City gates of Koenigsberg (Kaliningrad). Gate of Königsberg. Ausfal and Railway Gates Entry into the Königsberg Gate was only permitted
Last Sunday in Kaliningrad turned out to be warm and sunny. On this occasion, for the first time this year, I released my bicycle from its basement confinement and went on a bike tour of the 8 city gates of Königsberg-Kaliningrad, which have been preserved to this day.
The first defensive circuit of Königsberg was built back in the 17th century. Then ramparts were poured, gates and other fortifications were erected. IN late XIX century, a second defensive contour was created, partially repeating the first. Well, in the 20th century, all defensive and fortification buildings were sold to the city, having lost their military significance.
I started my journey on Lake Superior(Oberteich pond) is one of the few places in Kaliningrad where there are bicycle paths. Having circled the lake clockwise and passing through a small door, I found myself in front of the Amber Museum, located in the former defensive tower"Dona". By the way, on the other side of the pond there is the Dona twin tower, which is called “Wrangel”.
Plump Dona
Next to the museum is my first destination: Rossgarten Gate (the intersection of Chernyakhovsky and Alexander Nevsky streets). They no longer fulfill their function; you cannot drive through them. But it’s quite possible to imagine them in action. Nowadays the fish restaurant “Solnechny Kamen” is located at the gate. It used to be very tasty, but now I don’t know – I’ll check it when the opportunity arises.
Rossgarten Gate
It's time to move on. My path lies along Litovsky Val Street. And here there really is a shaft built centuries ago - it’s scary to imagine! Along the way I come across many old fortifications, which are now used for a variety of purposes. 
Book a hotel in Kaliningrad: http://1kaliningrad.ru/
And here is the second gate - Royal (the intersection of Litovsky Val and Gagarin Street). They received their name in 1811, and before that they were called Gumbinnensky, since the road to Gumbinnen (now Gusev) led through them. For a long time, the Royal Gate was abandoned and slowly collapsed. But for the 750th anniversary of Königsberg-Kaliningrad in 2005, they were finally restored. Now the gate houses a branch of the Museum of the World Ocean - the “Great Embassy”, which tells about the history and development of the city.
The three figures at the top are Ottokar II (Czech King and founder of Königsberg), Frederick I (King of Prussia) and Duke Albrecht (last Grand Master Teutonic Order and first Duke of Prussia). Their heads were knocked off, and restoration became a whole problem due to the lack of necessary photographs. But everything went smoothly and the three kings again look at their city.
Meanwhile, I drive further along Litovsky Val, reach Moskovsky Prospekt and see the Sackheim Gate. For the last few years, they have housed the art space “The Gate,” which I love dearly, so I stop there for a cup of coffee. Since I didn't bring a bike lock, they kindly let me put it inside. “Vorota” hosts the “Bread and Turka” café, regularly hosts exhibitions of Kaliningrad and other artists, photographers and other creative personalities, and also operates the “Table and Chair” co-working space. I highly recommend checking it out!
The coffee is drunk, the cake is eaten, the rest time is over, and I continue on my way - again along Litovsky Val, which after Moskovsky Prospekt becomes narrow and calm. I move towards the recently restored Tributsa embankment in order to get to the bridge and cross to the other side of the Pregolya River, where the next three gates are located.
Previously, this bank of Pregolya was unkempt, overgrown with willows and covered with garbage, but now it’s nice to take a walk here.
Tributsa embankment
In front of me is the second Kaliningrad overpass, which would lead me straight to the Friedland Gate, but it seems to me that riding a bicycle along it in windy weather is not very good good idea, so I make a detour through Oktyabrsky Island.
On the way I see Cathedral- one of the main symbols of the city, and I pass the Fishing Village - it was built in 2005, also for the 750th anniversary of the city. Some people say that this is a terrible remake, but I am very glad that the embankments are taking on a new life.
Friedland Gate is located at the intersection of Kalinin Avenue and Dzerzhinsky Street. The museum of the same name is located here, the exhibition of which is dedicated to the history of pre-war Königsberg. The gate is named after the city of Friedland (now Pravdinsk), and the figure on the facade is Siegfried von Feuchtwangen, the founder of Marienburg Castle (now Malbork, Poland). 
Friedland Gate
Then I drive towards the only gate that still performs its gate function. This is the Brandenburg Gate, it is located at the opposite end of Kalinin Avenue at the place where Bagration Street turns into Suvorov Street. By the way, did you know that the father of commander Alexander Suvorov, Vasily Suvorov, was the Governor-General of East Prussia for 2 years? And here!
The Brandenburg Gate was named not in honor of Brandenburg, which is a land in Germany, but in honor of Brandenburg Castle (now the village of Ushakovo). I really like the way this gate looks - almost like a gingerbread house :)
Next on my list is the Friedrichsburg Gate (Portovaya Street). Once upon a time it was an entire fortress, which Peter I, who arrived in Königsberg with the Grand Embassy, was very inspired by. Following the example of Friedrichsburg, which guarded the river entrance to the city, Kronstadt was built.
