at the tower's base, thus resolving the problem of having to remove excrement from the castle."

It's called a "dansker." Now there's a word you might need some day in the [very distant] future:

A few centuries later, these upscale models appeared:

What do you use for toilet paper if you are a wealthy Teutonic Knight? Cabbage leaves, of course!

More important information from the signage: "This tower was not the only toilet in the entire castle complex. A number of different latrines functioned in Malbork, including smaller toilet towers, latrines protruding from the outer walls, toilets hidden away within very thick walls and even portable toilet seats, mainly used within the living quarters of the Order's dignitaries."

Well, that makes me feel better.

More decorative details:

The crown jewel in the Malbork Castle is the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, which was part of the very first stage of construction in the 13th century. This is the entrance, known as "The Golden Gate":

This was my favorite part of the tour. I should mention that our guide was fantastic, one of the best guides we have ever had anywhere. Several times during the tour he stopped to express his feelings about the castle--how much he loves it, how he enjoys coming even though he is here several times a week, how he notices something new almost every time he leads a tour. He communicated such pride in this treasure. When we got to this little chapel, he was almost overcome. How could we not love it too?

A portion of the original tile floor is preserved under glass:

I love this fresco of the Last Supper. Nine or ten apostles (I can't tell if that is an apostle on the far left standing at the end of the table) are standing on either side of Christ, and someone I assume to be an apostle is kneeling on the ground in front of the table. It looks like Judas has left, unless that's Judas sneaking out in the foreground:

I was touched by this crucifix that shows only the legs and one arm of the crucified Christ, the rest of His body having been a casualty of the Russian attack. Note the pock marks in the bricks behind him as well, evidence of the intensity of the attack that turned this chapel into rubble. The restoration has been a true miracle:

I'm not sure if these are the Apostles or if they are Teutonic Knights, but they are each reading from a long scroll:

More Gothic gingerbread:

Adam (left) and Eve (right) being confronted by God:

The Annunciation (bottom left), the birth of Jesus (bottom right), and the presentation of Jesus at the temple (top):

Here is another great door. Maybe this design for our side entrance, Bob?

Back outside, we were on ground level looking up from the moat at the bridge connecting the High Castle to the Middle Castle:

We've been to a lot of castles, and we both think this is the most impressive one we've ever seen. Part of what makes it so special is the painstaking restoration work.

No, we didn't stay here all day, but I like this picture taken with the sun in the back creating a castle silhouette: 

Well.

After all of that, we were ready for a good Polish lunch, but it was a national holiday, Corpus Christi, a Catholic festival to honor the Eucharist (a ceremony commemorating the Last Supper).  That meant that all the regular haunts our guide Basha takes tourists to were closed. The ONLY restaurant open in the village of Malbork was McDonald's, and we were, sadly, actually famished enough to eat there. Unfortunately, there were no Polish surprises on the menu, but there was air conditioning, which almost made it okay because it was very hot and humid outside.

We had planned to visit Westerplatte, a peninsula in the Baltic Sea next to Gdansk, about a 45-minute drive from Malbork. 

During the drive there, the oppressive humidity we had felt in Malbork turned into a deluge. We aren't usually wimpy about walking around in the rain, but this was more than we could handle. We opted not to walk the 1.5-meter trail to the end of the peninsula, where the monument to the invasion stands.

We drove as far as we could down the length of the peninsula, which is created by the Vistula River on one side, while Basha told us about September 1, 1939, the day the first shots of World War II were fired right here. Westerplatte had a weapons storage facility, and a German battleship intended to capture it.

It was the Germans' intent to take the depot in a few hours, but in fact it took them seven days to crush the resistance of 182 Polish soldiers stationed there. The ruins of their barracks are still there, a monument to their courage.

Almost simultaneously, the German Luftwaffe attacked Wielun, a city in central Poland, and ground forces attacked the village of Mokra, not far from there. Later that day more attacks occurred in the western, northern, and southern borders, eventually converging on the capital city of Warsaw.

Today, we know what was in store for them, and it is heart-breaking.