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.

By 1355, the fortification was a small rectangular one-wing castle with a defensive wall measuring 42 by 46 meters. The castle was situated on a hill by a stream, three kilometers north of the Pregel River, on the site of a former Prussian fortress.

The main building was located on the southern side and measured 42 meters in length and 12.5 meters in width. In the center of this building was a low gate tower with round-arched gates, featuring granite framing and a niche for a drawbridge grille. The building was constructed on a foundation of granite boulders, with walls made of the Order’s fired bricks, decorated with a traditional diamond-shaped pattern typical for Order buildings. A frieze ran around the perimeter of the building above the second floor. The castle walls were 2.5 meters thick on the outside and 1.9 meters thick on the inside. The eastern part of the building housed a chapel, and the western part contained the castle manager’s quarters. Under the gable roof ran a defensive passage with loopholes. The basement housed cellars. In the courtyard was a gallery providing access to the second floor.

On the eastern and northeastern sides, the castle was protected by a pond formed after the construction of a dam on the stream for a mill. Along this section of the fortifications ran a strong defensive wall with loopholes and a defensive passage covered on top by a narrow tiled roof. By around the 1370s, residential and utility rooms for servants and knights were added to the inner side of the walls.

Later, a utility building measuring 38 meters long and 8 meters wide was attached to the western defensive wall, featuring a small tower in the northwest corner and a passage to the outer bailey. This building also had a defensive passage with loopholes. It is assumed that the new building housed a brewery and kitchen.

The outer bailey was separated from the outside world by its own defensive wall and moat, which provided additional protection to the castle from the west, south, and partially from the north.

Until the mid-13th century, the site of Saalau Castle was the Prussian settlement of Vostopolo. In 1276, during an offensive into Nadrovia, the Teutonic Knights captured and burned the existing wooden fortifications. According to an agreement between the Order and the papal throne, one-third of all captured lands were to be transferred to the Church. In 1325, after the division of Nadrovia between the Order and the Sambian bishop, the Vostopolo settlement became episcopal property.

Saalau Castle was founded in December 1352 due to increasing invasions by Lithuanians. By 1355, the castle was already used as a defensive structure. On the opposite bank of the Pregel, Norkitten Castle was established. The coexistence of the two castles allowed for more effective resistance to sieges and control over the territory. This approach was also used by the Order in the construction of other castles: Allenburg and Gross Wonsdorf on the Alle River (now Lava), or Taplaken and Velau on the Pregel.

In the summer of 1376, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Algirdas, and Kęstutis, with three detachments, invaded Nadrovia. The detachment led by Kęstutis reached Velau and on the return route, moving north of the Pregel floodplain, besieged Saalau Castle. As a result of the assault, the castle was captured and burned. However, it was soon restored.

From 1380 to 1525, no significant information about Saalau has been preserved. In 1525, Saalau is first mentioned in the text of the Krakow Treaty regarding the transfer of Prussian territories as a hereditary fief to Albert of Brandenburg. After the secularization of the Order, the castle and the Saalau Amt were transferred to the canons remaining in Königsberg. The canons “voluntarily” left the Cathedral in Königsberg and were granted the right by Albert to reside in the Saalau Amt. They also bore the burden of its maintenance. However, the canons soon admitted their financial insolvency, and Albert’s duchy itself was experiencing severe financial difficulties at the time, so the castle was soon pawned. At that time, the castle underwent some modernization — additional rooms were added on the northern and eastern sides, and a now unnecessary small tower was dismantled down to the roof level of the wing. According to some sources, the reason for the reconstruction was a fire that occurred in the castle.

In the 19th century, the castle became state property. Until 1900, it housed the Amtmann’s residence; the cellars contained a cheese factory, and the northern room housed a distillery and brewery.

After 1945, the castle was not used, actively deteriorated, and today remains ruins with walls overgrown by shrubs and trees.

Sources:

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