Friedrichsburg Gate
The fortress was demolished back in 1910 because it had lost its significance. But the gates survived; they were damaged during the Second World War and, like the Royal Gates, were not needed by anyone for a long time. But in the early 2000s, the authorities began their restoration and in 2010 (if I’m not mistaken) another branch of the Museum of the World Ocean was opened here. The museum itself, by the way, is located right across the river. I haven't been here since it opened and was pleasantly surprised to see how the area has changed.
This museum is reputably called the Historical and Cultural Center “Ship Resurrection” and is dedicated to the history of shipbuilding. And the Koenigsberg cat also lives here - in my opinion, this is a very important fact!
Meanwhile, there are only 2 points left in my program. To check the boxes next to them, you need to cross the Pregolya again. This time I got the most interesting bridge in Kaliningrad - a two-tiered one. Trains pass along the upper tier, and cars and pedestrians move along the lower tier. This drawbridge: its middle span rises. I only got to see this bridge draw once in my life. Maybe you'll have better luck?
The last gates of the eight that have been preserved in Kaliningrad, Ausfalsky and Zheleznodorozhny, are located not far from each other on the territory of Victory Park, next to the monument to 1200 guardsmen - a memorial and mass grave of soldiers who died during the storming of Koenigsberg.
Railway gate located under Gvardeisky Prospekt. First I drove straight along them, and then went down the stairs. These gates have retained their functions to some extent: a pedestrian path leads through them. Previously, the railway track to Pillau (now Baltiysk) ran through them, hence the name. Now the Railway Gate is being restored, they say it will house a museum exhibition.
The Ausfal Gate is located at the intersection of Gvardeisky Prospekt and Gornaya Street. It is very difficult to recognize them as gates. From the very beginning, they were embedded in the shaft, were below ground level and only allowed pedestrians through. And in the 20th century, the passage through them was closed and a command post for military units was located at the gate. Now an Orthodox chapel has been built on the Ausfal Gate. 
My little excursion is over - it turned out to be 16 kilometers. I’m going home, and you can cross Gornaya Street, sit on a bench near the Astronomical Bastion, look at the monument to the heroes of the First World War and walk along Gvardeysky Prospekt to Victory Square, where you definitely won’t get lost.
20 articles about Kaliningrad:
1.
2. We continue our walks around Kaliningrad: the eight gates of Königsberg
"My unforgettable father's city,
formed in history for centuries,
I miss you day and night
and I know by heart every stone..."
(Horst Glas "Königsberg")
The ancient gates of Königsberg... Like doors to the past, they invite us to travel back several centuries to good old Königsberg - the capital of East Prussia.
Alas, not every modern Kaliningrader will find something interesting and exciting today in the silent fragments of the once majestic city. People immersed in the bustle of their thoughts and rhythm modern city, habitually hurry past the ancient gates, not paying any attention to them. And only nostalgic groups of German tourists tirelessly click their camera shutters to capture in photographs the history of Königsberg, which continues to this day...
Back in 2011, I planned to release a series of posts on all the surviving gates of our city, but I never realized this idea. Well, maybe the time has come now? The gates of Königsberg have always been something special for me. As part of my work, I often visit the area of the Royal and Rossgarten Gates. And every time they catch my eye again and again, and my imagination paints a picture of past centuries...
Here is a mustachioed guard, hiding from the hot July sun in the shadow of the gate, checking the documents of a merchant hurrying to the city. Nimble boys run through the gate like lightning, rushing to plunge into the cool waters of a nearby pond, and an elegant lady under a snow-white umbrella is animatedly talking about something with a cheerful soldier... Peace and tranquility reigns everywhere, the warm sun is shining, birds are singing in the green trees, and the air is filled aroma from a nearby bakery...
I want to start my story about the gates of Königsberg with a general narrative about when and why the city gates began to be built, and then I will introduce you to the first gates on our route - the Ausfal and Railway gates.
It is logical that any gate should lead somewhere. For example, the very first gates of Königsberg were erected in the 13th century at the same time as the Royal Castle and led to its courtyard. A century later, when the city grew and was surrounded by a wall, the gates became an integral part of the fortress.
A more serious rampart fortification was erected in 1626 - 1634 and surrounded Königsberg on all sides. The fortification consisted of several bastions and half-bastions, as well as 9 gates. In addition, on the sea side, the powerful fort of Friedrichsburg was founded in 1657.
And already two centuries later, King Frederick William IV issues a decree on the beginning of the construction of the Second Rampart fortification, which generally follows the contours of the previous one. The powerful Don and Wrangel towers, the defensive barracks Kronprinz and the Astronomical Bastion are being built, and new fortified gates are being erected on the site of the previous ones. The construction of the Royal Gate was the first to begin in 1843, and construction was completed with the construction of the Friedland Gate in 1862.
