Castles

Teutonic Castle in Olsztynek

Above the town of Olsztynek stands a 14th-century Teutonic castle, erected in 1350–1366 on the orders of the Ostróda komtur Gunther von Hohenstein. The stronghold survived wars and fires in fairly good shape and today — unusually — houses a school.

Gothic construction

The castle was laid out as a regular quadrangle: three sides were occupied by tall wings, the fourth, facing the town, by a defensive wall with a gate and a tall tower. The foundations were built of field stone, the upper parts of Gothic brick, and the walls were about 2 m thick. Inside there were a chapel, refectory, bathhouse, armoury and storerooms, and the whole was surrounded by curtain walls with towers and a deep moat. On the gable wall two granite stones that once supported the gdanisko — a medieval latrine — are still visible. Beneath the building survive cellars with cross-ribbed vaults.

From starostwo to school

The Polish–Teutonic wars brought damage, but it was repaired. After the secularisation of the Teutonic state in 1525 the castle became the seat of a starosta governing in the duke's name. In the 19th century the partly ruined rooms were renovated and adapted for a school — an educational function the castle still performs as the seat of the Mrongovius School Complex.

Visiting and the surroundings

The castle stands at Zamkowa 6, a few minutes from the market square. The building and the courtyard can be viewed from outside, and a trip pairs well with the open-air museum of folk architecture about 800 m away.