Stargard Castle, Medieval castle in Burg Stargard, Germany.

Stargard Castle stands on a 90-metre hill above the town of Burg Stargard. Its inner and outer baileys hold eleven brick buildings, all surrounded by a moat. The round keep, built around 1245 on erratic boulders, has walls over 4 metres thick and a circumference of 27 metres; its entrance lies 9 metres above ground. The Crooked House, a ruin since 1919, keeps a 4-metre outer wall that once served as the castle wall.

The Brandenburg margraves John I and Otto III began building the castle from 1236 to secure their northernmost territory, after Duke Wartislaw III of Pomerania ceded the Stargard region by the 1236 Treaty of Kremmen. In 1352 it became the residence of Duke John I of Mecklenburg-Stargard, and in 1520 Duke Albert VI had the gatehouse converted into a chapel. General Tilly used it as headquarters during the 1631 siege of Neubrandenburg, and the keep burned out after a lightning strike in 1646.

The castle chapel occupies the former Upper Gate, a three-storey gatehouse built in the 1240s. In 1520 the drawbridge was removed and the gateway bricked up to refit the building as a chapel; it served as the town's temporary church from 1758 to 1770 after a fire. Couples now marry in the restored chapel.

A sturdy stairway leads to the keep's upper levels, where views extend across the surrounding landscape of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Walkways connect the different buildings across the hilltop, making it easy to explore the entire complex on foot.

The keep's entrance sits nine metres above the ground, once reached by a roofed wooden stairway; today a metal stair replaces it. Its walls are over four metres thick at the base and measure 27 metres around. The dungeon lies 13 metres below the entrance, beneath the courtyard paving.