However, already at the beginning of the 20th century, the Second Rampart fortification lost its military significance and was partially demolished, freeing up new areas for urban construction in the rapidly developing Königsberg. So the beautiful Steindamm and Tragheim gates disappeared from the face of the earth, and in their place the Hansa Platz square, now known as Victory Square, was built. Time has not been kind to the Hollanderbaum Gate...
02. The unpreserved Steindamm Gate of Königsberg.
But the remaining seven gates of the Second Rampart have survived to this day, and it is about them that my story will be written.
Our route begins from Victory Square - the heart of modern Kaliningrad, where perhaps the most beautiful gates of the city were once located - Steindamm. We will return to these gates, but for now we will head along Gvardeysky Avenue, starting from Victory Square, to Victory Park and memorial complex"1200 guardsmen."
It is here, across the road from the Astronomical Bastion and a hundred meters from the obelisk, that the most inconspicuous city gates are located - Ausfalskie. Now on their roof there is a small Orthodox chapel of St. St. George the Victorious, built in 1995, but the gate itself can be seen by going down to the small lake in the park, formed from a former moat.
03. Chapel of St. St. George the Victorious on... the roof of the gate.
Why are the gates below ground level and where do they lead? To do this, let’s get acquainted with the history of the construction of these gates.
Ausfal Gate(German) Ausfalltor), translated as “Exit Gate,” were designed back in the 17th century and were part of the First Rampart fortification of Königsberg. The author of the project is an unknown military engineer.
These gates were exclusively pedestrian and served as a passage through the earthen rampart. On the field side of the gate there was a small bridge across the fortress moat. The bridge itself is long gone... only the preserved shore supports made of brick and granite still remind us of the past. And if you look closely at the tree-covered slope, you can still see (especially in winter), a road that has not yet been destroyed by time, leading to the bridge over the moat.
The Ausfal Gate is not distinguished by its bright, pompous architecture and is more reminiscent of a powerful firing point, the casemates of which bristled with numerous embrasures for direct and side fire at the enemy. The high walls of the casemates are half lined with granite slabs, protecting the brickwork from water and snow. And the only decoration of the gate was five brick battlements above the arched passage.
At the beginning of the 20th century, during the modernization of the rampart fortification, the Ausfal Gate was below ground level and was turned into a pedestrian tunnel, and a little later the city part of the gate was completely covered with earth.
During the Great Patriotic War, the gate was converted into a command post-dugout with hermetically sealed concrete premises. During the hostilities, the Ausfal Gate was practically not damaged, and already in the post-war period a warehouse and bomb shelter for the Kaliningrad Police School (modern Kaliningrad Police School) were built in it. Law Institute Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation), located next door.
At the moment, it is not possible to get inside the gate, but in 2007 the Ausfal Gate was transferred to the Kaliningrad Historical and Art Museum, which inspires some hope that this gate will someday be restored and become available for careful inspection by tourists. Although, 10 years have already passed, and things are still there...
11. Once upon a time there was a bridge leading to the gate.
The second gate that we will meet is located next to the Ausfalskie. They are called - Railway(German) Eisenbahnhof Tor). The old railway to Pillau (Baltiysk) passed through this gate, also designed in the second half of the 19th century by Ludwig von Aster.
Architecturally, the gate has two separate arched bays with barrel vaults. And if from the outside everything was quite modest, then from the city side the arches were made in the form of beautiful pointed portals.
On the sides of the gate there are classic casemates, and on the field side the gate is equipped with a guard room - a guardhouse and two gates, similar to the claws of a giant crab.
Once upon a time, gate leaves were installed on them, by closing them it was possible to turn this section of the gate into a small courtyard. It is worth noting that this is the only gate with such an architectural solution.
Besides this there was another one at the gate interesting feature... Rectangular recesses were made in the walls of the arches (from floor to ceiling) - fines. In them, like “blinds,” rectangular beams or sleepers were laid horizontally, making it possible to completely close the passage through the gate.
15. Recesses are visible - fines. Archival photo of the author, 2011.
Moreover, it was impossible for the enemy to dismantle such a barrier, unless, of course, they fired at him from a cannon at direct fire. Therefore, the effectiveness of this fortification barrier in the 19th century was very doubtful...
When the gate lost its defensive purpose, a highway, which turned the gate into a real bridge across the railway tracks, which were dismantled only in the early 90s of the 20th century.
Currently, the gate partially fulfills its function. Cars sometimes pass through them, but mostly the gates are used by residents of nearby houses, since a pedestrian path to Victory Park passes through them - perfect place For cultural recreation. Like the Ausfal Gate, in 2007 the Railway Gate was transferred to the Kaliningrad Historical and Art Museum.
