Description of the attraction
It is safe to say that the Memel Castle is the only Order's castle located on the territory of Lithuania, which the Order kept with them for quite a long time. For the first time, the Memel Castle was mentioned on July 29 in 1252 in an agreement between the Curonian Bishop Heinrich and the Master Eberhard von Zeine. By the autumn of the same year, a castle made of wood was built at the mouth of the Dane River, which was named Memelburg.
The castle was located in a swampy area, and for this reason, in 1253, a stone castle was founded on the right bank of the Dane. In the courtyard of this castle there were stone and wooden buildings, and its walls were kept by embankments, ditches and palisades. After some time, the castle was given into the hands of the Teutonic Order in exchange for the lands that belonged to it in Estonia.
In 1379, the Lithuanian troops under the leadership of Prince Keitut burned down the castle and the entire city. The castle was soon restored. After the end of the Battle of Zalgirisi in 1410, at a time when the order no longer existed as a military force, in accordance with the Treaty of Meln in 1422, Memel remained in the hands of the order.
In the 15th century, the Memel Castle was adapted for firearms and was almost no different from the rest of the Order's castles on the territory of East Prussia: massive walls made of red brick were decorated with ornaments and fortified with buttresses. But, despite the measures taken, in 1455 the castle was occupied by the Samais.
In the 16th century, combat artillery was significantly improved and the defensive system of the Memel Castle was greatly outdated, for this reason in 1516-1519 the castle was subject to fortification works carried out with the help of earthen embankments with bastions. From 1538 to 1550, the castle was almost completely rebuilt. The necessary material was obtained as soon as the city's stone church was destroyed. The Memel castle was surrounded by a wide defensive moat, through which a wooden bridge was laid, which was reinforced with the same earthen embankments.
When the castle was rebuilt, it acquired the shape of an irregular quadrangle. There were five towers at the castle, and in the northern part there was a tower 30 meters high in the place where the prison was located. In the western part there was a Great Arsenal Powder Tower. In the corners of the buildings and near the gates were the round towers of the Elector, as well as the Small Powder Tower. The castle had an arsenal room, a chapel and a food warehouse for food. Memel Castle was rebuilt towards the end of the 16th century. Then he was the leading bastion castle in the Eastern Baltic. But during the 17th century, the castle was often attacked and burned.
During 1756-1763, the last fortification works were carried out on the territory of the castle. At this time, the embankments were updated and the height of the bastions themselves was increased. At a time when the Seven Years War continued, namely in 1757, the Memel Castle was captured by Russian troops. As soon as the war was over, the castle fell into disrepair almost completely and lost its military purpose. In 1770, the outer fortifications were demolished; buildings began to be used for the needs of the city. During 1872-1874, the last remaining structures were demolished.
During the Soviet era, the remains of the castle could not be visited and watched because the Memel castle was located on the land of the Experimental Shipyard, the zone of which was very difficult to get into without special permission. In 1994, the Lithuanian government decided to move the factory building to another zone until 2009.
In 1998, an architectural competition was held to bring the settlement into proper condition. In 1999, a competition was held for the restoration of the Great Tower. The winners of the competition were a group of architects led by S. Manomaitis, who proposed to build the tower in compliance with all the volumes, silhouettes and heights of the former tower. However, to achieve this goal, it was proposed to use an unconventional material - glass (instead of brick). This is exactly how, according to the authors, in the Memel Castle, namely in its tower, ancient history and the latest technologies of the 21st century should merge. Since August 2002, a museum has been operating on the territory of the castle.
