If you are told that there is nothing to see in Kaliningrad, do not believe it. Yes, his old city with world masterpieces has sunk into oblivion and is built up with the worst examples of Soviet architecture, and yet, in modern Kaliningrad, somewhere around 40% of Koenigsberg. The city is now only slightly larger than it was on the eve of the war (430,000 against 390), and, as it were, turned inside out: there is almost no antiquity in the center, but on the outskirts there is enough for several provincial cities. Yes, and this antiquity itself is not ours, and since in its very essence, it is interesting and unusual here that which in Russia would have passed by without noticing. Here - and.

Two medieval buildings have survived from Königsberg (including the Cathedral), a bit of the 18th century, a grandiose belt of fortifications of the 19th century, but most of its architecture dates back to the 1870-1930s, be it the garden city of Amalienau, the villas of Marauniengof, the proletarian Rathof and Ponart , airfield Devau, stations and railway infrastructure and individual buildings are everywhere. There is also the grandiose Museum of the World Ocean, where there are four ships alone. I suddenly accumulated materials about Kaliningrad for about 12-15 posts, a little less than about Lvov. And in the first of them - basically what did not fit in the rest: I deliberately do not show bright monuments yet - only the everyday buildings of pre-war Königsberg.

The center of Königsberg was destroyed by three blows.
The first was an Anglo-American Air Force raid in August 1944. Like Dresden, Hamburg, Pforzheim and many others, Koenigsberg got into the program of "psychological bombing": the Anglo-Saxons knocked out the historical center with precision. without touching either the stations, or the port, or the factories, or the forts. The scale was, of course, not Dresden - and yet 4,300 people died here in one night ... and most of the historical center.
The next blow was the assault on the city by the Red Army in 1945. Königsberg was one of the most powerful fortresses in the world, and the destruction in that assault was especially large-scale in the north and east. However, oddly enough, this blow to the old city was the least destructive of the three. However, after the war, the city seemed to have shifted to the west, to the former Amalienau, Hufen, Rathof, Juditten. It was these areas, built up at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, that became the historical center of Kaliningrad, while the old Königsberg lay in ruins for another twenty years. Indeed, even 10 years after the war, the city was about half the size of the pre-war one, and therefore there were quite enough surviving houses. In the ruins they searched for valuables; children played; they shot a movie about the war, the houses were gradually dismantled into bricks, and in general, many here still remember what the Royal Castle looked like.
Only in the 1960s did the authorities take care of using the "dead city", and this was the third, control strike on the old Königsberg - its ruins were simply demolished, and the vacant place was built up with high-rise buildings. And in general, having arrived in Kaliningrad and found a panel district of the worst kind on the site of Altstadt, Lobenicht, Kneiphof, it is easy to think that there is nothing more interesting further. And this is not true at all:

I lived for two weeks north of Amalienau, in a kind of "dormitory area" of the 1920s and 30s between Karl Marx Avenue and Borzov Street. Their architecture in German is simple and rhythmic. On the first day of my stay, it rained cold from morning to evening. Katerina taiohara led me deep into an unfamiliar and incomprehensible city, talking about how, after the First World War, the devastated, but not broken in spirit, Germans invented an "ideal city" for ordinary people:

As you can see, there is a lot in common between the German pre-war period (mainly of the "Weimar" era) and early Soviet architecture - the same low-rise buildings, the same spacious courtyards-squares and wide green streets. But in the USSR, cottages were almost never built - and here they are all outskirts, and I lived in one of these (not these specifically):

One of the first discoveries for me was these houses - sort of townhouses of the 1920s:

The main "feature" of which is the bas-reliefs and sculptures that adorn each entrance. According to Katerina, there was an art academy nearby, and the workshops attached to it supplied the entire area with such decorations. Most of the sculptures have long been broken, "Child and Cat" from the opening frame - one of just a few surviving examples. But the bas-reliefs - what will happen to them? Interesting - the owner of each apartment hung them to his liking, or was the house originally designed that way?

Another notable object in the area is the clock tower. It seems to be (for sure, none of those with whom I spoke knows) - a car repair plant of the 1920s:

Such is the realm of types - both German and Soviet. There are also individual houses of individual projects in this area - again, both new buildings and German ones:

The area to the south looks completely different, between Karl Marx and Mira Avenues, connecting the center with Amalienau. It was formed clearly before the First World War, and it can be correlated with the provincial cities of the Russian Empire, only instead of Art Nouveau there is Jugendstil, and instead of stylizations under Ancient Russia - stylizations under Old Hansa.

However, there are also many houses here, similar to the interwar period - but still not massive, as in the neighboring area.

One of the many old German schools. As I already wrote, in the German Empire they were numerous and grandiose:

An impressive building on Sovetsky Prospekt, a little short of the main square:

And this, for comparison, is literally the opposite end of the former Königsberg, the Haberberg district near the South Station:

Like , Königsberg impressed me with its details. And as it has been said more than once, the German and Austrian approaches here were radically different: if the Austrians almost every house was, in fact, a stand for details, the Germans remember the houses with some one - but very catchy detail. The only exception, perhaps, is these wonderful houses on Komsomolskaya Street (formerly Luisenallee) near the intersection with Chekistov Street, literally strewn with "saz" bas-reliefs. Note that it is very easy to mistake them for Stalinists:

On the same "storyteller houses" there are also such metal gizmos - I don’t even know their purpose:

But more often the Koenigsberg house "does" something like this:

If in Lviv I was most impressed with the details of the doors, in Königsberg - portals:

Moreover, the virtuoso mastery of rhythm made it possible to make them beautiful even near completely utilitarian buildings. And here on the right is a modern creative:

There are a lot of German "artifacts" in Königsberg, including inscriptions (they want him far from the small towns of the region here!):

A collection of stone slabs from one of the houses, the location of which I do not remember. They look suspiciously like tombstones...