And recently, a digital Planetarium of the Center for the Popularization of Sciences named after F.V. was opened in the Railway Gate. Bessel. In the future, in one of the arches of the monument building, the tenants intend to open a gallery in which works by astrophotographers, photographers, as well as children's creative works will be exhibited. And on December 14, 15, 21 and 22, the Scientific Film Festival will be held at the gates, within the framework of which full-length films will be shown to the audience documentaries about science from around the world, created over the past five years.
Among the funny oddities associated with this gate, I would like to note a sign from the “don’t believe your eyes” series, explaining to us that this is not a gate at all, but a church of the 19th century... The sign hung on the wall of the gate for a long time and only after a recent restoration it was removed and replaced to the modern correct one.
This concludes the first part of my story about the Königsberg Gate, and in the second part we will get acquainted with the Friedrichsburg and Brandenburg Gates.
To be continued...
-----------------
Did you like my blog? Subscribe!
All the latest news and publications can also be found on my pages in
In Soviet chronicles, Königsberg is called nothing less than a “fortress city” - and for good reason. Founded as the metropolis of a foreign and hostile land, at the gates of the restless east, growing for centuries around the castle, Königsberg could not help but be a fortress. The oldest walls of the 14th century, a kind of “zero belt”, covered, and from them two towers survived the war. The first belt was built in 1626-34 and already covered Forstadt, and the Second belt grew in 1843-62, and partially coincided with the first - collectively, what remained of them is known as the Inner Ring. Finally, the third belt (Outer Ring) was built in the 1870s-90s, runs approximately along the current bypass, and has been used for its intended purpose until the present day. The inner ring, which lost its defensive significance by the beginning of the twentieth century, is in fact the center of Königsberg, the edge of the “donut hole”, into which two train stations are woven. It is also impressive that British aviation, having burned the city center to the ground, spared transport hubs and fortifications - the Inner Ring has been preserved almost entirely from the pre-war period, its main losses are associated with the development of Koenigsberg at the beginning of the twentieth century.
I will divide the hike along the ring (which in practice was not continuous) into three parts, and in the first we will examine the South Station, the adjacent old district of Haberberg and the part of the fortifications that covered it. I’ll also make a reservation in advance that I’m a layman on the topic of fortification, I’m even confused in the terminology, so I’m counting on corrections and comments.
In the introductory frame - Friedland Gate, extreme point route. To the right is the island of Lomze, the bridge to which is a little further, and I didn’t go there anymore, so let’s go counterclockwise. Most of the objects marked on the diagram have survived, except for the Hollenderbaum Gate, the section from the Krausek Bastion to the Tragheim Gate inclusive, and individual bastions along the entire length of the ring. The southern station is located approximately on the site of the Brandenburg Bastion. I applied the green stripes to the diagram (photographed at the Friedland Gate) myself, and they indicate the “boundaries” of my posts:
2.
We will start our hike not from the Friedland Gate, but from the South Station, which has been the main one in Königsberg and Kaliningrad since its founding. As already mentioned in the post, the railway came to Königsberg in 1857, and in 1862 it merged with the railways of Russia. Königsberg was an important transport node, but at the same time did not have a clearly defined Main Station - only a few small stations, some of which, existing and disappeared, we will meet again. Conventionally, the main one could be considered the complex of the Eastern and Southern stations - the oldest in the city, they were located quite far from the current Southern one.
3.
In general, it was no longer an ordnung, but some kind of mess, so in the 1920s the Königsberg transport hub underwent a comprehensive reconstruction. The South Station in its current form opened in 1929, and its structure is clearly visible on Google Maps:
4.
In front of the station there is a huge (420x160m) and empty Kalinin Square, and a simple but stylish station building in the style of “new materiality” is the most impressive object on it:
5.
On the façade there is a coat of arms Soviet Union, but the RSFSR separately. I think it's quite a rare case?
5a. 
Inside, it seemed to me that the station is a bit cramped, but very civilized:
6.
Its main attraction is a huge (180 by 120 meters) three-span landing stage with the inscriptions “Welcome Kaliningrad” on the ends. Similar landing stages were preserved in the former USSR in Moscow (Kyiv and Kazansky railway stations), St. Petersburg (Vitebsky railway station), and in our time, a landing stage has also been acquired. In Germany this was commonplace. And as you can see, such a relatively fragile contraption survived both August 1944 and April 1945:
7.
The station is located not at the middle, but at the northern end of the landing stage. The second entrance is through the tunnel from the other end:
8.
The landing stage is not very high (in Lviv it is noticeably higher, not to mention Moscow-Kievskaya), but it seems immensely wide. Long distance trains Now there are about three pairs going from here (to Moscow every day, to St. Petersburg every other day and to Adler sometimes), and about a dozen suburban ones. And here, perhaps, there is the greatest variety of tracks: not only are there both diesel and electrified ones (to Zelenogradsk and Svetlogorsk), but there is also a Stephenson gauge track (the Kaliningrad-Gdansk-Berlin train used to run).
