The Naujene castle hill is on the steep bank of the Daugava River, is up to 25 metres high and has two valleys on its sides.  Between 1275 and 1277, the master of the Livonian Order, Ernst von Ratzenburg, organised the construction of a brick castle to replace a Lettigalian wooden castle that had stood there before.  The castle had a drawbridge and an external and internal forecastle.  Until the middle part of the 16th century, the castle was the residence of one of the top officials in Dünaburg.  The forces of Ivan the Terrible sacked the castle in 1577, after which the location lost its strategic importance.  New fortifications were built in the location that is now the city of Daugavpils.  Alongside the ruins of the castle is a miniature model that helps to imagine the appearance of the location many centuries ago.  A well-appointed pathway leads from the car park to the castle hill.  The hill offers one of the loveliest views of the curvy Daugava River and its surrounding nature park.