But the most memorable are the German bomb shelters that mark hundreds of courtyards here. Königsberg was bombed from the first months of the war, its surroundings were the "patrimony" of the Luftwaffe, and Soviet journalism did not call it the "citadel city" for nothing. Bombari (as they are called here) is one of the most characteristic features of Koenigsberg. This one is in front of the school:

The reminders of those who died storming this citadel are also characteristic. Monuments and almost mass graves in the yards here are a common thing:

And there is a military memorial here in almost every district:

A few more random sketches. A street in the former Altstadt, not far from the place where the famous warehouses of Lastadia stood.

One of the rivers crossing the city, not every old-timer knows the names of most of them:

As in the countries of Eastern Europe, graffiti is popular here - compared to "mainland" Russia, they are more numerous, meaningful and noticeable:

Characteristic TV tower-mast. I came across these somewhere in a dozen and a half cities, most of which are in the western regions of the former USSR:

A very unusual building. There is "flaming gothic", and here - "flaming postmodernism":

And from Koenigsberg there was also paving stones, which looks very strange against the backdrop of Khrushchev.

And old mossy trees with the seal of complex destinies. Trees and pavements - they remember everything:

In the next three posts - about the ghosts of Koenigsberg. What was and what is left.

FAR WEST-2013

Our city is a strange and paradoxical place. On the one hand - German history, on the other - Soviet and Russian, on the main island there is an ancient Catholic cathedral, and on the main square - an Orthodox church.

But the most paradoxical thing is that we live in a city with two names - Kaliningrad and Koenigsberg, which have not only entered our lives, but have been fighting for the title of the main one for more than a decade.

Most of the old-timers, of course, do not recognize the old name, and they can be understood. If we were taught at school that Königsberg is an exclusively stronghold of fascism, Prussian militarism and almost a branch of hell on earth, and “grandfather Kalinin” is a hero of his era, then we would not even think about such a question, and for all these reasoning, I would be brutally lynched at some party meeting.

But now is not the time, and Koenigsberg no longer appears before us as a dead fascist beast, but makes us think about the themes of beauty, goodness and culture, which are not alien to any civilized nation. But we live not in Koenigsberg, but in Kaliningrad, and today we will talk about the name of our city, which is no less paradoxical than its long history.

So, what was the first, and what was the name of our city in the old and very unkind Teutonic times? I am sure that there are two possible answers to this question. Most, almost without hesitation, will answer: “Königsberg”, someone will mistakenly call him the old Prussian name Tuwangste, and someone will understand that there is a catch in this question and will ask, at least, to clarify the time period. In fact, historians have been struggling with the mystery of the name of our city for quite a long time. If everything is clear with Kaliningrad, then the word Koenigsberg has many roots, and, contrary to common opinion, it is not yet a fact that the city was named after King Ottokar II. But first things first.

As I have repeatedly said, the history of our city did not begin at all in 1255, but much earlier, because before the arrival of the knights, people who were quite developed for their culture lived here. Oddly enough, the name “city on Pregol”, given by the Prussians, has come down to us. It was originally spelled Twankste, although it has always been spelled differently in different sources. If we talk about the origin of this word, then I will not indulge in lengthy discussions and describe to you all the available versions, but I will give only the main one, according to which the name of the Prussian settlement comes from the word "Twanka" - a pond, in the full version - "dam".

Agree, not a very meaningful name for the settlement, but this is the first name of our city, given to it in time immemorial, and it is at least worth knowing. Why Dam, you ask? And the reason for this was the man-made dam on Pregol, which allows the Prussians to collect tribute from passing boats. Some researchers believe that the locals have been doing this for many centuries. Be that as it may, everything comes to an end, and for Tuwangste it came in 1255 with the arrival of the troops of the Teutonic Order on the Prussian lands. Naturally, the Teutons did not want to leave the former name of the city, and there was no talk of a new city, for that matter, either - just to resist the wrath of the rebels and protect themselves.

I will not retell you the history of the appearance of the castle on the banks of the Pregol, since I have already devoted lines to this more than once and even a separate article. Instead, let's talk about the very name of the future city. Most Kaliningraders think that before the advent of Soviet power, our city was called Königsberg and nothing else. This is true, but not quite ... Königsberg is the name of the castle, better known to you as the Royal, and the city itself did not originally exist, and when it appeared, it did not have a name at all.

It just so happened that the Teutonic Order did not care much about the names of their castle settlements, and for lack of a better one, they were given names in honor of the castles themselves. It was the same with Königsberg, but its castle settlement soon acquired a different name - Altstadt (old town), and only in 1724, when all three cities united at the Royal Castle, the word Königsberg began to mean what we all know.

But even here there are many questions and "blank spots", to which, alas, we can no longer get an exact answer. I mean, Koenigsberg did not always have such a name - its first name was Regiomontum or Regiomons, which translates exactly the same as Koenigsberg, but only from Latin. According to the most common and probably the most objective version, the castle was named after the king who helped the Teutonic Order conquer Prussia, but today more and more historians began to doubt this, since there are not so few Königsbergs in the world and not all of them are named in honor of the king.

But we will talk about other namesakes of our city later, but for now let's get closer to the present. To do this, we need to go back half a century to the past, when the shots of the Second World War had just rumbled. By the way, after the war, the city was not renamed, or rather, they did not do it right away.

