Malbork

The town grew up beside the fortress the Teutonic Knights founded in 1274 on the east bank of the Nogat, and both were named Marienburg after the order's patron, the Virgin Mary. The Nogat and the flat land around it let barges reach the town from the sea, and the knights collected tolls on the river and held a monopoly on the amber trade. During the Thirteen Years' War their unpaid Bohemian mercenaries sold the castle in 1457 to King Casimir IV of Poland.

Under Polish rule Malbork was the capital of a voivodeship in Royal Prussia and prospered from the grain and timber trade, while the castle became a royal residence, the seat of the Polish Admiralty from 1568 and of a royal mint from 1584. Swedish invasions in 1626 and 1656 and a cholera epidemic in 1710, which killed half the population, hit the town hard. Prussia annexed it in 1772, and in the 1920 plebiscite the town voted overwhelmingly to stay in Germany.

During the Second World War the Germans ran the Stalag XX-B prisoner-of-war camp in what is now the Wielbark district. Fighting with the Red Army in early 1945 almost destroyed the town, and in June it passed to Polish administration. The Old Town was not rebuilt: its bricks went to rebuild Warsaw and Gdańsk, and a housing estate replaced it in the 1960s. The castle, more than half destroyed, has been restored since 1962 and was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.

Malbork's identity rests on its castle and the Teutonic past, and the town's best-known festival looks back to it: the Siege of Malbork, held each July, is a three-day medieval festival drawing on the knightly tradition. The castle museum, with its amber collection, also connects the town with its own Polish chapter as a royal residence, recalled in the monument to Casimir IV beside the town square. Nicolaus Copernicus is among the visitors the castle received.

Almost the entire population arrived after 1945. The German inhabitants who had not fled were expelled, and the town was gradually repopulated by Poles, many of them expelled from the eastern areas annexed by the Soviet Union. In 1945 a Polish post office opened, the first Polish services were held in St John's church and Polish schools began. A Commonwealth War Graves cemetery holds prisoners of war who died in the area during both world wars.

Local life has its own calendar of events, from the Days of Malbork in June to a Christmas arts festival, dance and theatre reviews. The football clubs Pomezania Malbork and Jastrząb Malbork play in the lower divisions, and the town has clubs for canoeing, swimming, triathlon and karate. Malbork is twinned with towns in France, Germany, Sweden, Lithuania — including the castle town of Trakai — and, since 2023, Volodymyr in Ukraine.

About 36,700 people lived in Malbork in 2024, down from just over 40,000 in 1994. It is the seat of Malbork County, with direct trains to Gdańsk, Warsaw, Elbląg and Olsztyn. The castle draws visitors all year, but the town's working life is that of an ordinary provincial centre.

Post-war industry shaped the economy: a sugar factory was founded in 1946 and a pasta factory in 1962, which became one of the largest in Poland. The airfield east of the town, where a German aircraft factory stood during the war, is now the base of the Polish Air Force's 22nd Air Base. Most residents live in post-war blocks and estates around the centre, including the 1960s housing on the site of the Old Town.

The rhythm of the town follows the seasons. In summer, tour coaches and day-trippers fill the area around the castle, street stalls appear on Kościuszki Street and the riverbanks are busy; in winter Malbork is quiet.

Malbork has no dish of its own, and its restaurants serve the everyday Polish repertoire: pierogi, the filled dumplings; bigos, a stew of cabbage and meat; kotlet schabowy, the breaded pork cutlet; gołąbki, stuffed cabbage leaves; and soups such as żurek. Herring is a common starter, served in cream, in oil or in aspic.

The countryside around the town is the delta of the Vistula and Nogat, known for its excellent soil, and the medieval town had guilds of bakers and butchers. Post-war industry here has included food: sugar from the post-war factory and pasta from one of the country's largest pasta plants.

Most places to eat are along Kościuszki Street in the town centre and around the castle, from canteens and fast food to restaurants serving Polish meals; across the river there is a restaurant on a boat with a view of the castle. For a wider choice of food, Gdańsk is less than an hour away by train.