9.
The station here is purely passenger, freight tracks do not enter it (the huge Kaliningrad-Sortirovochny station is visible on the satellite image):
10.
The northern exit is marked by a very stylish control center:
11.
Yuzhny is a small railway museum that hangs exactly over the platforms of the bus station. The bus station here is typical, small but busy. At all, bus service the region is organized very competently.
12.
The ensemble is completed by a German viaduct, the “tunnel” under which is painted with surprisingly high-quality graffiti:
13.
The plots are very different. Take a closer look - the gray creature is pulling a train from its belly:
14.
Overall, one of the most impressive train stations I've ever seen... as well as the Northern one. But Königsberg’s transport mosaic is not limited to these two stations...
And from the overpass we will first go clockwise - to the Friedland Gate. The railway goes south, and our path is along Kalinin Avenue, along the ramparts, on which and under which, at the end of the 19th century, South Park was laid out, I apologize for the name:
15.
In which there are two ravelins. Closer to the station - Haberberg:
16.
17.
18.
Between them is an obelisk. Under the Nazis, the park was named after Horst Wessel, a young activist, author of the NSDAP anthem, who was killed by the Communists back in 1930. Under the Soviets, the park was renamed 40th Anniversary of the Komsomol, and in the place where the monument to Wessel stood, a stele to Komsomol members was erected.
19.
20.
And finally - Friedland Gate, the youngest on the Inner Ring (1857-62). There were gates with a similar name on the first ring, but they were located somewhat closer to the center, and the name in both cases came from the town of Friedland (now Pravdinsk), which was located on that side. At the old Friedland Gate, the Germans held back Napoleon's army for several days, giving the Russians time to retreat beyond the Neman.
21.
You can climb up the gate, but you can’t approach it from the outside yet:
22.
The two sides of the gate are decorated with sculptures of the Teutonic commander Friedrich von Zollern (1412-16) and Grand Master Siegfried von Feuchtwangen (who moved the capital of the Order to Marienburg), recreated in 2005.
23.
The fact is that since the 1990s, the gate has been occupied by a museum founded by enthusiast Alexander Novik, and only in 2002 received official status. For Kaliningrad this was a breakthrough - if the Museum of the World Ocean showed itself to be an effective organization, then this museum is an example to follow. It was the first museum specializing in pre-war Königsberg. In 2007, at the all-Russian competition "Changing Museum in a Changing World" it took second place after the Tretyakov Gallery.
24.
Munchausen on the wall:
24a. 
However, I was unlucky - a large (and most interesting) part of the museum is currently under reconstruction, so I was somewhat disappointed. But it’s clear that the museum is done with taste:
25.
Between the railway and Bagration Street, the former district of Haberberg (“Oat Mountain”) stretches along the rampart. It is believed that there was either a pasture here, or planting oats for the Teutonic cavalry, and the suburb of Haberberg took shape at the same time as Rossgarten and Tragheim - in the 17th century: in 1613 a community was formed, which by 1652 had grown to a full-fledged suburb, which in 1724 , like others, became part of the united city. As far as I understand, the 17th century Haberberg shaft did not span, which was corrected when the second shaft was built.
26.
In Haberberg, cemeteries were “evicted” from the overpopulated center, so a small area on the outskirts had as many as three churches. The Trinity Haberberg Church has been known since 1652, Kant was baptized there... and when the church burned down and was rebuilt in 1748-52, according to legend, it was Kant who proposed equipping it with a lightning rod. It stood not far from the current Kalinin Square:
27.
Luther Church with a 67-meter tower was built in 1907-10, and was located near the barracks shown above. The church had a reinforced concrete dome, an organ and steel bells with a very unusual “heavy” ringing. This is the last church in Königsberg, purposefully demolished under the Soviets in 1976. Perhaps, in general, the last temple destroyed by Soviet power...
28.
Finally, the Catholic Church of the Holy Family (1904-07) is located on the same line with the already mentioned obelisk of the Komsomol. Since 1980, it has housed the Philharmonic and Organ Hall.
29.
Architecturally, this is perhaps the best stylization of “Hansean Gothic” among the surviving Kaliningrad churches:
30.
I walked in this area in the evening of the first day - the train arrived at the South Station at about half past five, and I had an hour and a half. The following shots are no longer Haberberg, but Forstadt, partially shown in. Forshtadt stands out among other areas with its gloomy architecture, shabbyness and constant red color.
31.
31a. 
32.
33.
34.
Especially good is this house in Maly Lane - a former telegraph office:
35.
Or rather, its gate in the style of “new materiality” is one of my favorite works of Old Königsberg:
36.