For a whole year, Königsberg remained Königsberg, and the region - Königsberg. Who knows whether it would have remained to this day or not, but it was June 3, 1946, when Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin died - the famous "all-Union headman", in whose honor the Soviet government decided to rename the city with a seven-century history. Kalinin was a multifaceted personality, being partly a really good person, but his direct participation in the Stalinist repressions and even his unwillingness to release his own wife from arrest casts a very unpleasant shadow on his biography. Although personally, I am somewhat angered by the fact that Mikhail Ivanovich personally signed a decree on renaming the city of Tver in his honor.

But, as they say, do not judge, but you will not be judged, therefore, I will not talk about “grandfather Kalinin”, who was once dearly loved by the people, and it’s not about him. By the way, he has never been in our city and whether he knew him is a moot point, but we know very well who Kaliningrad is named after. True, now more and more often there are proposals for renaming, which cause a lot of heated debate. On the one hand, there is history, and on the other hand, “nemetchina”, which many residents of Kaliningrad and the Russian authorities are still afraid of.

Each side brings its own arguments, and each is right in its own way, but let's judge soberly. Is our city Königsberg? Is it possible to call Koenigsberg the place where we live? With all my love for the old city and the history of our region, I do not agree that the former name should be returned. I bitterly admit that we still live in Kaliningrad in every sense of the word.

The Soviet government did a good job of making the name of the city correspond to reality, leveling the old quarters with bulldozers and blowing up what was left to us as a legacy. Yes, not everything is demolished! Yes, there are still entire streets that have preserved the spirit of the past, but as long as our city remains as it is, as long as our consciousness and culture do not reach the level of a hundred years ago, and as long as the authorities rob their own people and disfigure the center for profit, there will be no Königsberg , and there will be only Kaliningrad. But people cannot be deceived, and no matter how one treats the history of the city, it is and always will be.

Königsberg is alive, if only because we remember and love it, and Kaliningrad should not be renamed ... Think for yourself, how often do we use a historical word? It seems to me that more and more people call the city none other than König, and when talking with someone from central Russia about Kaliningrad, they will definitely mention Königsberg, talking about the blown up Royal Castle, the grave of Immanuel Kant and the ugly House of Soviets.

Who knows, maybe the time will come when not we, but our children and grandchildren will be able to see the restored castle, walk along the reconstructed quarters of medieval buildings and the former promenade of the Lower Lake, which will be renamed the Castle Pond. Maybe it will be so, and then the issue of renaming will not cause controversy. Now you should not disgrace yourself in front of Europe, which, by the way, Kaliningrad does not recognize.

This year, leaving Lithuania after another European tour, for a long time I could not find the name Kaliningrad in the list of departures at the Kaunas bus station, until one of the Lithuanians pointed his finger at a strange word - Karaliaučius, which the Lithuanians called Koenigsberg for many centuries. There was something similar at the Polish station - Krolewiec, only there was the word Kaliningrad in small print and in brackets. However, both Poland and Lithuania have restored and preserve their Prussian heritage, which cannot be said about us, who are doomed to live in Kaliningrad.

City of Kaliningrad first claimed its rights to be present on geographical maps on July 4, 1946. Can this date be considered the date of its foundation? - A philosophical question. Kaliningrad arose on the ruins of Koenigsberg. Therefore, in many sources, the official version is the wording that in 1946 Königsberg was renamed Kaliningrad. However, in 1946, Königsberg was an ashes on which the Soviet people had to establish a new life, building a new city in a socialist guise - so that not a trace of the German imperialist past was left. But Königsberg itself did not appear out of nowhere... Therefore, speaking about the history of Kaliningrad, it is impossible not to tell about all its previous rebirths.

Königsberg - Born of the Crusade

The history of the emergence of Königsberg is connected with the Crusade of the Knights of the Teutonic Order against the Prussian tribes that inhabited the southern coast of the Baltic Sea. Preparations for the Crusade by the Teutonic Order began in 1230. And by 1283, the conquest of the Prussian lands came to the final stage, when the last opportunities for organized resistance among the Prussian tribes dried up, and every Prussian faced a simple choice to die or convert to Christianity. At the same time, crowds of German colonists poured into the conquered lands in droves. Subsequently, the surviving indigenous population of Prussia completely dissolved into the German ethnos, leaving only the poetic name Prussia as a memory.

The basis of the strategy of conquest of Prussia by the Teutonic Order was the castles that grew on the Prussian lands in order to establish power and control over the troubled surroundings. And Königsberg was one of such numerous defensive castles. It was founded in 1255 by the Knights of the Teutonic Order on the site of the Prussian settlement Twangste. Koenigsberg - translated from German means "Royal Mountain". The castle itself has not survived to this day, however, on the territory of the Kaliningrad region there are a large number of order castles with a happier fate.

Talking about the history of Kaliningrad, it would be appropriate to recall that world historical science, as one of the popular versions, classifies the Prussians among the Slavic peoples. This fact is confirmed by some historical documents. But Lomonosov went furthest in his conclusions, who firmly believed that Rurik and his entire squad were Prussians. This is the irony of fate: it is possible that Kaliningrad is the birthplace of Rurik, the founder of the first tsarist dynasty of united Russia.

