Neuhausen — a castle located 7 km from Königsberg, as well as the settlement around it. Since 1946, it has been the town of Guryevsk in the Kaliningrad region.

In the late 1290s, by order of Bishop Christian von Mulhausen, the first wooden-earth fortification was built on the site of the current castle. The castle did not belong to the Teutonic Order, but to the Samland Cathedral Chapter, founded in 1285 on the lands of Samland, which in 1294 was allocated part of the bishop’s estates in this territory.

The dates of the castle’s founding given by some German researchers—1283 or 1292—are unreliable, since the Samland Cathedral Chapter was established in 1285 as the highest advisory ecclesiastical body of Samland, and only in 1294 was guaranteed a third of the bishop’s estates in Samland for its maintenance. Most likely, the castle’s construction took place between 1295 and 1297. Unfortunately, no materials about the construction and original layout of the castle have been found.

In the second half of the 14th century, the fortification was rebuilt from stone and brick. Neuhausen Castle is characteristic of medieval architecture, serving both social-domestic and defensive functions.

According to recent studies, the castle is a freely arranged elongated rectangular fortification. The western wing, 57 m long, housed the main building. The southern and northern wings were about 90 m long. The castle was protected on the east by a powerful defensive wall. The entire castle was surrounded by a fortress wall and a wide moat filled with water. The space between the castle and the fortress wall was called the parchamon, typical for medieval defensive constructions.

The moat was formed by building a dam and the confluence of the Mill River flowing from the northwest and a stream coming from the east. Joining behind the castle, they formed the Mill Pond on the western side of the castle.

The entrance to the castle passed over the moat on the southeast and was covered by a round tower protruding a quarter from the wall, leading to a drawbridge over the moat to the main portal in the southern wing, protected by a strong lowering grille.

The oldest part is the northern wing, built at the end of the 14th century from boulders and bricks, with its eastern part dating from the 15th century.

In the center of the wing is the surviving propylon (gate) with four unusually elegant octagonal corner turrets. The semicircular passage had a niche on the field side for a lifting grille. On the courtyard side, there was a pattern resembling stalactite drips and flowing ribbons, above which was a blind window. The turrets contained small rooms with ribbed vault ceilings. Between the main and defensive floors of the southern wing, a narrow band ran on both sides, interrupted near the turrets. The vault keys of the niches were probably constructed during the time of Duke Albert.

South of the castle, on the opposite bank of the Mill Pond, stood the Order’s mill. The castle was surrounded by a beautiful castle park and hunting grounds.

The Order’s castle Neuhausen in Prussia was not widely known. It did not stand out for architectural sophistication of external forms or interiors. No fateful decisions about war and peace were made here, no trade agreements or alliances concluded, and no battles were ever fought here in ancient times, although it covered the eastern borders of the Order’s state at the end of the 13th century, serving as a powerful stronghold. The measured life surrounded by forests and swamps was more like a sanatorium-resort, interrupted only by noisy visits of dukes, electors, and later crowned persons with numerous retinues and servants.

After the secularization of the Teutonic Order in 1525 and the formation of the secular state—the Duchy of Prussia—the first secular ruler Albert I of Hohenzollern made Neuhausen Castle his summer residence. It was during Duke Albert’s reign that expansion and reconstruction works were carried out. A zoo (2 square kilometers) was established near the castle, where animals lived freely. In 1548, the castle was assigned as a lifetime pension to the duke’s second wife, Anna Maria of Brunswick.

Under the duke, the castle was thoroughly rebuilt and expanded, becoming a country residence used for hunting and entertainment. Renaissance-style portals and fireplaces were built in the castle. During Duke Albert’s time, the building underwent changes. Only the eastern part of the wing remained untouched. The rooms had cross and cylindrical vaults. The passage facing the field originally had some rooms with cross vaults. On the second floor, divided into two rooms, there were cross vaults supported on central pillars. In the northwest corner room on the first floor, the ceiling had a star-shaped vault divided into 12 parts, supported by a system of pointed niches and arches, modeled after Samland churches. The central support was an octagonal column and beautiful sculpted consoles with openwork ornamentation.

