Teutonic Castle in Swiecie

Świecie, Poland, Poland

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The Teutonic Castle in Świecie, Poland, constructed between 1335 and 1350 on an artificial promontory between the Vistula and Wda Rivers, stands as a rare Gothic water fortress built by the Teutonic Order after their 1309 conquest of the prior Pomeranian ducal stronghold.

Featuring nearly meter-thick brick walls in monk-and-nun bond, four corner cylindrical towers (one oval in Italian style), a convent house, outer bailey with moat, and defensive walls, it served as a commandry seat under leaders like Günter von Hohenstein until changing hands during the Thirteen Years' War.

Looted by Polish-Lithuanian forces pre-Grunwald in 1410, recaptured by Toruń citizens in 1461, and later Polish royal property until the Swedish Deluge devastation and Prussian demolition, its surviving northern wing and leaning 35-meter northwestern tower (106 cm off-vertical)—Poland's tallest crooked tower—now house a museum with medieval weaponry exhibits.