As for the history of Koenigsberg itself, in a short time it was possible to turn it into an impenetrable obstacle for the Prussians. He was able to withstand three sieges by the Prussian squads in 1260, 1263 and 1273 and was never captured. And since the development of the Prussian lands by the German colonists, the area around the castle began to acquire settlements. Moreover, residential construction went on with such activity that already at the beginning of the 14th century the castle suddenly turned out to be the geographical center of three cities at once, surrounding it from all sides. These cities were called Altstadt, Löbenicht and Kneiphof. The autonomous existence of these cities continued until 1724, when all three cities were administratively merged into one, which became known as Königsberg, in accordance with the name of the castle.

Königsberg - from the citadel of the Teutonic Order to social life

However, the ambitions of the Teutonic Order with the conquest of the Prussians rushed to neighboring lands. So, as a result of the military campaign of 1308-1309, the crusader knights expanded their possessions at the expense of Poland, opening in their favor East Pomerania with Gdansk. And for a whole century, the Teutonic Order turned into an aggressive regional hegemon.

The clear threat looming over Poland from the Teutonic Order provoked its rapprochement with Lithuania. In 1385, two hitherto feuding states concluded the Union of Kreva. And in 1409, Poland and Lithuania opposed the Teutonic Order in a united front in the Great War, which began with an uprising in Samogitia. In the decisive battle on July 15, 1410, which historians called the Battle of Grunwald, the allied army of Poland and Lithuania won. As a result of the defeat, the Teutonic Order was forced to agree to territorial concessions, abandoning Samogitia and the Dobrzyn land. With this defeat began the decline of the Teutonic military glory. And the next major military campaign, which is usually called the war of cities in 1454-1466 in historical literature, was the last in the history of the Teutonic Order.

Without going into details of the course of the war, I note that by 1466, despite the support of some German principalities, the once mighty Teutons turned into helpless whipping boys. As a result, the Teutonic Order was forced to give up vast landholdings and recognize itself as a vassal of Poland. Moreover, the capital of the Teutonic Order, Marienburg Castle, was also on the list of territorial losses. After the loss of Marienburg, the residence of the Grand Master moved to Königsberg, which actually became the new capital.

The next important milestone in the fate of Prussia and Königsberg was 1525, when the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, Albrecht of Brandenburg, with the consent and support of Poland, adopted Protestantism and declared Prussia a secular duchy. At the same time, he deprived the Teutonic Order of all property rights, and changed his title of Grand Master to the title of Duke. Thus, the Duchy of Prussia, formed in 1525, became the first Protestant state in Europe. In addition, Duke Albrecht was noted in the history of Königsberg as the main educator, contributing to the opening of the first printing house by Hans Weinreich in 1523, and in 1544 establishing the first university.

Koenigsberg - on the way from Prussia to the German Empire

After the death of Albrecht, the Duchy of Prussia comes under the control of the viceroyal aspirations of the Electors of Brandenburg, which is facilitated by the conclusion of a dynastic marriage between John Sigismund and Anna of Prussia, Albrecht's daughter and sole heiress. True, for the official unification of Brandenburg and Prussia, the consent of Poland was necessary, in relations with which the Prussian duchy still retained vassal dependence. At the same time, Brandenburg did not have enough of his own forces to persuade Poland to agree. However, in 1657, the supreme Brandenburg-Prussian ruler Frederick William I had a lucky chance - during the Swedish-Polish war, he successfully supported the Swedish king Charles X in the three-day battle near Warsaw, which made Poland more accommodating. – And so the united state of Brandenburg-Prussia arose. And in 1701 it was transformed into the Kingdom of Prussia. In this connection, on January 18, 1701, the coronation of the first king of Prussia, Frederick I, took place in Königsberg. True, Berlin was determined to be the actual capital of the united state, where the residence of the Prussian kings was located, and Königsberg was assigned only the honorary mission of the place of coronation. In general, the unification of Brandenburg with Prussia was more like an absorption. By the way, the territories of the Prussian duchy, after joining the united kingdom, were called East Prussia. And from that moment on, Koenigsberg had to get used to the provincial status of the outskirts.

The wars that raged in Europe in the 18th-19th centuries did not greatly disturb the peace of Königsberg. Among all the events of those times associated with him, I see only one episode of interest. - During the Seven Years' War in January 1758, the Russian army occupied Koenigsberg without a fight. After that, the townspeople eagerly swore allegiance to the Russian Empress Elizabeth I. The loyalty of the inhabitants of East Prussia was facilitated by the abolition of fees that were levied in favor of the Prussian king, and the abolition of compulsory military service, also established by the will of the Prussian king Frederick William I. East Prussia stayed in the composition Russian Empire until 1762, until Peter III, who ascended the throne after the death of Elizabeth Petrovna, returned all the conquests of the Russian army as part of the truce.

Brandenburg, in turn, did not stop at unification with the Prussian duchy. - On January 18, 1871, as the final chord of the Franco-Prussian war in Versailles, the confused world community was confronted with the fact of the emergence of a new formidable force in the face of the German Empire, which united all German states under the unified authority of the Prussian king. The involvement of East Prussia in the new powerful empire, which was experiencing an economic upswing, had a positive effect on Königsberg, which, like the whole of Germany, rushed along the path of industrial development. The end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries can be considered the point of maximum prosperity of Königsberg. And here is a small digest of the most significant infrastructure achievements of that time in Königsberg:

• In 1874, the first city water supply network was put into operation.
• The stock exchange building was built in 1875
• In 1875, the Greening Union was created, through the efforts of which Königsberg was turned into a garden city with many well-groomed parks and shady streets in the next two decades.
• In 1880, work began on laying the city sewer
• The first tram line opened in 1895
• In 1896, the Königsberg Zoo was opened
• The Queen Louise Theater was built in 1912.

