I work at the world’s biggest castle where legend tells of a secret passage that’s connected to two cities – and there are rooms guard dogs are ‘too scared to enter’

Secret passages, rooms that German Shepherd security dogs are too scared to enter and mysterious doors 10ft off the ground.

Welcome to Poland’s Malbork Castle, the world’s biggest – and meet your tour guide, Reddit user ‘ArdArt’, who works at the blockbuster Gothic behemoth as an exhibition supervisor and ran a Q&A session on life at the castle on Reddit.

Malbork Castle is spread across 52 acres (2.27million square feet) on the east bank of the River Nogat in Malbork, around 25 miles south of the coast. 

The show-stopping medieval leviathan – a Unesco World Heritage Site – took 132 years to build, contains 30million bricks and is around double the size of Buckingham Palace and four times bigger than Windsor Castle.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the supervisor admitted that ‘there are many, many [rooms] that I haven’t seen’ and ‘doubt I ever will’ among the castle’s ‘nooks and crannies’. 

Malbork Castle is spread across 52 acres (2.27million square feet) on the east bank of the River Nogat in Malbork, around 25 miles south of the coast 

The show-stopping medieval leviathan – a Unesco World Heritage Site – took 132 years to build, contains 30million bricks and is around double the size of Buckingham Palace and four times bigger than Windsor Castle 

He revealed that he once found five little kittens, ‘that stared at me almost without blinking, as they probably saw a human for the first time in their lives’. 

They later added: ‘There are just some doors that are always locked and I have no idea what is on the other side.’

When it comes to picking their favourite room, the supervisor said they do not have one.

‘But if I were to choose a place in which I would spend many hours, I would choose the moat because it surrounds the castle so you can see it from every angle,’ they added. ‘Today there is no water in the moat and you can walk there freely.’

Asked if they have any ghost stories from their time working at the ancient fortress, the supervisor recalled rumours that the guards’ German Shepherds ‘are scared to enter some areas when checking the castle in the night’.

There are no-go areas for tourists, too.

They continued. ‘There is an interesting passage above the main gate that is off limits.

‘The door to that passage is always open, however the doors are about 2m (6.5ft) to 3m (9.8ft) above the ground and some kind of a ladder would be needed to get there.’ 

‘ArdArt’ admitted that ‘there are many, many [rooms] that I haven’t seen’ and ‘doubt I ever will’ among the castle’s ‘nooks and crannies’

And legend has it there is a hidden passage rumoured to connect the castle with two cities 20km (12.5 miles) away, the supervisor said.

‘I don’t have my own opinion about its existence,’ they commented. ‘I heard some people saying it’s only a legend and some people saying that they have seen its collapsed part in the woods.’

‘What exactly do you do there?’ was another question, posed by a fellow Redditor. 

The worker shared their key responsibilities when working at the castle, from managing visitors at the courtyard to standing watch at the observational tower and looking after the chapter house – for up to eight hours at a time. 

They said: ‘Number one – I stand in the courtyard, near the main gate, for seven hours and make sure that people don’t smoke, children are supervised, and people leave the museum with the exit, not the entrance. I also answer questions and maybe sometimes help with audio guides.

‘Number two – I stand on the observational tower for eight hours and make sure that people do not lean too much and they do not fall.

‘Number three – I stand in the chapterhouse for eight hours and make sure that people behave when it comes to the exhibition. Also, I stop tourists from going up the narrow stairs to the tower from that room, since the stairs are one-way.’

Legend has it there is a hidden passage rumoured to connect the castle with two cities 20km (12.5 miles) away, the supervisor said

Asked if they have any ghost stories from their time working at the ancient fortress, the supervisor recalled rumours that the guards’ German Shepherds ‘are scared to enter some areas when checking the castle in the night’ 

The worker said that the castle has ‘never been conquered militarily, only sold’ and highlighted the advantages of its position, located between a river and wetlands

User ‘nited_contrarians’ asked if the stairways were one-way back in Medieval times.

Responding, the supervisor explained why this was not necessary hundreds of years ago.

‘In medieval times there weren’t 10 people going up and down the tower every minute,’ they penned. ‘Also people were about 160cm to 165cm high at best. They didn’t carry any weapons or armour with them daily.’

Another user asked how the castle was heated in days of yore, to which the supervisor replied: ‘There was a massive room that was filled with red-hot stones every now and then.

‘The room was connected with vents to the most important rooms in the castle, so they had floor heating. Now the castle is heated with electricity.’

When asked by ‘reddititty69’ how many armed men it would take to defend the castle from an attack in Medieval times, the supervisor guessed ‘less than a hundred’.

The worker said that the castle has ‘never been conquered militarily, only sold’ and highlighted the advantages of its position, located between a river and wetlands.

‘Additionally, it’s surrounded by a moat, so the enemy is forced to enter through the main gate,’ they explained.

When asked for their favourite fact about the castle, the supervisor revealed that the Gdanisko toilet tower is named after the nearby city of Gdansk

Asked about the weirdest thing at the castle, the supervisor said it’s the ‘surprising’ amount of cables running through the walls and ceilings

‘To get to the gate, the enemy has to go through the drawbridge. The gate is, in fact, a series of five gates, each with systems that prevent enemies from entering.’

This includes ‘special rooms for guards with crossbows’ and ‘little doors that force the passing person to disclose their neck, even if they have full armour on’, they revealed.

When asked for their favourite fact about the castle, the supervisor revealed that the Gdanisko toilet tower is named after the nearby city of Gdansk.

‘If I were a citizen of that city, I wouldn’t be proud,’ they commented.

And ‘the weirdest thing?’ asked user ‘inthebenefitofmrkite’.

It’s the ‘surprising’ amount of cables running through the walls and ceilings, the supervisor said, adding: ‘After all, it’s a medieval castle and it was weird for me that people just decided to drill holes through a monument.’