And a whole block of the Kaliningrad Marine Fishery College:
37.
There are some visual aids in the yard:
38.
And the horned main building is the former St. George's Hospital (1894-97), founded in 1329 as a leper colony, and in subsequent centuries it was destroyed and reborn many times:
39.
I forgot to photograph one iconic building on Leninsky Prospekt (which connects Yuzhny and Northern stations) - The Directorate of Railways in Königsberg, which since 1895 occupied an apartment building, built, by the way, on the site of the school where Kant studied in the 1730s. Photo from Wikipedia, 2002:
40.
And this is Haberberg again, the end of Lenin Avenue:
41.
We return to the station. Adjacent to it is an extremely (like the entire complex) stylish railway post office (pay attention to the portal):
42.
View through the same gate. The shot was taken in full view of the employees - no one said a word. They probably decided that the German...
43.
The station buildings stretch for another couple of hundred meters:
44.
Opposite is the brick fence of the Altstadt and Kneiphof cemeteries, as already mentioned, those “evicted” here in the 18th century:
45.
There was nothing left of them except the wall:
45a. 
Nearby is the Brandenburg Gate (just like in Berlin!) above Bagration Street. Brandenburg (now Ushakovo) is a castle by the bay, on the road to Balga... and then just to that Barndenburg, where Potsdam and Berlin are. This gate is the only one in the Inner Ring that is passable, even with tram tracks.
46.
However, we do not go under the gate, but parallel to it - the road rises to an overpass, parallel to which a railway bridge runs. Below are the tracks of the freight station, somewhere on the right side of it stood the Eastern Station:
47.
Some of the warehouses here are still German, and the high-rise buildings are already beyond Pregolya:
48.
Next is a noisy road and a dull industrial zone. The railway embankment, so similar to a rampart, has another stunningly stylish tower, marked on Wikimapia as the “mechanical centralization point of the South Station”.
49.
And behind it you can see the railway bridge (1915-27)... about which in the next part.
FAR WEST-2013
The center of Kaliningrad is surrounded by eight gates, of which there were even ten previously. Each gate has its own history, its own character and its own secrets. You definitely need to see them with your own eyes!
Ausfal Gate
Ausfal Gate (from the German Ausfalstor - gate for sorties) one of the simplest and most rebuilt gates in Konigsberg. The first gate was erected in the 17th century, in the 19th century it was used exclusively for pedestrians, and now the gate is completely blocked.
Location: southwestern corner of the intersection of Gvardeyskogo Avenue and st. Mountain.
What's interesting: an Orthodox chapel was built on top of the Ausfal Gate covering.
Brandenburg Gate
Brandenburg Gate This is the only city gate still in use. They were built in 1657, and in 1843 they were almost completely rebuilt in the same place. Their style differs from all other gates of the city due to their outstanding triangular gables. The gate has two passages along a road covered with paving stones and tram tracks.
Location: at the end of the street. Bagration at the crossing to the street. Suvorova (Berlinskaya).
What's interesting: the side parts of the gate were occupied on foot, but are now walled up.
Railway gate
Railway gate – a rather laconic brick gate through which there is a pedestrian passage. In the old days, a railway route ran along them to modern Baltiysk. There are still rails, but there are no trains.
Location: under the roadway of Gvardeysky Avenue.
What's interesting: on the building you can find a construction date of 1866-1869.
Sackheim Gate
Sackheim Gate Impressive with powerful towers that are hollow from the inside. The gate dates back to the 17th century, but the current structure was erected in the mid-19th century. In the 20th century, the casemates were partially demolished to make way for the addition of residential buildings.
Location: at the intersection of Ave. Moscow and Lithuanian shaft.
What’s interesting: the Brandenburg Gate is now used for cultural events based on the “Gate” art platform.
Royal Gate
Royal Gate - This is a very massive, complete structure not burdened with secondary buildings. Initially it was the Kalthof Gate, then the Gumbinnen Gate, and in 1811 it was renamed the Royal Gate. Like all gates of Königsberg, the structure has undergone many reconstructions.
Location: at the intersection of st. Frunze and Litovsky Val.
What's interesting: such a mighty gate managed to be a warehouse, a store and a cafe, but now there is a museum of the World Ocean with samples of amber from all over the world.
Rossgarten Gate
Rossgarten Gate have a main opening and six casemates - three on each side of the opening. The casemates are an embrasure for firing on the outside, and windows on the inside. It is noteworthy that the outer side of the gate does not have any decoration.
Location: at the intersection of st. Chernyakhovsky and A. Nevsky.
What’s interesting: now there is a cafe at the gate, and the casemates serve as a wardrobe, utility room and kitchen.
Friedland Gate
Friedland Gate take their name from the city of Friedland (now Pravdinsk). The two main passages are blocked; there is no wall or middle part on the city side. It is known that the first Friedland Gate of the 17th century was located in a slightly different place. The gate was erected at its current location around 1857-1862.