However, the appearance of a powerful circular defense system on the outskirts of the city, which included numerous forts, bastions, ramparts and walls, which turned Königsberg into an impregnable fortress, should be singled out as the most significant construction of the late 19th century. So the German Empire was preparing for new conquests.

Königsberg after World War I

The expansionist mood of the German Empire eventually provoked the outbreak of the First World War. However, Germany overestimated its capabilities, the war ended ingloriously for it: many territories were taken away from it, and its economy, exhausted by long years of war, was additionally burdened with gigantic indemnities. In addition, the revolution that broke out in November 1918 eliminated the monarchy, turning Germany into a republic. However, East Prussia found itself in the most difficult situation - as a result of the redistribution of German borders by the victorious powers, it was isolated from the rest of the German lands, the so-called "Polish corridor". In addition, East Prussia suffered more than other provinces from the First World War, since from the very beginning it was on the front flank of fierce battles. True, hostilities bypassed Koenigsberg. The formidable appearance of the year-fortress gave peace and tranquility to its inhabitants and complete preservation of the beauty of its streets and squares.

Nevertheless, the post-war years for Koenigsberg were the years of the most acute economic crisis. And to improve the financial well-being of the city, they tried to find any opportunities. So the name day with this period of time is associated with the emergence of the tourist brand "Königsberg - the city of Kant", which called on tourists from all over the world to come to East Prussia for a holiday. However, the most successful project for Königsberg was the Eastern Fair. For the first time, the Eastern Fair opened in 1920, and since 1922, Soviet Russia has become its permanent participant. The Eastern Fair turned out to be a goldmine for Koenigsberg, and the development of economic ties with Russia became its especially significant direction. The fair occupied an area of ​​60,000 square meters, the entrance to it was located in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe modern Victory Square. At the moment, several buildings related to the Eastern Fair have been preserved in Kaliningrad:

• The building of trade missions - now the mayor's office of Kaliningrad sits in it
• The building of the main restaurant of the Eastern Fair - now it houses the Dynamo gym
• Pavilion "House of Technology" - now it has been turned into a shopping center "Epicenter"

Accession of Königsberg to the USSR

The decline of the history of Königsberg began with the National Socialist Party coming to power in Germany in 1933. However, until the first aerial bombs began to explode in the middle of the ancient streets, crushing the architectural masterpieces of the old city to dust, Königsberg continued to live in happy ignorance of the impending disaster, sincerely adoring Hitler, resolutely ready to support his adventures. Of the characteristic signs of that time that influenced the appearance of Koenigsberg, one can cite as an example several burned synagogues and the formation of low-rise forms on the outskirts of workers' quarters with unsightly buildings. The most significant infrastructure project of the Third Reich in Königsberg was the Palmburg Bridge opened in 1935. In other matters, this bridge did not last long ... In January 1945, in order to restrain the advance of the Red Army, it was blown up by order of the commander of the Koenigsberg garrison, Otto Lyash. However, by that time, a wretched ghost, disfigured by landscapes of apocalyptic destruction, remained from the once flourishing garden city.

The greatest destruction to the city was brought by several massive air raids by the British Air Force, carried out in August 1944. Moreover, all the destructive power of the bombing of the British air aces fell not on the defensive fortifications, but on the historical center of the city. He completed the destruction of the capital of East Prussia by storming the city in April 1945 by the forces of the 3rd Belorussian Front under the command of Marshal Vasilevsky. The assault was preceded by a powerful artillery preparation, which lasted 4 days. On April 6, along the entire perimeter of the defensive structures, the Red Army went on the offensive. And already on April 9, 1945, at 21:30, Otto Lyash signed the act of surrender.

With the end of the war, Koenigsberg and the northern part of East Prussia were transferred to the Soviet Union during the division of Germany in accordance with the Potsdam agreements. And finally, the fact of the redistribution of the former Prussian possessions between Poland and the USSR was recorded by the Allied Control Council on February 25, 1947.

Kaliningrad - new life on the ruins of Koenigsberg

However, with the end of the war, the beginning of the time of creation did not come for Königsberg. Unlike thousands of Soviet cities, blessed with peaceful construction, they were in no hurry to restore it. For the Soviet leadership did not have the final certainty that Königsberg would forever be transferred to the USSR. Therefore, in the first post-war years, the attitude towards Königsberg was barbaric - it was used as a source of resources for the restoration of Leningrad and Riga. The entire coastal part of the city was systematically cleaned up: for the sake of building bricks, which were immediately loaded onto barges for transportation to the east, even relatively solid, miraculously surviving buildings were dismantled. In parallel with the cleansing of the city ruins, the process of Russification began - all streets and squares received Russian names, and on July 4, 1946, Koenigsberg itself was named Kaliningrad in honor of Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin, the first Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In order to develop new territories, since 1946, the Soviet government began a large-scale resettlement program. Moreover, the resettlement took place by no means by force and on very attractive terms. Therefore, there turned out to be much more people willing to move than planned, in connection with which they even began to select applicants for resettlement on a competitive basis. By the time the hostilities ended, about 20 thousand Germans remained in Königsberg, at first they were actively involved in cooperation, and they did not experience any oppression. However, in 1947, every one of them was deported to Germany.

