Malbork

Malbork (Marienburg in German, Malbórg in Kashubian) is a 38,476 inhabitants town by river Nogat in eastern part of the voivodeship of Pomerania, in Poland. It's widely know for Malbork Castle, largest brick castle in the world, placed in UNESCO World Heritage list in 1997. The town was hardly damaged during WW2 and, unlike many others, its Old Town wasn't rebuilt.

How do I arrive to Malbork?

  Malbork's castle is one of the top destinations in Poland so it's quite well communicated with other places in Pomeranian voivedeship and Poland. 

• Train: there are frequent trains to Gdańsk (aprox. 40 minutes), Kwidzyn (aprox. 45 minutes), Toruń (aprox.) or to Warsaw (aprox. 3 hours).
• Bus: there are buses 9 daily buses to Kwidzyn (aprox. 45 minutes), once or twice every day to Gdańsk (aprox. 3 hours) and to Elbląg (aprox. 2 hours) in Warmia-Mazuria Voivodeship.  Kwidzyn can also be reached from Grudziądz (aprox. 1 hour) in Pomerania- Voivodeship.
• Car: if you rented a car, Malbork can be reached from many places in the voivodeship of Pomerania like Sztum (aprox. 15 minutes), Tczew (aprox. 20 minutes), Dzierzgoń (aprox. 25 minutes), Kwidzyn (aprox. 40 minutes), Prabuty (aprox. 40 minutes), Gdańsk (aprox. 45 minutes). It can also be reached from neighbouring voivodeships like Elbląg (aprox. 30 minutes), Ostróda (aprox. 1 hour), Toruń (aprox. 1 hour 40 minutes) and Bydgoszcz (aprox. 2 hours).

History

The town of Malbork grew because of the presence of Marienburg castle. It was an important place because of river traffic and amber trade, later became a member of the Hanseatic League. In 1457, during the Thirteen Years' War, the castle was sold to Poland (being part of Malbork Voivodeship in the Polish province of Royal Prussia) by Czech mercenaries and the Teutonic Order transferred its seat to Köningsberg. Malbork flourished with grain and wood trade and in the 17th century it was invaded by Sweden. In the First Partition of Poland (1772) Malbork was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia (part of the provinced of West Prussia). In 1807, during the Napoleonic Wars, the French entered the town (even Napoleon), and in 1812 the Grande Armée marched through the town heading for Russia. After WW1 there was a plebiscite in 1920 on whether re-joining Germany or Poland, with Mariemburg finally included in the province of East Prussia. Here 1920's crisis was specially hard and that led Nazi party to gain more votes. After the German invation of Poland, the leaders of the Polish community were sent to concentration camps. It was considered a festung and there were very hard battles against the Red Army (destroying almost all the town), that finally conquered it in 1945 (massacring its remaining German population) and given to Poland. Malbork was gradually repopulated by Poles (many expelled from Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union) and, some exceptions, no pre-World War II buildings remain in the Old Town area.
 

What can I visit in Malbork?

Malbork is worth a visit because of its castle on its own (probably as a day trip from Gdańsk) because apart from it, there aren't many more things to do in Malbork. The best views of Malbork castle can be enjoyed at sunset, from the other side of river Nogat.

These are Malbork's main attractions:

• Malbork Castle (9-20 from May to Sep; 10-16 from Oct to Apr; 47zł/ 37zł  adults/ retiree, students and kids at full price time; 37zł/ 27zł  adults/ retiree, students and kids from 17:15 to 18): impressing Brick Gothic castle built by the Teutonic Order in the 13th century (seat of the order during 150 years), considered the largest Gothic castle in whole Europe. It's also known as Marienburg and, in fact, it consists in 3 castles surrounded with three rings of defensive walls. Its construction began in 1276, proclaimed seat of the Teutonic Order in 1309 and was largely modified. During the Thirty Years War it was conquered by Poland (being the seat of Polish kings in Pomerania) and partially destroyed by Prussians after the First Polish Partition. The castle was damaged during WW2 but restored soon afterwards. Some of the highlights are Grand Master's Palace (with gorgeous decoration), Rycerska Hall, the collection of armours and a nice amber museum. The recommended minimum time to visit it are 2 hours.
• St. Jana Chrzciciela Church: 15th century Gothic church, partially damaged during WW2, whose 16th century interior was largely preserved (with valuable objects like two baptismal font were from the 14th century and a figure of St. Elisabeth of Thuringia from 1410).  
• Malbork Old Town Hall: brick Gothic town hall from 1380, one of the few surviving buildings in the city from the time of the Teutonic Order. It has been restored several times (the last one was after WW2).
• There are also two remaining gates that survived WW2: Mariacka Gate and Garncarska Gate. 
• Skewer Esperanto: park with a curious monumento to Esperanto language (the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language) and its creator, Ludwig Zamenhof with stones coming from all over the world.

