At the end of the 14th century, on the site of a former structure in a defensive location, the Teutonic Knights built a castle as the seat of the commander and to serve as a base for battles with the Lithuanians. It is worth noting that one of the local commanders, Konrad Wallenrod, later became the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, the eponymous hero of the poem by Adam Mickiewicz. After 1525 the castle became a hunting lodge of the Prussian prince and was rebuilt several times. It was burnt down by the Polish army in 1657 and since then was uninhabited and fell into further disrepair. In the second half of the 19th century the castle was used as a women’s prison. After a fire in 1881 it was rebuilt in a neo-Gothic style but was still used as a prison and local administrative centre. It continued with this role after 1945 but in time was heavily devastated. In this state it was privatised and between 2001 and 2006 the castle was reconstructed and restored for use as a hotel and tourist facility. Some of the historic interiors were preserved. Since 2006 a four-star hotel “Ryn Castle” operates in the old castle. It has nearly 300 beds and a conference facility.

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Castle in Ryn

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In around 1329, on a hill on the Guber river, the Teutonic knight erected a wooden fort (Rastenburg). It was raised on the charred remains of a Prussian fortified village Rast, captured by the Knights in the 13th century. Today that site is occupied by the fortified church of St George. The purpose of the fort and its crew was to defend that part of the Teutonic state against frequent Lithuanian attacks; Rastenburg was also a staging post in crusades to pagan Lithuania. The fort was twice conquered and burnt by Lithuanians, first by troops commanded by duke Olgierd in 1345, and two years later by duke Kiejstut. Each time it was reconstructed and the nearby settlement filled with new inhabitants. 
The Commander of Bałga, Johan Schindekopf, granted a charter to the settlement on 11th November 1357. At around the same time the construction of a brick castle located in the south-east corner of the town's fortified walls was undertaken.
Originally the castle consisted of three wings closed to the east by a wall with a gate. The great hall contained a refectory, rooms for the Teutonic official - procurator, and a chapel. The castle was surrounded with a wall with three corner towers and a gatehouse leading to the town. The castle and the adjacent manor contained a kitchen, a brewery, a mill, a bakery, a granary, a storehouse, an armoury, a powder magazine, a chapel and a dungeon. 
During the Thirteen Years' War, in 1454, the burghers overpowered the castle. They imprisoned and then executed the Order's Procurator Wolfgang Sauer. After 1525, in Ducal Prussia, the castle was turned into a seat for the local administration official known as a starosta. 
At the end of January 1945, after the town had been seized by the Red Army, the castle as well as most of the old town of Kętrzyn were burnt. The castle was reconstructed in 1962-1967. The external appearance of the castle was reproduced according the19th century drawings made by C. Steinbrecht, which meant that the castle regained its Gothic style. 
At present the castle houses the Wojciech Kętrzyński Museum, the Municipal Library and the Zamek Cultural Centre. The Museum collects exhibits connected with the history of the town and region. There are many arts objects, examples of craftsmanship and exhibits recording the town's history and documents from archives, which were preserved in the early post-war years by Zofia Licharowa, who organised the museum. Many historically priceless objects were saved from being damaged or dispersed. They also included parts of interior decoration in palaces and mansions near Kętrzyn, objects from damaged and looted churches, the town council's archives, and remnants of the pre-war collections of the Heimatenmuseum Rastenburg and the Prussia Museum in Königsburg. 
The Museum holds three permanent exhibitions: Wojciech Ketrzyński 1838-1918, Kętrzyn-Rastenburg 19th and 20th century - a forgotten image, and Palaces and manors in the administrative district of Kętrzyn.
The castle also houses an interesting collection of Gothic sculpture, furniture of the 17th-19th century, a collection of epitaphs and funeral banners, including a child's funeral banner of three-year old Botho zu Eulenburg, dating back to 1667, which is a unique exhibit in Europe. The museum library and archives contain a rich collection of books on religious matters and a collection of documents from the former town council's archives. 
In front of the castle there is a commemorative plaque, which reminds of the meeting of two Polish generals, J.H. Dąbrowski and J. Zajączek, who commanded Polish troops under the French emperor, Napoleon I Bonaparte. The generals and their soldiers arrived in Ketrzyn on 21st June 1807 after the battle at Frydland on 14th June 1807.

http://www.szlak.zamkigotyckie.org.pl/

Castle Kętrzyn

The castle Bezlawaki (germ. Baslack), which was built by the Knights of the Teutonic Order, dates to the end of the 14th century, and lay within the jurisdiction of the Procurate of Ketrzyn. The castle has a regular quadrilateral plan (52,7 x 42,1 m) with towers on each corner and half-towers in between, and an gateway to the south-east. In 1371 were granted territorial rights to the village of Bayselawke (Baslack in German) by the 'komtur' (commander) of Balga Ulryk Fricke. The complex of buildings functioned as a place of refuge, and as a base for raids into Lithuania. During the years 1402-1404 the castle hosted the Lithuanian prince Swidrygiello (lit. Svitrigaila). After the Great War of 1409-1411 the castle lost its military significance. In 1513 the manor house was converted into a church lying within the parish of Reszel, and in 1583 the church was adapted for the purposes of the Protestantism. The cellar space beneath the presbytery was converted into a crypt, and a cemetery started to function within the grounds of the church. To the east the side-wall was pierced by a gate, above which is partially preserved the text (in German) of the First Letter of Saint Paul to the Thessalonians (4, 13-14). In the years 1726-1730 a four-story bell-tower was constructed. In 1884 the church was fundamentally restored, and the cemetery was extended to encompass the whole slope of the eminence on which the castle had been constructed, and at the same time ancillary buildings were added at the side of the courtyard, built against the boundary wall. The church was once again restored in 1985-1989 and in 2008 the tower was restored. During the course of archaeological excavations carried out by the Institute of Archaeology, Gdansk University, the remains of a crypt dating to the seventeenth century were uncovered, as well as individual finds dating back to the times of the Teutonic Order, the iron head of a crossbow-bolt and a bracteate coin from the first half of the 15-th century. (transl. N. Sekunda)
Instytut Archeologii Uniwersytetu Gdatislciego 

http://www.castle.lv/