The phase of active construction in Kaliningrad began in 1947. Moreover, the priority attention of the Soviet authorities was given to issues of economic development. And the main bet was made on the enterprises of the fishing, processing complex and shipbuilding. Also, some factories that existed during the German Empire were restored - for example: several pulp and paper mills and a car building plant. And of course, a special place in the economy of Kaliningrad was occupied by the Kaliningrad Amber Plant, established in 1948, which became the world's largest enterprise for the extraction and processing of amber. The Soviet government did not disregard the education system, in addition to schools and vocational schools, a powerful scientific base was created in the city for the development of higher education. In particular, in Kaliningrad were opened: Rybvtuz - Kaliningrad Technical Institute of the Fishing Industry and Economy, the Pedagogical Institute, the Higher Nautical School.

In architectural terms, all the lost historical buildings of the city center were eventually filled with typical houses of the Khrushchev and Brezhnev eras. Of course, the main historical loss of Kaliningrad is the Königsberg Castle, the remains of which were finally liquidated in 1967. Only a part of the foundation with cellars now remains on the site of the castle, but this entire territory is surrounded by a blank fence, above which the unfinished House of Soviets rises in a cubic shape. To the greatest extent, the historical buildings of Königsberg have been preserved on the outskirts. The areas that have preserved their historical appearance to the greatest extent include Amalienau, Ratshof, Maraunenhof. Speaking in modern terms, these are areas - in the vicinity of Prospekt Mira and in the northern part of the Upper Pond.

In terms of tourism, throughout the Soviet period, Kaliningrad remained a closed territory for visiting foreign tourists - which was due to the large number of military garrisons in its vicinity.

The latest history of Kaliningrad

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Kaliningrad region, like the whole country, found itself in an economic crisis, which primarily affected the industry, but trade and the service sector were among the favorites of the new economic model. A certain help for the region was the abolition of secrecy, which contributed to the development of tourism. To the delight of tourists, the taste for elegant architectural forms returned to Kaliningrad, a symbol of which was the restoration of the Cathedral on Kant Island. And from the new architectural acquisitions, one can single out Victory Square, on which only a monument to Lenin flaunted in Soviet times, and now a huge white-stone church with golden domes rises above it, and the square itself is decorated with illuminated fountains, a triumphal column, and, well, several shopping centers are also a composition do not spoil. In general, Kaliningrad, despite all the economic difficulties of the new period, continues to develop, becoming more attractive and hospitable from year to year.

A rare city in Russia can boast such a rich history as Koenigsberg-Kaliningrad. 759 years is a serious date. "Komsomolskaya Pravda" offers a light version of centuries-old history.

Prussians

A long time ago, Prussian tribes lived on the territory of today's Kaliningrad region. Historians are still arguing whether these Prussians were Slavs, or the ancestors of modern Lithuanians and Latvians, that is, the Balts. The latest version is the most preferred and officially recognized.

The Prussians fished, wandered through dense forests in search of game, cultivated fields, mined amber, which they then sold to merchants from the Roman Empire. The Romans paid for sun pebbles with sonorous silver, as evidenced by numerous finds of Roman denarii and sesterces in the Kaliningrad region. The Prussians worshiped their pagan gods - and the main god Perkunas - in the sacred grove of Romov, located somewhere in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bmodern Bagrationovsk.

The Prussians, in general, were real savages and, apart from their amazing gods, did not revere anything and no one saint. And so they easily crossed the border and invaded neighboring Poland. To rob. It is today that we go to the Poles for food, and they come to us for gasoline. That is, we carry out a kind of exchange. A thousand years ago, trade relations were not established, local border cooperation did not exist, but the devastating raids of Prussian leaders on Polish villages were an ordinary phenomenon. But the Prussians themselves sometimes had a hard time. From time to time Vikings landed on the Prussian coast - severe blondes in horned helmets. They ruthlessly plundered Prussian settlements, mocked Prussian women, and some of these blue-eyed people even founded their own settlement on our land. One of these villages was dug up by archaeologists in the current Zelenograd region. It is called Kaup. True, later the Prussians gathered their forces, attacked Kaup and razed it to the ground.

And knights

But back to Prussian-Polish relations. The Poles endured, endured the atrocities of the Prussians and at some point could not stand it. They wrote a letter to the Pope with a request to organize a crusade against the pagans. Dad liked the idea. By that time - and it was in the middle of the XIII century - the crusaders were well piled on the Holy Land, and the crusading movement was rapidly declining. And so the idea to conquer the Prussian savages was continued. Moreover, 300 years before that, the Prussians brutally dealt with the missionary Adalbert, who tried to convert them to the Christian faith with the world. Today, at the site of the alleged death of the saint, a wooden cross rises.

As a result, at the beginning of the 13th century, the knights of the Teutonic Order with black crosses on white cloaks appeared on the shores of the Baltic, who began to conquer Prussia with fire and sword. In 1239, the first castle was built on the territory of our region - Balga (its ruins on the shore of the bay can still be seen by an enchanted wanderer). And in 1255 Koenigsberg appeared. At that time, the Teutonic Knights offered to lead the campaign to the Bohemian king Ottokar II Přemysl. They say that it was in honor of the king that the city was named, or rather the castle, more precisely, the wooden fortress, which appeared on the high bank of the Pregel River, a stone's throw from the Prussian settlement of Twangste. It is generally accepted that Koenigsberg was founded in January 1255, at the end of the Ottokar campaign, although some historians doubt this: no construction could begin in January, when the Prussian hills and plains were buried in snow! Probably, it was like this: in the month of January, Ottokar, together with the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, Poppo von Ostern, went up the hill and said:

And stuck a sword in the ground. And the actual construction work began in the spring.

A few years later, near the wooden castle, which was soon rebuilt in stone, civilian settlements appeared - Altstadt, Lebenicht and Kneiphof.

