Prabuty Castle

Riesenburg Castle stands on the isthmus between Lakes Liwieniec and Dzierzgoń at the north-west of Prabuty (German Riesenburg), Kwidzyn County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, historic Pomesania. The name comes from the Prussian district Resin/Resia, not from giants. In 1236 a Teutonic force under Margrave Henry III of Meissen destroyed a Prussian fort; a timber watchtower called Resinburg followed. After the diocesan division of 1243 the site lay in the Bishopric of Pomesania. Bishop Albert began the brick castle as a residence in 1276/77; work continued to about 1340/45 (Risenburg castro nostro). The town received Culm law in 1330 from Bishop Rudolf. The castle occupied the north-west corner of the town walls, dropping steeply to the lake, and was separated from the town by a ditch and a walled economic bailey with a free-standing gate tower and drawbridge.

It was one of the foremost episcopal residences in the Order’s state and at times the main seat of the Pomesanian bishops (ahead of Marienwerder). It was plundered in 1414 (Hunger War) and 1422. Before the Thirteen Years’ War Bishop Kaspar Linke placed Riesenburg and Schönberg under the Grand Master’s protection; an Order garrison remained until 1466. Thereafter Riesenburg stayed in the Order’s state or under the bishops. Its peak came under Jakob (Hiob) von Dobeneck around 1500. In 1525 Duke Albert secularised the diocese; the castle became a ducal main office. After fires in 1688 and 1787 it decayed; wings served as barracks, hospital and stores, then as a quarry.

The plan was an irregular quadrilateral or trapezium, first two- then three-winged (north, west, south), the west main range about 47 × 10 m on the scarp. Surviving are Gothic rib vaults of the west-wing cellars on pillars, inaccessible south cellars, stretches of curtain wall and tower footings. A 1:16 model has stood on the ruins since 2009. Archaeology and consolidation as a permanent ruin with a viewpoint are under way.