Windenburg

Windenburg stood on a promontory extending into the Curonian Lagoon, known in Lithuanian as Ventė. Around 1360 the Teutonic Order built a castle here under Henning von Schindekop to strengthen its defences against Lithuanian incursions. The exposed shore linked the fortress to the waters of the lagoon and the lower Nemunas, while placing it at the mercy of weather and erosion. The castle eventually disappeared, leaving the headland to mark a former outpost on the eastern Baltic frontier.