Location: intersection of Kalinin Avenue and st. Dzerzhinsky.
What's interesting: in the 80s, antique objects were found in the gate, which can now be viewed in the operating museum.
Friedrichsburg Gate
Friedrichsburg Gate - This is the remnant of a bastion fortress called Friedrichsburg. The gate still looks like a medieval building - four o round towers, Gothic false windows and crenellated parapets.
The former fortress was erected in 1657 by order of the great Elector Friedrich Wilhelm. The gate itself was built already in 1852 according to the drawings of F.A. Stuler.
Location: st. Portovaya, 39.
What is interesting: in 1697, Peter I honored the fortress with a visit to study bombardment.
By visiting the 8 amazing gates of Königsberg, you will discover that you can eat, have a cultural time and even pray at the gates.
Find out more about the excursion and leave a request:
How do we save up to 25% on hotels?
Everything is very simple - we use a special search engine RoomGuru for 70 hotel and apartment booking services with the best price.Bonus for renting apartments 2100 rubles
Instead of hotels, you can book an apartment (on average 1.5-2 times cheaper) on AirBnB.com, a very convenient worldwide and well-known apartment rental service with a bonus of 2100 rubles upon registration Leaving the Railway Gate behind, I went out onto the street. General Butkov (formerly Ausfalltor Straße), and then to Gvardeysky Prospekt (formerly Deutschordenring). My further path lay in the direction of the automobile and railway bridge across the Pregolya River.A couple of hundred meters later, a huge bulk of a two-tier bridge appeared in front of me, and a building was visible a little to the right former station Holländerbaum, which has survived to this day. Now the Kaliningrad regional customs office is located in this building.
But before stepping on the bridge, I decided to go to the edge of the embankment to admire the view of the Pregolya River, still frozen in ice and dusted with snow shining in the sun.
The weather was fairly clear and the opposite shore was clearly visible. There, proudly rising above the low warehouse buildings, could be seen the powerful towers of the Friedrichsburg Gate. It is these gates that are the next stopping point on our journey.
After taking a few shots of the gate visible on the opposite bank, I headed towards the thundering double-decker bridge (formerly Reichsbahnbrucke). The original bridge was blown up by the retreating Germans in 1945, but already in 1959-60. the bridge was completely restored and rebuilt. The unique mechanism, which unfolds a 1000-ton colossus in just 2.5 minutes, was irretrievably destroyed, so the modern bridge acquired a new, vertical, adjustable mechanism that still works properly to this day.
It is worth noting that here, not far from the bridge, at the intersection of the street. General Butkov (formerly Ausfalltor Straße) and Marshal Bagramyan embankment (formerly Holländerbaum Straße), there was previously another gate - the Hollenderbaum Gate, which was demolished at the beginning of the 20th century.
After crossing the bridge, turn left onto the street. Portovaya (formerly Friedrichsburger Straße), where, among numerous warehouses and auto centers, we are located, Friedrichsburg Gate(German) Friedrichsburg Tor). Looking ahead, I will say that these gates are not related to the city gates of Koenigsberg, since they did not lead to the city, but to a small fort, but, nevertheless, they are beautiful and interesting in their own way.
A long time ago, in 1657, on the left bank of the Pregel, to protect Königsberg from the sea, as well as control the waterway to the Pillau fortress, by order of the Elector of Brandenburg Friedrich Wilhelm, the Friedrichsburg fortress was founded, and the gate of the same name, built a little later, served passage function through the protective rampart of the fortress.
The fortress project was developed by the Prussian engineer and mathematician Christian Otter (1598-1660). He invented the Dutch system of building fortresses, which he successfully applied in the construction of the Friedrichsburg fortress, surrounding it with a wide moat filled with water. The construction of the fortress was led by Georg Neumann. The first commandant of the Friedrichsburg fortress was the Dutch engineer-Colonel Gerhard von Belgulm.
The shape of the small fortress resembled a regular square, protected on four sides by earthen bastions. Inside the fortress there were barracks, a prison, food and weapons warehouses, a customs service and a small church. In 1858, the modernized fortress, which received the status of a fort, became part of the Second Rampart fortification. At the same time, according to the design of Friedrich August Stüler, the brick Friedrichsburg Gate was added to the fort from the city side.
The gate, striking in its heaviness, was built from burnt clinker bricks in the Tudor style, an English neo-Gothic style. The vaults of the through passage are made in the traditional barrelhouse style, and the casemates located on the sides of the gate are made in the cross style.
If we look closely at the gate, we will see that the walls, as well as the complex architectural decorations above the entrance arch, are made of bricks of various colors and shapes, which indicates the high skill of the builders of the 19th century. On the front facade of the gate, the black Gothic inscription “Friedrichsburg” and a high relief of the Prussian eagle have been preserved to this day.
