Waldau Castle

Waldau Castle

The Waldau fortress was founded in 1264 in a place that got its name from the Prussian Valdava. Translated from the ancient Prussian language this word means possession. The owners of the fortress were Johann Brulant and Conrad Diabel, two noble Prussians. During the great Prussian uprising against the invading Teutonic Knights, they remained faithful to the Teutonic Order and were baptized. It was that why in 1264 Brulant and Diabel received the Waldau land as a gift.

The castle was erected on the island formed as a result of the construction of the dam in a stream running from the east. The castle itself without the parkham had a size of 65x44 m. The small vorburg was separated from the mainland by a broad moat. The road Koenigsberg - Tapiau passed through it drawing here a loop on the vorburg territory. Further across the bridge that separated the vorburg from the castle, it approached its northeast corner where another bridge crossed a narrow part of the lake. That wooden bridge about 100 m long was standing on hammered piles and if necessary, the access through it was blocked.

During the attacks staged by Lithuanian troops, Waldau, along with other Teutonic castles (Shaaken, Gallgarben, Kaimen), served as a part of an eastern chain of fortifications on the approaches to Konigsberg. The castle belonged to the Kammeramt of the Königsberg komturship. During frequent raids to Lithuania in the 14th century, the Supreme Marshal of the Order was staying in the castle, as well as the Hochmeister (the Grand Master).

Since 1457, the castle was used as the summer residence of the Grand Master. After the secularization of the Order in 1525, Waldau became the domain of the Duke Albrecht and became a farm managed by a burgrafter, under the command of the Neuhausen castle. In 1550 the court architect Christopher Remer rebuilt the interior of the castle was for Anna Maria of Braunschweig, the second wife of Duke Albrecht.

In 1720 Waldau together with the village of Heiligenvalde (Ushakovo) and Varginen (Aprelevka) were leased by the royal government of Prussia. With the permission of the domains manager, an internal restructuring was carried out in the two main buildings of the castle. In 1858 an agricultural academy was opened in the castle. Specially for it, a new building was built and a park was laid out. Twelve years later it was moved to Koenigsberg. By that time the towers and the surrounding perimeter walls had already been dismantled. The wings were given for the teachers' seminary ‘Schloß alte Schule’, where teachers were trained for primary classes. At the beginning of the 20th century, the castle pond was lowered, and in its place a sports field with a football field was arranged. After World War I, a monument to fallen compatriots and seminarians was erected in the yard of the ‘old’ school. In the thirties a new direct road was built connecting the village with the domain. Next to it there were the premises of the gendarmerie post.

Since 1945, the castle was used as a hostel for the agricultural school. Recently, the building was transferred to the church, but a part of the premises was given to the museum of the history of the Waldau castle.

The Waldau castle museum was created by local enthusiasts. Four rooms of the museum host expositions on the following sections: archeology, the history of the Waldau castle and the Teutonic Order; an ethnographic collection of East Prussia and wooden sculpture; the history of the first settlers in the Waldau the Lower Course and the era of socialism. Separate expositions are dedicated to the stay of