After the death of his wife Dorothea of Denmark in 1547, Duke Albert decided to marry a second time to Anna Maria of Brunswick, who was his cousin twice removed maternally and twice great-granddaughter paternally. The wedding ceremony took place on February 16, 1550, in the castle church of Königsberg. Neuhausen Castle was assigned to his wife as a lifetime pension.

Anna Maria settled in the castle and in 1553 gave birth to a son named Albert Frederick. Probably the result of consanguineous marriage caused the child to lag behind his peers in development, and after 20 years he completely lost his capacity. However, the duchess herself also suffered from severe mental illness. She died on March 20, 1568, in Neuhausen Castle from the plague, a few hours after her husband died in the nearby Tapiau Castle. Both were buried in the Königsberg Cathedral.

At the end of Duke Albert’s reign, events related to the conspiracy of the duke’s favorite Paul Skaliha, a famous European alchemist, took place in Neuhausen Castle. Before arriving in Prussia, not yet thirty years old, he had become a Doctor of Theology at the University of Bologna, served as chaplain at Emperor Ferdinand I’s court, written three books on occultism, and gained the favor of most European monarchs. Duke Albert was no exception—Skaliha literally enchanted him. Rumors circulated that spells and other witchcraft were involved. However, Skaliha, as we would say today, was simply a good psychologist who skillfully played on the sensitive strings of the duke’s soul burdened by vices.

There is a legend that Paul Skaliha freed Albert from the harmful habit common to many reformer rulers—drunkenness—using a strange medallion, supposedly preserved to this day. On one side was engraved “Paragraph 11,” which meant madness to medieval mystics. On the other side was a cat with a devil’s head sitting on a barrel, near which lay two people. The duke indeed stopped drinking “bitter” from especially large vessels, but was also less often seen near the church chalice with holy water.

Unpleasant rumors spread about witchcraft practiced within Neuhausen’s walls and entire legions of various evil spirits that Skaliha allegedly unleashed in the surroundings. The duke’s only son, the mentally ill Albert Frederick, also caused concern to those around him.

Due to his mental disorder, the heir to the ducal title was removed from real power and spent much free time hunting hares on family estates. All would be well, except that another object of Albert Frederick’s hunting was young village girls, whom, as many claimed, he slit their throats. Thus, Neuhausen acquired a sinister, truly “Gothic” reputation. However, such legends exist about almost every castle in Europe—thrill-seekers have always been and will be.

One way or another, the mentally ill Albert Frederick felt no filial affection and certainly did not inspire pride in his father. The unspent paternal love of the aging duke was poured out on the “young but early” adventurer Skaliha, who quickly took advantage of it. Perhaps he supported rumors of the duke’s son’s bloodthirstiness, seeking to distance the ruler from his family and fully subordinate him to his will.

In many ways, Paul Skaliha succeeded. The duke granted him a hereditary title and a castle in Kreuzburg (now the village of Slavskoye). Without systematic education, this eccentric mystic lectured students at the University of Königsberg—the famous Albertina. He also authored an astrological forecast of Prussia’s future for a thousand years. Only Russia was strangely absent from this prophecy.

For his occult research, the famous magician and sorcerer issued treasury-guaranteed bills of exchange for huge sums. The money, supposedly spent on magical experiments, disappeared as if by magic. This caused a deep economic and political crisis in the young duchy.

An intriguer by nature, Skaliha actively set the duke’s associates against each other, striving to reach the highest echelons of state power. For this, he paid the price—the patience of the “powers that be” ran out. Accused of witchcraft, Skaliha took refuge in Neuhausen Castle, where he could always count on a warm welcome. Soon he had to flee from there as well, but even from his escape, the cunning mystifier managed to create a legend.

According to the most plausible version, Skaliha left the castle hiding under the seat of a carriage of one of his friends. However, many hint at a secret passage leading from the castle’s dungeons. There is also a fantastic but quite fitting for the era assumption that the sorcerer flew away using a “winged cloak.”

