The Teutonic Knights built the castle after conquering the area in 1255, first as a provisional wooden fort with earthworks. Stone construction was under way by 1257. It became the seat of the Order's grand masters, and later of Prussian dukes and kings. It was enlarged and refortified from the 16th to 18th centuries.
An 1815 account, as cited, gives a great hall 274 feet (83.5 m) long and 59 feet (18 m) wide with no supporting pillars, and a Gothic tower about 328 feet (100 m) high. British bombing on August 29 and 30, 1944 left it a burned-out shell, and Soviet authorities dynamited the ruins after 1946. The last remnants were destroyed in 1968, or 1968 to 1969 in the infobox.
The unfinished House of Soviets was begun on the site in 1970 and demolished from 2023 to 2024. A city square now occupies the site.
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