The Gothic fortress was damaged and altered, but a large part of the medieval castle has survived until the present times. 

History

The first mentions of Świecie date back to 1138. In 1309, the Teutonic Knights successfully besieged the existing ducal fortress and began the creation of a commandry. The construction of a brick castle started most likely some 20 years after the town was seized. It remains unknown whether the castle was built on new foundations or on foundations partially adapted from the previous fortress. The first commander from Świecie supervising the construction works was Konrad von Bruningsheim. The works were completed during the rule of commander Gunter von Hohenstein, likely c. 1350. After the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War, the castle garrison changed from Polish to Teutonic. In 1461, townspeople from Toruń and Gdańsk recaptured the castle occupied by the Teutonic Knights and it remained under control of Toruń until 1502. In the years that followed, the fortress served as the seat of the district governor appointed by the king of Poland. In 1655, Henrik Horn, a Swedish general, successfully besieged the castle and set it on fire. After the Second Northern War, the fortress was handed over to Jan Jabłonowski. Until the first partition of Poland, it remained in the possession of the Jabłonowski family. After the partitions of Poland, the fortress was in the possession of Prussia. Owing to the efforts of Karl Friedrich Schinkel, the tower was renovated in 1841: the battlements were mended, the load-bearing arches were reinforced, a staircase was built and door openings were made at the bases. In 1898, owing to the conservation efforts of Johannes Heise, the ruins received protection in the form of concrete caps. In 1945, a gap in the ground floor of the watchtower was created as a result of artillery barrage.

Description

The castle in Świecie was located on a peninsula by the Vistula and Wda rivers. The fortress was erected on the floor plan of a regular square measuring 50 x 50 m, with towers added in the corners. A quarter of the towers was embedded in the peripheral walls of the castle, with three quarters protruding ahead of the walls. The best-preserved section of the castle is its north wing with the western watchtower and the eastern sacristy tower. The interior layout of the north wing can only be identified based on the visible traces of wall removal on peripheral walls. The east wing is preserved only on the basement level. The north wing was extended upwards to the original height of 17 m and covered with a flat roof made of reinforced concrete. The tower in the north-west corner is a dominant feature of the ruins, standing 34.2 m high and consisting of nine storeys.  The two underground storeys of the tower, i.e. the dungeons and the basement, feature barrel vaults while the overground storeys feature groin vaults on arches. In the bottom section of the tower, there is an entrance which was made in the 19th century. From the 4th-storey level up, there is the original clockwise staircase on a semi-circular floor plan, which is illuminated through four slit-like windows. The 5th, 6th and 7th storeys have nearly identical layouts, with the only difference being that the rooms gradually become larger. On the 8th storey, there is an additional cubbyhole with a hearth featuring a segmental vault. The 9th storey is the top section of the tower with sixteen battlements. The sacristy tower by the north-east corner, on the other hand, is the same height as the north wing. The remaining parts of the castle as well as the south and west wings are level with the courtyard. By the former south wing, there are remnants of the ruins of the ground floor level of the towers. In the north-west corner, the tower stands 4 m high while in the south-east corner it measures 2.5 m.

The monument is open to visitors. It is accessible during the opening hours of the castle.

Prepared by Filip Badowski 12-11-2015

Bibliography

• Record sheet, Zamek krzyżacki, prepared by Moszczyński J., 2001, Archive of the Voivodeship Heritage Protection Office in Toruń, Branch Office in Bydgoszcz.
• Spławska-Korczak M., Zamek krzyżacki w Świeciu. Próba rekonstrukcji zamku wysokiego w średniowieczu. Toruń 2014
• Zimna K., Halicki K., Wokół ruin zamku w Świeciu – przedsięwzięcia konserwatorskie i projekty architektoniczne w okresie międzywojennym, [in:] Materiały do dziejów kultury i sztuki Bydgoszczy i regionu, issue 11, Bydgoszcz 2006, pp. 95–104. 
• http://www.zamekswiecie.pl/index1.html [accesed 12 November 2015]