How the master became a duke

At first, the Teutonic Order was friends with Poland, but then they quarreled. The Poles, like air, needed access to the sea, and all coastal lands, including the territory of the present Pomeranian Voivodeship, belonged to the knight brothers. The matter could not end in peace, so in 1410 the Great War began between the Order and Poland. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania also took the side of the latter, which had already greatly annoyed the crusaders. For example, in 1370, the troops of the two Lithuanian princes Keistut and Olgerd did not reach Koenigsberg for some miserable 30 kilometers - they were stopped by the knights in the battle of Rudau (the battlefield is located in the vicinity of the village of Murom). In general, the guys were formidable, these Lithuanians. Do not be surprised: now Lithuania is the size of a thimble, but then it was quite a powerful state. And even with imperial ambitions.

Immanuel Kant liked to walk around the historical center of Koenigsberg. It was from these walks that the Critique of Pure Reason was born. Yes, and everything else too.

But back to 1410. Then Poland and Lithuania teamed up and put the Teutonic Order on the shoulder blades in the epic battle of Grunwald. After this blow, where the good and best part of the crusading army, led by the Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen, perished, the Order did not recover. A few decades later, the Thirteen Years' War began, as a result of which the Teutonic Order lost most of its lands, including the capital, Marienburg Castle. And then the Grand Master moved to Koenigsberg, which accordingly became the capital. In addition, the Order fell into vassalage from Poland. In this position, the spiritual state existed for about 75 years, until the Grand Master Albrecht Hohenzollern, who had turned from a Catholic into a Protestant by that time, abolished the order and founded the Duchy of Prussia. At the same time, he himself became the first duke. However, this circumstance did not eliminate dependence on Poland. But I must say that Albrecht, if it was a burden, then only in matters of foreign policy. Therefore, Albrecht put a bold cross on foreign policy and came to grips with domestic politics. Under him, the Königsberg Albertina University was created, under him the growth of education, the development of art and all kinds of crafts was noted.

After Albrecht, JohnSigismund ruled. After John Sigismund, Friedrich Wilhelm became the duke. Under him, Koenigsberg, as well as the whole of Prussia, finally got rid of Polish dependence. Moreover, under this duke, Prussia united with the German state of Brandenburg, and Koenigsberg lost its capital status. Berlin, which was gaining momentum, became the capital of the newly formed state. And in 1701, already under the next Hohenzollern - Frederick I - the state was transformed into the kingdom of Prussia. Shortly before this, by the way, a very remarkable event took place. Koenigsberg was visited by the young Russian Tsar Peter as part of a diplomatic mission known as the Great Embassy. He settled in one of the private houses of Kneiphof and was mainly engaged in the inspection of fortifications. Looked, studied and left further - to Holland.

Kant, Napoleon and the first tram

In 1724, Altstadt, Lebenicht and Kneiphof merged into one city, and from that moment the history of the city of Koenigsberg begins in the full sense of the word (before that, only the castle was called Koenigsberg). This year has turned out to be rich in events. In 1724, the great philosopher Immanuel Kant was born - the most famous Koenigsberger in his entire centuries-old history. Kant taught at the local university, was indifferent to women (as they say) and liked to walk along the narrow streets of the central part of Koenigsberg, which, alas, do not exist today. And in 1764, the philosopher even became a subject of the Russian Empire. The thing is that during the Seven Years' War against the Prussian King Frederick the Great, a good half of Europe took up arms. Including Russia. Having defeated the Prussians in the battle of Gross-Egersdorf (in the current Chernyakhovsky region), Russian troops entered Koenigsberg a little later, in 1758. East Prussia passed to the Russian Empire and stayed under the shadow of the double-headed eagle until 1762, when the Russian Tsar Peter III made peace with Prussia and returned Koenigsberg to the Prussians.

At the beginning of the 19th century, Prussia and Koenigsberg fell on hard times. And all thanks to Bonaparte! The earth has become the scene of fierce battles. At the beginning of February 1807, near Preussisch-Eylau (today's Bagrationovsk), Napoleon's armies and Russian detachments under the command of Bennigsen, reinforced by a 10,000-strong Prussian corps, converged. The battle was extremely fierce and bloody, lasted for many hours and did not bring victory to either side. Six months later, Napoleon clashed with the Russian armies near Friedland (modern Pravdinsky), and this time the French won. After that, the Treaty of Tilsit, beneficial to Napoleon, was concluded.

However, there were positive developments in the century before last. For example, in 1807 the Prussian king abolished the personal dependence of the peasants on the landlords, as well as the privileges of the nobles to own land. From now on, all citizens received the right to sell and buy land. In 1808, a city reform was carried out - all the most important city affairs were transferred to the hands of elected bodies. The municipal services of the city were also strong, the infrastructure, as they say now, was developing. In 1830, the first water supply appeared in Koenigsberg, in 1881 the first horse-drawn line was opened, in 1865 the first train went along the Koenigsberg-Pillau line. In 1895 the first tram line was opened. In addition, by the end of the 19th century, a defensive ring of fortifications consisting of 12 forts was built around Konigsberg. This ring, by the way, has survived to this day in a more or less tolerable condition.

The history of the last century is well known. Koenigsberg survived two world wars, as a result of the second of them in 1946 it turned into Kaliningrad. And shortly before this happened, perhaps, the most tragic event in the history of the city - the English bombardment. In August 1944, the entire central part of the ancient city turned into dust and ashes.

