Published: 2025-12-31

The location of churches in early medieval urban space: the case of Barczewko (Alt-Wartenburg) in Warmia

Felix Biermann , Christofer Herrmann , Arkadiusz Koperkiewicz
Archeologia Polski
Section: Studies
DOI https://doi.org/10.23858/APol70.2025.05

Abstract

The presence of a church in medieval Wartenberg (today Barczewko locality in the municipality of Barczewo) located in the Warmia region has been archaeologically established. The Bishop of Warmia founded this simple, wooden building with a half-timbered structure probably in 1325/1330. The Lithuanians razed it to the ground in 1354, leaving charred wood, and iron structural elements. The building’s presumed religious function is indicated by its east-west orientation and the graveyard around it. The location of the building on the outskirts of the settlement and at some distance from the market square is also typical of towns in this region. This article studies and interprets the remains of the building, which is thus the first known wooden church from early stages of the founding of a medieval town in the territory of the Teutonic Order in Prussia. The findings are contextualized in the history of the locality and the results of historical and archaeological research to date.

Keywords:

lost city,, wooden church, cemetery site, Teutonic Order, Warmia, archeology, Middle Ages

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Biermann, F., Herrmann, C., & Koperkiewicz, A. (2025). The location of churches in early medieval urban space: the case of Barczewko (Alt-Wartenburg) in Warmia. Archeologia Polski, 70, 117–141. https://doi.org/10.23858/APol70.2025.05

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