ABSTRACT
According to the scholarly literature, the hypothetical connections between Prussia and the countries of the Orient is visible in three aspects: the regular square plan of a Teutonic castle-monastery which was supposedly imported from Palestine or Southern Italy, the adoption of specific architectural elements, and finally the use of certain motifs and wall decoration techniques with glazed or clinkered bricks. The author seeks to examine each case separately, coming to the conclusion that the majority of these claims are a historiographical legend. Yet, there remain some unusual architectural features in Prussia (monumental danskers, inscriptions on the external walls of castles and churches) that cannot be explained only by Northern German or Danish transfers, and it is possible that some of these may have come from the Middle East.
