Drahim - Zamek Joannitów

Stare Drawsko, Poland, Poland

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Zamek Drahim, known as the Castle of the Knights Hospitaller (Joannitów), stands as Gothic ruins in Stare Drawsko village, northwestern Poland's West Pomeranian Voivodeship, strategically built on a narrow isthmus between Drawsko and Żerdno lakes to guard a key frontier pass.

Erected by the Joannites between 1360-1366 on a 12th-century Slavic Drawians tribe gród site—possibly replacing an earlier wooden fortress—it served as the commandry's capital from 1366 until Polish king Władysław Jagiełło seized it in 1407 after a siege for the knights' disloyalty, converting it into a starostwo grodowe administrative seat.

Functioning under Polish rule for nearly two centuries despite Brandenburg claims, it added 16th-17th century bastions before a 1758 fire, Prussian occupation post-1772 partition, and stone quarrying led to its decline into overgrown remnants today.