Located in a rich hunting area, Neuhausen Castle became the favorite residence of the hunting-enthusiast Duke of Prussia Georg Wilhelm, especially after he moved with his entire court to Königsberg in 1638. Not particularly concerned with state affairs, he turned Neuhausen into a place for entertainment, where the elector often feasted with his friends after hunting. The castle’s unique silverware, beer and wine vessels shaped like hunting attributes—powder flasks and muskets with numerous embossed hunting coats of arms, signs, and emblems—were widely known in then-Prussia and later throughout Germany. They were gifted to the castle’s inhabitants in 1627 by Georg Wilhelm for perpetual use. There was a tradition: each honored guest was poured a certain dose of beer and wine from this silverware, and then, in a drunken state, had to write their surname and compose a poem in an album. The chronicle says not everyone succeeded. Later, this silverware and album became valuable exhibits of the Berlin art gallery and the Hohenzollern dynasty museum.

Georg Wilhelm died after a prolonged illness at the age of 45 on December 1, 1640, and was also buried in Königsberg Cathedral. His only son and heir Friedrich Wilhelm devoted the first years of his reign to dealing with the heavy legacy of his father’s rule, which he successfully managed. Neuhausen Castle also became his hunting residence.

The southern wing acquired its finished form around 1700. The buildings included in it were constructed at different times. The eastern part of the southern wing was built between 1380 and 1400 and was an impressive three-story structure. In 1700, the building was expanded toward the courtyard and the single tower. Thus, the outer wall facing the courtyard became an inner wall. At the southeast corner was a round tower, strongly protruding from the wall, built of fieldstone, with a basement, a beautiful vaulted dome, and narrow light slits. The entrance was a narrow staircase leading from the former inner courtyard. This fortification still existed around 1700 and was a structure of four tiers tapering upward and crowned with a Romanesque dome with a lantern.

In 1770, part of its premises housed the administration of state lands and the judicial department.

In 1814, King Friedrich Wilhelm III gifted Neuhausen to Count Friedrich Wilhelm Bülow von Dennewitz for his merits in battles against Napoleon’s army. The count became a triple “savior of Berlin,” defending the city in the battles of Luckau, Großbeeren, and Dennewitz. During the war with Napoleon, 10 Prussian battalions under Bülow’s command defeated 47 French battalions.

The oldest part of the castle was the western wing, destroyed by a strong explosion in 1929. It was built in the mid-14th century. It housed meeting rooms and the castle chapel.

In the 19th century, a terrace was built on the site of the tower. The eastern wing did not exist at all. On this side, the castle was protected by a powerful wall, which was rebuilt in the neo-Gothic style with gates, battlements, and living quarters.

The castle’s life changed in the second half of the 19th century when the count’s heirs sold the estate to Count Lünker in 1842. The castle was partially rebuilt, neo-Gothic elements appeared, the ramparts and moats that had lost their function were eliminated, and the castle park was landscaped and planted with shrubs and trees rare for the area.

On the eastern side, there apparently was a donjon in ancient times—a tower guarding the castle’s approach. Apparently, at that time it was dismantled and turned into either a terrace or a greenhouse.

The castle was protected on the east by a powerful wall, which was rebuilt into another entrance gate in neo-Gothic style.

By 1889, a narrow-gauge railway was laid from the Royal Gates of Königsberg to Neuhausen and beyond. The station named “Neuhausen-Zootiergarten” was located near the castle, simplifying visits to Neuhausen. In 1990, the castle came under the management of the general landscape director of Bonn. He opened the castle park and halls for visits and sightseeing.

At the end of the 19th century, the castle housed the agricultural administration of the province. The castle park and the forest near the Neuhausen-Tiergarten narrow-gauge railway station were favorite excursion routes for Königsberg residents.

The last pre-war owner of Neuhausen Castle was von Massow, and after his departure, Erich Koch. Subsequently, no reconstructions of the castle were carried out, and it remained in this form until January 1945, when it was equipped as a stronghold for fascist troops. The castle and town were captured during the East Prussian operation on January 28, 1945, by Soviet troops: the 39th Army, partly by the forces of the 192nd Rifle Division under Colonel Basants, 113th Rifle Corps under Major General Oleshev. Bombing strikes, heavy artillery fire, and demolition of walls with charges during the storming turned most of its structures into ruins.

After World War II, the castle, heavily damaged during the fighting, remained abandoned for several years. In the mid-1950s, it was adapted for the needs of the Guryevsk Construction and Installation Department of the Sovkhozvodstroy trust, now PMK-3 PSPEO “Kaliningradmelioration.”

Sources:

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuhausen_Castle

https://spratto.livejournal.com/55111.html