Castle in Grudziądz

he castle in Grudziądz was erected by the Teutonic Knights around the mid-thirteenth century, it was one of the strongest monastic fortresses. It was located on a high hill of the Vistula escarpment north of the town. The main castle was located in the highest part of the hill, it had a quadrangle plan surrounded by an additional second ring of perimeter walls. The main wing was located in the southern part of the castle, had four floors and cellars, and also housed a gate passage. On the ground floor there was a prison and warehouses, on the first floor in the western part there was a refectory, and in the eastern part there was a convent chapel, between them there was also a small room for the defense of the entrance 

Plan of the main castle according to H.Jacobi [Source]

gate located directly above it and a chapter house. Along the southern part of the western wall there was a second residential wing, from which a covered porch led to the dansker. In the north-west corner there was a huge free-standing tower called Klimek. It had a diameter of almost 9 meters and a height of about 30 meters, the entrance led through a wooden platform from the porch of the perimeter wall. The crown of the tower was probably battlement with machicolation.

The next wings were located at the northern and eastern walls. The first housed only utility rooms, a kitchen and a bakery, the second was used on the ground floor for a brewery and servants' apartments, and on the first floor there were dormitories of religious brothers. All residential wings were connected from the courtyard side by cloisters. The castle was separated from the town by two outer baileys. One of them surrounded the castle from the east and north, and initially from the side of the Vistula, the other was from the south and through them led the main access to the upper castle.

In 1338, the escarpment from the side of the Vistula collapsed, destroying the outer bailey and the west wing of the upper castle, which was rebuilt soon after.

After the First Peace of Toruń ending the great war with the Teutonic Order, Grudziądz found itself within the borders of Polish, but soon after it returned to the rule of the Teutonic Knights. During the Thirteen Years' War in 1454, it was quickly captured by the army of the Prussian Union, several times sieges by the Teutonic Knights were 

photo by ZeroJeden, VI 2008

not effective. The second room of Toruń finally placed the city within the Polish borders.

During the Swedish Deluge, the Brandenburg army withdrew from Grudziądz before the arrival of the Swedes in 1655, and the small garrison of the castle surrendered after a short artillery fire. In 1659, the castle and the town were regained by Lubomirski's army. Strained by the war, the castle was used again by the invading troops during the subsequent wars with the Swedes, and later temporarily by the Russian and Prussian troops.

After the partitions of Polish, the castle was within the borders of Prussia and became the property of the state. In 1795, it was used for officers' apartments, but in 1801 Frederick William III ordered the demolition of the stronghold in order to obtain building material for the new fortress. The demolition lasted for the next five years, only the Klimek tower resisted destruction. In 1807, Napoleon's troops used the tower as a firing position to fire at the nearby fortress, the Prussian army returned fire from the fortress, as a result 

Aerial photo, photo by ZeroJeden, VII 2020

of which the upper part of the tower was destroyed.

In 1839, the city authorities decided to establish a park in the place of the castle, cleaning and security works began. The ruins with the tower were surrounded by care until the outbreak of World War II. In 1945, the retreating German troops blew up the tower as a potential observation point. In 1956, a mound was built from rubble and fragments of the tower in the place of the castle.

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