Brodnica Castle

Brodnica Castle is a well fortified castle in Brodnica, Poland.

The castle is built in a square formation. The four wings of the castle surrounded the central courtyard. A 54-metre tower provided an entrance to the second floor of the castle. In the corners of the castle were small look-out towers, which stick out from the castle's square shape. The castle basements were used as utility rooms. The underground rooms performed various functions: a chapel, refectory, chapter house, infirmary, chamber of the commander and other specialised rooms. Entries to them lead to the gallery surrounding the courtyard. The second floor included from the side of the courtyard magazines and a granary, and an additional defensive porch within castle walls. By the main tower there is a gate to which access was provided by a former drawbridge. It was a key part of the castle's defense complex. The pre-castle fortification was placed between the town and the castle.

The building of the Teutonic castle in Brodnica began in the fourteenth century, taking almost a whole century to complete. In 1466, the castle complex became part of the Kingdom of Poland. After a fire in 1550, the rebuilding of the castle was done so by the Starosta Rafał Działyński. During the Swedish-Polish Wars the castle began to turn into ruins. In 1785, King Frederick II of Prussia ordered do dismantle the ruins, but his orders were soon stopped by Frederick Wilhelm IV. The fate of the palace of Anna Wazówna was sealed by a fire in 1945.

The palace was restored in the 1960s. Currently, the castle houses a museum, and the palace a library.

Text adapted from “Brodnica Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Brodnica Castle ranks #4,027 of 8,133 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #147 of the 374 mapped in Poland. Founded c. 1450, it is older than 49% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 454 atlas entries founded in the 15th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,160 times in the last 60 days, more than 52% of the atlas. 2 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Toruń, 60 km away. See how Poland compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