The St. Anne Chapel was built during the enlargement of the High Castle in 1334-1344. From the moment of its erection it was treated as the burial site of the Grand Masters of the Teutonic Knights Order — eleven highest monastic dignitaries were buried here. From 1457 it probably no longer fulfilled religious functions and as a result was slowly forgotten. In the 1895-1912 period conservation of the chapel was conducted under the supervision of Konrad Steinbrecht, an architect. In accordance with his conceptions, the interior was re-Gothicised and turned into a mausoleum commemorating the men buried there. This purpose was served by numerous decorations i. a. coats of arms hung on the walls, a polychromy depicting homage made to the Virgin and Child by monastic dignitaries who fell on the battlefield of Grunwald, and stained glass windows with motifs portraying the good deeds of the knights-monks. The restored object witnessed many ceremonies: in 1901 wreaths were placed on the tombs of the Grand Masters upon the anniversay of the Battle of Grunwald and thirteen years later the funeral of Konrad Steinbrecht took place here. During the inter-war period, the chapel was one of the most attractive parts of the castle. The neo-Gothic decorations, discussed in this article, introduced into the interior an air of solemnity and reflections on the past history of the Order. At the end of the second world war they were seriously damaged. At the moment, construction work (the plastering of the vaults) is almost completed. After indispensable conservation of the remnants of the medieval and nineteenth-century decorations, the interior will be open to visitors. Once again, it has an opportunity to become one of the most interesting displays in the castle.
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