Castle

The Great Masurian Lakes


Kętrzyn’s Teutonic past lives on in the form of its mid-14th-century brick castle on the southern edge of the town centre. Today the building is home to the disappointingly scrappy Regional Museum, which displays exhibits tracing the town’s history in very un-castle-like interiors. Highlights include a Prussian standing stone reminiscent of Central Asia’s Scythian figures, old photos of Rastenburg and some beautiful old trunks.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby The Great Masurian Lakes attractions

1. St George’s Church

0.16 MILES

With its squat, square tower, the Gothic church looks like the town’s second fortress from a distance. Its interior has furnishings and decoration dating…

2. Wolf's Lair

4.73 MILES

Hidden in thick forest near the hamlet of Gierłoż, 8km east of Kętrzyn, is one of Poland’s eeriest historical relics – 18 overgrown hectares of huge,…

3. Church of Our Lady

7.35 MILES

Built between 1687 and 1693, and later surrounded by an ample rectangular cloister, the hugely popular church was built around four identical corner…

4. Boyen Fortress

15.39 MILES

The Boyen Fortress was built between 1844 and 1856 to protect the kingdom’s border with Russia, and was named after the then Prussian minister of war,…

5. Rotary Bridge

15.83 MILES

Giżycko’s working rotary bridge was built in 1889 and is the only one of its kind in the country. Despite weighing more than 100 tonnes, it can be turned…

6. Water Tower

16.58 MILES

Built in 1900 in neo-Gothic style, Giżycko’s seven-storey Water Tower supplied the city with running water until 1997. Today the tall red-brick structure…

7. Łuknajno Reserve

20.72 MILES

The shallow 700-hectare Lake Łuknajno, 4km east of Mikołajki, shelters Europe’s largest surviving community of wild swans (Cygnus olor) and is home to…