Grand Master's Palace at Malbork Castle

Rycerska Hall at Malbork Castle

Sztum Castle

Around Malbork there are many places that are worth to be visited. Only 15 km south there's Sztum (Stuhm in German), a 10,218 inhabitants town with a nice Old Town and some Brick Gothic buildings. The most interesting one is Sztum Castle (9-16 Tue-Sun), a 14th century castle built by the Teutonic Order that was made part of the Kingdom of Poland in 1410, then deconstructed by the Prussians and 2 of the wings were reconstructed in the 19th century to host a prison. The town has two very nice churches: St. Anny Catholic Church (church erected after the Thirteen Years' War and rebuilt in 1900–1901 with Neo-Gothic interior with elements of Baroque decoration) and Sztum Lutheran Church (church built in 1816 for the Lutheran community and felling into disrepair after WW2 till it was restored in the 21st century). Going south, 40 km from Malbork, it can be found Kwidzyn (Marienwerder in German, Kwidzëno in Kashubian, Kwēdina in Old Prussian), 37,814 inhabitants town by Liwa river that used to be another important Teutonic Order fortress.

Kwidzyn Castle

The main sightseeing point here is Kwidzyn Castle (9-17 Tue-Sun from May to Sep; 9-15 Tue-Sun from Oct to Apr; 10zł /5zł  adults/ reduced): 15th century castle that has lived many wars and one of the few red-bricked casltes that survived WW2 undamaged. One of the most interesting things of this castle is that its two towers (one used as a well and the other as dansker or knights' bath) are located at some distance from the castle, connected by a gallery with great arcs. It hosts a museum about Kwidzyn, displaying medieval sacred art, farming tools and archeaological findings from nearby sites. Very close to it is located Kwidzyn Co-Cathedral (9-17), a brick Gothic cathedral with a 19th century tower and a very nice mosaic from 1380 in the southern porch.

Driving 25 southeast from Malbork the visitor reaches Dzierzgoń (Christburg in German), a town with 5,474 inhabitants that has the Ruins of Dzierzgoń Castle, remains of the 13th century case built by the Teutonic Order burnt down after it was captured by the Polish army. The town has some nice churches like Trójcy Przenajświętszej i St. Katarzyny Catholic Church

Prabuty Co-Cathedral

(14th century Gothic church was suffered a fire and was rebuilt partially in Baroque style with valuable woodcarving and paintings and a Baroque pulpit), Ducha Świętego Church (former 18th century Orthodox church that is used by Greek Catholics) or St. Anny Chapel (Gothic chapel partially rebuilt in Baroque style surrounded by a late-18th century cemetery). Continuing 25 km south there's Prabuty (Riesenburg in German), inhabited by 8,710 people. This town has many things to do such as visiting Prabuty Co-Cathedral, a 14th century Brick Gothic temple that followed the model of the Kwidzyn Co-Cathedral and that was made Lutheran after the secularization of Prussia, co-seat of the diocese of Elbląg. The building was rebuilt in the 19th century, destroyed during WW2 and rebuilt only in 1980s. As many towns in the area it used to have a castle that now are Ruins of Prabuty Bishop Castle, remains of bishop's castle, and the town has also a nice Neo-Gothic church, St. Andrzeja Apostoła Catholic Church. Prabuty had an important Jewish community (that had an important synagogue and Jewish cemetery) that disappeared after WW2.

Where can I eat in Malbork?

The gastronomic offer isn't bad in Malbork and some of the recommendations to eat are the cafe Patrzałkowie (Tadeusza Kościuszki 25), bar Bis (Dworcowa 24), U Flisaka (Wałowa) and the Polish restaurants like Gothic Cafe & Restaurant (Starościńska 1) and Piwniczka (Starościńska 1).

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Posted in: Europe,Poland,Pomerania