The history of Kaliningrad (Königsberg) began with an ancient Prussian settlement, Fort Twangste. During the Northern Crusades in 1255, the Teutonic Knights founded the Königsberg fortress here.

König = "King", King's Hill Fortress is named after King Ottokar II of Bohemia. It was he who led two expeditions of crusades against the pagan ancient tribes of the Prussians, related peoples of the Latvians and Lithuanians, the peoples of the Lchtovsky root. The city became part of the monastic state of the Teutonic Order. For reference, the Teutonic Order was founded in 1190 by Pope Innocent III in Palestine, and has always been actively involved in the crusades and conquest of lands.

By the seventeenth century, the Prussian nation had disappeared, and the lands alternately became part of the Commonwealth, then part of Germany. 3 cities appeared around the fortress: later they entered the Hanseatic Trade Union - Altstadt, Kneiphof, Löbenicht. As a result of the unification of these cities in 1724, Koenigsberg appeared. The first "mayor" of the city is Doctor of Law Zacharias Hesse. Until 1724, the official name "Königsberg" belonged only to the Castle and the territories adjacent to the castle.

A new page in the history of Königsberg was the Northern War, the Brandenburg-Prussian state with King Frederick I and the capital Berlin. During the reign of Frederick I, Peter I visited Koenigsberg. He was presented with the famous Amber Room. The fate of the room is still unknown, since in 1942 it was taken away by the Nazis from Pushkin. At the end of the war, they could not find her. You can learn about the sights of Kaliningrad on the website RedHit.ru

Amber has been mined in the region for thousands of years. The only museum in Russia of Amber, this beautiful mineral, has samples with inclusions of ancient insects and plants. The museum displays a sun stone of various shades, shapes and sizes, with the largest exhibit weighing over 4 kg, as well as the world's largest amber mosaic - weighing over 70 kg, consisting of 3,000 elements.

The construction of the Amber Room in 1701 was designed by German Baroque sculptor Andreas Schlüter and Danish craftsman Gottfried Wolfram. From 1707, the work was continued by the amber masters Gottfried Thurau and Ernst Schacht from Danzig. The amber office remained in the Berlin city palace until 1716, when it was donated by the Prussian king to his then ally, Tsar Peter. In Russia, the room was expanded - it occupied more than 55 square meters and contained more than 6 tons of amber.

The city first became part of the Russian Empire in 1758, during the Seven Years' War. Vasily Ivanovich Suvorov (son of the Russian commander) then became the governor of the city. However, in 1762 the land returned to the Kingdom of Prussia. After the First World War, it was the territory of the German province of "East Prussia", but it was separated from the rest of Germany by the Polish corridor.

During World War II, Königsberg was badly damaged by British bombardment and massive shelling by the Red Army. Most of the unique buildings have been lost forever, but nevertheless, in modern Kaliningrad, a piece of Königsberg has been preserved - typically German quarters with traditional houses that are decorated with bright roofs, and small courtyards with perfectly even lawns. The ruined Konegsberg was rebuilt in the style of a typical Soviet city. Little German architecture remains, the most notable being the Königsberg Cathedral, next to which is the tomb of the philosopher Immanuel Kant.

There are many German tourists on the streets who are not indifferent to the history of the city - a special center has been created in Dreisburg, which studies the history of Kaliningrad (Königsberg).

Sights of cities on the site http://redhit.ru

In 1946 Koenigsberg became Russian. At the Potsdam Conference, a decision was made to give the northern third of East Prussia to the Soviet Union, which needed an ice-free port on the sea, so that through the annexation the Germans would pay compensation to the Soviet people. Poland was awarded the southern two-thirds of the old East Prussia. At the same time, most of the indigenous people were forced to leave the area, and migrants occupied their farms and cities.

Kaliningrad does not have direct access to the sea - it is located near the place where the Pregolya flows into the Kaliningrad Bay. Kaliningrad is the headquarters of the Russian Baltic Fleet and was previously a closed Soviet military zone. The mouth of the navigable Pregolya river flows into the Vistula lagoon - this is the entrance to the Baltic Sea, from here ships can enter the Gulf of Gdansk. This is the westernmost Russian region: sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland, it has no common borders with other Russian regions - this is its uniqueness.

Kaliningrad is engulfed in acute economic, political, social problems - described by Western observers as a "black hole" in the center of Europe. Today, the region no longer receives subsidies. Residents in the region complain that the authorities in Moscow are ignoring their deepening problems.

From the history of Kaliningrad-Königsberg

• Kaliningrad Zoo, a member of the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums, is one of the largest and oldest. The zoo was founded by businessman Hermann Klaas in 1896.
• Museum of the World Ocean, a unique exhibition center, some of the expositions of which are moored along the Historical Fleet Embankment, with exhibition halls inside them. The second part of the museum is located on land: aquariums with exotic fish, collections of shells and corals, and the skeleton of a huge sperm whale.
• The King's Gate is the mascot of the city during the celebration of the 750th anniversary of Königsberg. Visitors to the King's Gate were greeted by the keeper of the keys to the city: a Prussian cat.
• Blood Justice (ger. Blutgericht) was the name of the most popular restaurant in Königsberg - it was located in the cellars of the Royal Castle. Hitler adored the wine called "Blutgericht # 7": it was regularly delivered for him from the cellars of the Royal Castle to Berlin.
• The brightest and favorite holiday of the inhabitants of medieval Königsberg was the holiday of long sausages. The longest sausage (over 400 m) was produced in 1601.
• A typical medieval city of Königsberg with stone pavements, massive buildings, in 1928 decided to plant greenery - parks were created, many trees were planted in the city center.