8/02/2025

We took a train about 1.5 hours south/southeast of Gdansk to Malbork Poland to see the Malbork Castle. This is considered a must see in Northern Poland and it was pretty remarkable!

The Malbork Castle is the largest castle in the world and encompasses a 52 acre site. It was founded in 1274 by the Teutonic Knights who used it as their headquarters to help defeat Polish enemies and rule their own Baltic territories. The Teutonic Knights were actually founded as a hospital order in 1189, then converted into a military order in 1197. They were sort of like well trained fighting monks that forced their Catholic religious beliefs on others. Polish historians often portray them as ruthless aggressors who used religion to justify their expansionist policies and inflicted violence on the Polish population.

At some point they were defeated by the Polish army and the castle was used as the residence for the Polish kings from 1457-1772. Later it was used by the military for various things (hospital, artillery storage, etc.) and was also left in disrepair for periods of time. It was seriously damaged during WWII, and later fully restored.

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