Radzyń Chełmiński Castle is a

Brick Gothic Brick Gothic (german: Backsteingotik, pl, Gotyk ceglany, nl, Baksteengotiek) is a specific style of Gothic architecture common in Northeast and Central Europe especially in the regions in and around the Baltic Sea, which do not have resourc ...

monastery-castle completed in 1330 as the seat of the

Teutonic Knights The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians on ...

Commandry In the Middle Ages, a commandery (rarely commandry) was the smallest administrative division of the European landed properties of a military order. It was also the name of the house where the knights of the commandery lived.Anthony Luttrell and G ...

. It lies near Castle Lake (

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

: ''Jezioro Zamkowe'') to the north of the town of

Radzyń Chełmiński Radzyń Chełmiński (; german: Rehden) is a town in Grudziądz County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland, with 1,946 inhabitants (2004). History Radzyń is located within the historic Chełmno Land, which became part of the emerging Polish ...

. Three of the four walls and most of the internal buildings of the keep are ruined.

History

The square keep (52 x 51 metres) is a relic of one of the oldest castles built by the

. Originally known as “Rehden”, it was started in 1234 on the orders of

Hermann von Balk Hermann Balk (died March 5, 1239, Würzburg), also known as Hermann von Balk or Hermann Balke, was a Knight-Brother of the Teutonic Order and its first '' Landmeister'', or Provincial Master, in both Prussia and Livonia. From 1219 to 1227, he serv ...

. In 1251, in the wake of the Prussian Uprising, the original wooden fort was remade in brick in 1270–1285, destroyed, then rebuilt in its current form in 1310–1330. In September 1410, after the

Battle of Grunwald The Battle of Grunwald, Battle of Žalgiris or First Battle of Tannenberg was fought on 15 July 1410 during the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War. The alliance of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, led respec ...

, it was captured by Polish forces, but soon returned to the Knights with the first

Peace of Thorn (1411) The (First) Peace of Thorn was a peace treaty formally ending the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War between allied Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania on one side, and the Teutonic Knights on the other. It was signed on 1 February ...

. In 1454, it was captured by rebels in the

Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466) The Thirteen Years' War (german: Dreizehnjähriger Krieg; pl, wojna trzynastoletnia), also called the War of the Cities, was a conflict fought in 1454–1466 between the Prussian Confederation, allied with the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, a ...

. Under the

Second Peace of Thorn (1466) The Peace of Thorn or Toruń of 1466, also known as the Second Peace of Thorn or Toruń ( pl, drugi pokój toruński; german: Zweiter Friede von Thorn), was a peace treaty signed in the Hanseatic city of Thorn (Toruń) on 19 October 1466 betwee ...

, it again went into

control. In 1628, during the wars with the Swedes, the castle was devastated during a siege, slowly turning into a ruin. It remained largely unusable until annexed by the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Re ...

in the First Partition of Poland in 1772. In 1780, authorities ordered the deconstruction of the castle. Bricks from the castle's outer structures and the inner keep's walls and buildings were repurposed to build houses for the nearby town. The castle's deconstruction was eventually stopped in 1837. The site survived both World War I and World War II and was twice transferred to Poland after it regained independence in both 1918 and 1945.

Preservation

Only parts of the inner keep remain extant alongside the base of the western outer wall and the western and southern walls of the southern extension. The southern buildings, eastern extension, moat, and nearby small lake no longer exist. A restoration was undertaken in 1961-1968 and the inner walls, courtyard, and cellars were cleared of debris. The main wall was restored to its original height and the chapel roof replaced. The ruins were opened for visits at the end of the twentieth century. Currently visitors are still able to see the restored southern facade, and enter the courtyard, towers, cellars, and the chapel. Rheden Plan.jpg, Main building plan (black indicates surviving elements) Burg Rehden.jpg, Site plan of the 1330 castle. Zamek Radzyń Chełmiński - makieta.jpg, Model Album widokow przedstawiajacych miejsca historyczne Ksiestwa Poznanskiego i Prus Zachodnich 1880 (5414533) (cropped).jpg, 1880 lithograph. Radzyń Chełmiński 21.jpg, Rear view (2010) Radzyń Chełmiński view 03.jpg, Interior (2020)

References

External links

Radzyń Chełmiński Castle
(Wikimedia)
Zamek Radzyń Chełmiński
(YouTube) {{DEFAULTSORT:Radzyn Chelminski Castle Castles in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship Grudziądz County

History

Preservation

See also

References

External links