Kaliningrad: Order Castles

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The network of castles in East Prussia, part of whose territory now belongs to the Kaliningrad region, began to take shape during the conquest of Prussia by the Teutonic Knights in the 13th century. The Order continued to build stone castles until 1410. In total, about forty castles were built on the territory of the present-day Kaliningrad region. Initially, the knights mainly used the fortresses of the Prussians. Such fortresses usually consisted of earthen ramparts and palisades and were located on hills. New castles (that is, castles located where there had previously been no Prussian fortresses) were also established as wooden fortifications. Later, the castles were rebuilt in brick and stone.

Balga Castle

HX39+2Q Balga Castle, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia

Kaliningrad: Order Castles

Balga Castle (Burg Balga) is one of the most famous monuments of medieval knightly architecture in the Brick Gothic style in the Kaliningrad region. It belongs to the historical area of Warmia. This is the first castle on the territory of the modern Kaliningrad region, remnants of the great history of the Teutonic Order. A landmark place and simply a beautiful hill on the shore of the Kaliningrad Bay of the Baltic Sea.

Brandenburg Castle

1 Pobedy St., Ushakovo, Kaliningrad Region, Russia, 238322

Kaliningrad: Order Castles

Brandenburg Castle — the ruined remains of a Teutonic Order castle in the village of Ushakovo (called Brandenburg until 1946) in the Guryevsky District of the Kaliningrad Region. It is located on the shore of the Kaliningrad (Vistula) Bay at the mouth of the Prokhladnaya River. In Prussia, it served as the center of a commandery, whose vast territory extended to the Great Masurian Lakes.

Georgienburg Castle

4 Tsentralnaya St., Chernyakhovsk, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, 238154

Kaliningrad: Order Castles

In 1264, on the high northern shore of the Inster, on the site of the old Prussian settlement Kapzowin, the knight of the Teutonic Order Hartmann von Grumbach built a fortress named after Saint George, called Georgenburg.

Gerdewen Castle

Chernyakhovskogo St., 29, Zheleznodorozhny, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, 238410

Kaliningrad: Order Castles

The fortified settlement on the site of the future Gerdaunen Castle was built long before the arrival of the Teutonic Order in the Prussian land of Barta. In the early 13th century, the wooden fortress was called Gerdavia — named after its owner, the Prussian chieftain Gerdav (Girdave) from the Rendal family. Later, the name changed to Gerdaunen. After the suppression of the first Prussian uprising in 1251, Barta was captured by the Teutonic Order. The chieftain Gerdav was friendly towards the new authority and converted to Christianity. When the Order established a commandery in the lands of Barta in 1257, the commander's residence was for some time located in the Gerdaunen fortress. During the second Prussian uprising, Gerdav and his warriors did not support their tribesmen and remained loyal to the Order.

Saalau Castle

8 Pochtovaya St., Kamenskoye, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, 238176

Kaliningrad: Order Castles

Saalau Castle — the castle of the Sambian bishop located in the northern part of the former East Prussia, in the modern Chernyakhovsky District of the Kaliningrad Region.

Insterburg Castle

1 Zamkovaya St., Chernyakhovsk, Kaliningrad Region, Russia, 238100

Kaliningrad: Order Castles

Insterburg Castle (Burg Insterburg) is located in the Kaliningrad region in the city of Chernyakhovsk (until 1946 — the city of Insterburg). It was founded in 1336 by order of the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, Dietrich von Altenburg, on the Angerapp River, near the mouth of the Inster — on the site of the Unzetrapis settlement, which was destroyed in 1256 during the Order's military campaign in Nadrowia.

Labiau Castle

Portovaya St., 1, Polessk, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, 238630

Kaliningrad: Order Castles

Labiau Castle is a Teutonic castle located in the town of Polessk in the Kaliningrad region. According to some information about the Prussian village of Labigov, the Order was already aware of it in 1249, based on reports from their scouts. However, the first reliable mention of a Prussian fortification on the banks of the Laba is considered to be from 1258, as evidenced by a charter from Landmeister Gerhard von Hirtzberg regarding the division of Samland between the Order and the bishop.

Lochstedt Castle

PX42+VH Baltiysk, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia

Kaliningrad: Order Castles

Lochstedt Castle (Burg Lochstedt) — a knight’s castle was built in Pillau from wood in 1270. The name Lochstedt comes from the name of the family living there, or perhaps it is much simpler — it is formed from two German words meaning “city by the breach” (“loch” — “breach, hole,” “stadt” — “city”), which quite accurately reflects the geography of the place. The castle arose at the northern tip of the Frische Nehrung spit (Baltic Spit), at the place where there once was a strait connecting the sea and the Frisches Haff.

Preußisch Eylau Castle

12 Promyshlennaya St., Bagrationovsk, Kaliningrad Region, Russia, 238420

Kaliningrad: Order Castles

The Preußisch Eylau Castle, located in the territory of present-day Bagrationovsk in the Kaliningrad region, was founded in 1325 at the initiative of the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order Werner von Orseln as an intermediate stronghold between Kreuzburg (now Slavskoye in the Bagrationovsky district) and Bartenstein (now Bartoszyce, Poland).

