Winter Refectory of Malbork Castle

The daily refectories are located on the second tier of the southwest part of the palace, and are separated from the Great Hall by the palace chapel. You can get there both inside the building by going from the Great Hall through the door in the south-western wall, and from the palace courtyard through an inconspicuous door to the left of the bay window of the Palace Chapel. The winter refectory was used by the Knights of the Teutonic Order for meals and official receptions during the cold season. The room has a square shape, about 12x12 meters and a height of 7.8 meters, and only one wall faces the street, which helped to save heat. The ceiling is decorated with an elegant palm (fan-shaped) rib vault, which is supported by just one thin granite column installed in the very center of the hall. The walls of the hall were originally richly decorated with colored polychrome paintings. The portrait gallery of the grand Masters of the Teutonic Order was located in the niches of the wall arches (lunettes). To this day, only small fragments of these medieval frescoes have survived, which have been carefully preserved by restorers. In the 15th century, the castle passed into the possession of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and became the residence of the Polish kings. The stone cartouche with the coat of arms of the Vasa dynasty and the polychrome marble frame of the now walled-up fireplace under it remind of this era. This hall had a Roman-type heating system (hypocauste). Furnaces and stone heat accumulators are located directly under the floor of this hall. When the furnaces were heated, hot smoke passed through the channels of the stone accumulator and went outside, and when the stones were heated, the chimney from the furnace was closed and clean air from the street came through the accumulator, and the heated air entered the hall through holes in the floor.

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