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Some time ago I was in Malbork castle and was amazed by its size and beauty.
I want to know - are there some castles similar to the Malbork's, may be not so famous.
I'm interested in castles in Poland or Germany (may be Czech Republic).
Main measure to the castle is size, in my opinion (the bigger the castle is, the older it is).

enter image description here

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    Similar in what way(s)? Age? Size? Construction? History? Location?
    – John Lyon
    Jun 27, 2011 at 0:27
  • @jozzas I'm such amazed by this castle, so I forgot to mention. Size is priority measure.
    – VMAtm
    Jun 27, 2011 at 5:24
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    "the bigger the castle is, the older it is" - um, no. Not at all.
    – Michael Borgwardt
    Dec 9, 2011 at 10:48
  • @Michael Borgwardt Any counter example?
    – VMAtm
    Dec 9, 2011 at 11:01
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    @VMAtm: well, Malbork is allegedly the largest and was built no sooner than 1274, and there are many older castles (like Wartburg, 1068), qed. Besides, I would think it quite obvious that the size of a castle is in part determined by technical developments, so really old castles couldn't be as large as more recent ones. Sure, many are extended over time, but many are not.
    – Michael Borgwardt
    Dec 9, 2011 at 11:12

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If you want large castles in Germany, try

10 Largest Castles in Germany

If you're willing to travel a little further afield to Lithuania, there is Trakai Island Castle.

It's not in Poland or Germany I know but it's architecturally similar. According to wikipedia, the castle is sometimes referred to as "Little Marienburg (Malbork)"

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My suggestion is not in a country around the Baltic Sea, but near the Mediterranean Sea. It is even not a castle per se but a fortified city.

Anyway, it is big, old and very impressive. So let me introduce the Cité de Carcassonne.

Cité de Caracassonne (picture from Wikipedia)

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Malbork is the reportedly largest castle in the world, so searching for a larger one may be futile.

It stands at the confluence of two warring groups: the Germans, specifically the Teutonic Knights, and their opponents, the Baltic peoples.

I can't say much more about the German castles than has been said in another post. But I urge you to look at the other side, the Baltics.

Specifically, the Estonians were the Baltic people most successful in resisting the Teutonic Knights. Probably more so than the Lithuanians and Latvians. For this, and other reasons, the Estonians were better than most other Europeans at building castles. Their capital of Tallinn (formerly Reval) has the most castles per land area of any city in Europe. And some of them are older than Malbork.

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  • and to be strict - this is a reenactment - this castle was destroyed in WW2 - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Malbork_Castle_Ruins.jpg
    – rsk82
    Jun 1, 2012 at 6:49
  • The last part makes no sense to me. Many medieval castles in a small area typically means many rulers with smaller estates and fewer resources, hence smaller castles. In some part of France you find one in every village which is just a large farm with a few features (e.g. tower) reflecting the privileges of the original owner. Old cities could be fortified but typically don't have any castle (in the sense of German ‘Burg’) at all or perhaps only one (I am not talking about aristocratic residences or palaces that were built later).
    – Relaxed
    Feb 7, 2014 at 12:24
  • @Annoyed: Maybe not "better" from a MILITARY point of view (which I believe is what you are saying). But probably better from an architectural point of view. "Practice makes perfect."
    – Tom Au
    Feb 7, 2014 at 14:24
  • I was mostly referring to the OP's concern with size and I kind of assumed we were all talking about medieval military castle like Malbork. But if we are talking about Renaissance palaces or general architectural qualities then it makes sense. It's just the reference to the Teutonic order or the notion of “a number of castles per city” that confused me.
    – Relaxed
    Feb 7, 2014 at 14:57
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Found an option in Frombork, castle where Copernicus worked.

Main building:

Copernicus tower:

In the castle is situated the Copernicus museum

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  • To be very strict - on the first photo it's Cathedral (Church), but as this whole group of buildings had some defensive functions it's often consider as a castle.
    – psur
    Mar 17, 2012 at 7:43
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You might be interested in Trakų pilis / Trakai island castle which is just a hour of driving away from Vilnius, capital of Lithuania. It is, of course, not as magnificent as Malbork but definitely worth a visit. Trakai is also famous for an exotic ethnic minority (Tatars) living there for many centuries.

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  • Funny, user @zeocrash also recommended this back in July but then deleted the answer...
    – hippietrail
    Oct 13, 2011 at 18:52
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As you mentioned castles in the Czech Republic as well, I would suggest visiting Konopiště Castle. It is not extremely big but it is extremely well preserved, and it is situated about 40 kilometres from Prague.

enter image description here

Alternatively, a more impressive castle (from the outside) because of its position and dimension is Karlštejn Castle (about 30 kilometres from the capital), which however was modified various times and has not preserved the original structure inside.

enter image description here

The images are taken from Wikipedia.

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