Posted by The small town of Darlowo is an old town located at the Polish coast towards the Baltic Sea in the western part of Poland. The city has a long history in which it actually had a fairly big role in northern European history for a little while.
The city was founded in 1270 probably by a vassal of Denmark living on the island of Rügen in what is now eastern Germany. The city had its ups and downs in its early history and was probably destroyed a couple of times during conflicts with the other powers in the area. It was rebuilt and in 1312 it got city rights under the laws of the city of Lübeck in Germany.
A highlight of the history of the town was when the Pomeria Dukes were ruling the town. The Danish kingdom had no immediate male heir to the throne. The Pomerian Duke was a distant descendant of the Danish kings and he was chosen to be the new king of Denmark in 1396 as King Erik – though at this time Queen Margrethe was in fact ruling the country and Erik didn’t become the actual ruler of Denmark until the death of Margrethe in 1412.
During this period the Nordic countries had been united in the Kalmar union so the Danish king was actually also the king of Norway and Sweden. The last two countries included Finland, Iceland and Greenland plus a few other minor possessions like the Orkney and Shetland Islands making Denmark one of the most powerful countries in Europe during this period.
Erik only ruled until 1439 when he was deposed as the Danish king and had to leave the country. Before he had to leave he did build a castle in Denmark inspired by his old home in Darlowo. The castle was the previous version of the famous Castle of Kronborg. He eventually moved back to Darlowo to become the ruler of the small duchy of Pomeria. He lived at the castle of Darlowo until his death and was buried in the main church of the old town.
The main attractions of the town of Darlowo are still the old castle and the church which you can both go and visit on a trip to Darlowo. The castle charge an admission – and considering we arrived too just a bit before the closing time we decided not to explore the castle of the city. From the outside it looked like an interesting old castle probably worth a visit if we had a bit more time.
FrejaTravels 