Ragnit Castle

47 Pobedy St., Neman, Kaliningrad Region, Russia, 238710

Kaliningrad: Order Castles

In 1289, on the site of the Prussian fortress burned down in 1277, a wooden Order fortress was built, named Landeshuet, which was renamed Ragnit in 1326. In 1356, the fortress was modernized and received a moat.

Tapiau Castle

12 Dzerzhinsky St., Gvardeysk, Kaliningrad Region, Russia, 238210

Kaliningrad: Order Castles

Tapiau Castle is one of the oldest castles in the Kaliningrad region. In 1265, the Teutonic Knights built a wooden fortress on the site of suppressing a Prussian uprising, naming it after the surrounding area, Tapiov — "warm field."

Fishhausen Castle

Yantarnaya St., 2, Primorsk, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, 238510

Kaliningrad: Order Castles

Residence of the Zamland bishops from 1266 to 1523. Since 1701, the castle began to be dismantled for the construction of the Pillau fortifications. Heavily damaged during the fighting in 1945.

Shaaken Castle

30 Tsentralnaya St., Nekrasovo, Kaliningrad Region, Russia, 238316

Kaliningrad: Order Castles

Schaaken Castle — an Order castle in the village of Nekrasovo, Guryevsky District, Kaliningrad Oblast. Founded on the site of a Prussian fortress (Zoke, and later Shokin) around 1270.

Königsberg Castle - History, Secrets, and Legends

Central Square, 1, Kaliningrad, Kaliningrad Region, Russia, 236022

Russia: Lost Monuments

Kaliningrad: The Ancient City of Kings (Königsberg)

Kaliningrad: Order Castles

Königsberg Castle (Königsberger Schloß) — a castle of the Teutonic Order in Königsberg (Kaliningrad), also called the Royal Castle. Königsberg translates to "royal mountain." This is a place on a hill by the river where the Teutonic Order's castle was built.

Waldau Castle

Kaliningradskaya St., 20, Nizovye, Kaliningrad Region, Russia, 238313

Kaliningrad: Order Castles

Waldau Castle — an ancient Prussian castle of the Teutonic Order. Before the settlement was renamed to Nizovye, the local settlement was also called Waldau. Waldau Castle is among the top three best-preserved castles in the Kaliningrad region — alongside Tapiau Castle in Gvardeysk and Georgenburg near Chernyakhovsk.

Neuhause Castle

Zarechnaya St., 3, Guryevsk, Kaliningrad Region, Russia, 238300

Kaliningrad: Order Castles

Neuhause Castle was built at the end of the 13th century as a castle belonging to the Samland Cathedral Chapter. The exact date of construction is unknown.

Gross Wonsdorf Castle

F49F+X2 Kurortnoye, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia

Kaliningrad: Order Castles

Groß Wonsdorf Castle (Burg Groß Wohnsdorf) was a 13th-century order castle located in the settlement of the same name (now the village of Kurortnoye, Kaliningrad Oblast). It was dismantled and was not restored after a fire in 1830.

Cayman Castle

QVMP+VV Zarechye, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia

Kaliningrad: Order Castles

The Teutonic Order Castle of Kaimen was founded in 1261. However, a Prussian fortress existed on its site even before the Teutonic invasion. It was captured in January 1255 during the campaign of King Ottokar II, after which it was handed over to the Prussians who had joined the Order's side and later reaffirmed their loyalty during the Prussian uprising. The official date of its founding is precisely 1261.

Kroitzburg Castle

FCVR+82 Slavskoye, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia

Kaliningrad: Order Castles

Kreuzburg Castle (Kreuzburg or Creuzburg) was a Teutonic Order castle that existed from the 13th to the 17th centuries. It was located on a hill near the village of Slavskoye in the Bagrationovsky District of the Kaliningrad Region. For a short time, it served as the residence of the Komtur, which was later moved to Brandenburg.

Tilzit Castle

Bazarnaya St., 9A, Sovetsk, Kaliningrad Region, Russia, 238750

Kaliningrad: Order Castles

In 1289, at the mouth of the Tilze (Tilzha) River, on its left bank, on the site of a destroyed fortified Prussian settlement, the castle of Tilsit was founded by Meinhard von Querfurt, the Landmeister of the Teutonic Order.

Taplaken Castle

M82V+C7 Talpaki, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia

Kaliningrad: Order Castles

Taplacken Castle — a Teutonic Order castle in the village of Talpaki, Kaliningrad Oblast. Taplacken was built by order of the marshal of the Teutonic Order Heinrich Dusemer von Arfberg in 1336 as a transit point on the route from Königsberg to Insterburg and Tilsit.

Lauken Castle

R6JM+CM Saranskoye, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia

Kaliningrad: Order Castles

Lauken Castle — a castle in the village of Saranskoye, Kaliningrad Oblast. Other names of the castle: Laukischken, Bieberstein, Friedrichsburg. It is first mentioned in 1258 as the locality Lovke after the division of Samland between the Order and the bishop; the fortress itself was built later. The Order's fortress Lauken was probably founded around 1260 or immediately after the second Prussian uprising around 1270. From 1270, the Lauken fortress served as a bridgehead on the banks of the Laba (now the Deima River) for the Order’s advance into Nadrowia.