To the left and right of the arched passage are massive round towers decorated with decorative battlements. The names of the towers are unusual and interesting: “Ruby”, “Pearl”, “Almaz” and “Smaragd (Emerald)”. Each tower has six round and four lancet windows - loopholes.
On August 23, 1910, the fort ceased to be a military facility and was transferred to the management of the Imperial railway, and after 10 years the bastions were completely dismantled and the ditches were filled in to make way for the railway tracks of the freight station and not interfere with the construction of the railway bridge.
After the Great Patriotic War, the gates were badly damaged and were under threat of demolition, but in 1960 they still received the status of an Architectural Monument, but this did not save them from further destruction and neglect.
And now, quite recently, a bright period has finally arrived in the post-war history of the gate. The Museum of the World Ocean took the collapsing gate under its wing. Under the Federal Target Program “Culture”, more than 20 million rubles were allocated for restoration and giving the gates its original architectural image. The difficulty lies in the fact that to restore the gate, a special brick is required, purchased in Latvia, and the necessary shaped elements are cut out of it on site.
The director of the Azimut-Stroy LLC company, which carries out the restoration of the gate, Alexander Feshchenko, says that, in comparison with the Royal Gate, things here are much more complicated, since numerous elements require 46 types of different bricks.
Upon completion of all work, the gate will welcome long-awaited guests in the status of a branch of the Museum of the World Ocean. It is planned that the museum areas will be dedicated to the history of shipbuilding, and a center for the restoration of underwater ships will be opened. archaeological finds, the area in front of the gate will be decorated with a beautiful fountain, and there are also plans to open a mini-cafe.
In conclusion of the story about the Friedrichsburg Gate, I want to point out another interesting historical fact. In 1697, Peter I visited the Friedrichsburg fortress for the purpose of training in artillery skills.
Brandenburg Colonel von Sternfeld, who acted as a teacher, gave highly appreciated to his student. Upon returning to Moscow, Peter I received a certificate that stated: “ Pyotr Mikhailov is recognized and revered as an accomplished bomb thrower, a careful and skillful firearms artist»
Having looked at the snow-covered gates for the last time, between the towers of which rays of the winter sun were visible, I headed further along the street. Portovaya and soon turned onto the street. Serpukhovskaya (formerly Knochen Straße), which in turn led me to the street. Bagration (formerly Alter Garten Straße).
The next gate on our route is located on this street - Brandenburg(German) Brandenburg Tor) is the only one of the seven surviving city gates of Königsberg, which still perform their transport function to this day.
The name of the gate comes from the order's Brandenburg Castle on the Frisching River, the ruins of which are still preserved in the modern village. Ushakovo, Bagrationovsky district. It was through these gates that the cobblestone road from Königsberg went towards Brandenburg Castle.
The date of construction is 1860. The author of the design of the facade of the Brandenburg Gate, as well as the Friedrichsburg Gate, is the talented military engineer Friedrich August Stüler. The gate became part of the Second Rampart fortification and served to allow pedestrians and vehicles through the earthen rampart at the Brandenburg Bastion.
This gate, made in the neo-Gothic style, is architecturally a little lighter in comparison with other city gates. On both sides of the two symmetrical arched openings for passage, there are small casemates with embrasures. Previously, these premises served for security and customs service, but now they house the famous Frames and Frames store in the city.
The walls of the casemates are made of clinker bricks; the base is lined with granite slabs using the quadra technique, and the facades are decorated with carved stone and small plastic.
Above the two arched arches, the gate is decorated with very beautiful “wimpergi” - Roman pediments with faceted turrets - “phials”.
The pediments along the edges are decorated with stylized sandstone flowers - “crabs”, and the finials - “crucifers”. The half-turrets are interconnected by crenellated parapets.
The “tympanums” (fields of pediments) are decorated on the city side with high reliefs, and on the other side with coats of arms. The author of sculpture is Wilhelm Ludwig Stürmer.
The high reliefs of the gate depict portraits of military generals, allies of Russia in the fight against Napoleonic France: military engineer Hermann von Boyen (left) and Lieutenant General Ernst Ludwig von Aster (right).
Hermann von Boyen was born in the city of Kreuzburg (the modern village of Enino, Bagrationovsky district) and is known for taking an active part in the wars with Napoleon, fighting in the battles of Leipzig, Lyon and Paris. With his participation, a system of military conscription was introduced in Prussia. On the site of his family estate there is still a forgotten and dilapidated monument to this outstanding man...
The second high relief belongs to Ernst Ludwig von Aster, also an active participant in the battles with Napoleonic France. However, his work on the fortification project of the Second Rampart fortification brought him the greatest fame.
During World War II, the Brandenburg Gate suffered relatively little damage. In the post-war period, they were used as a warehouse and were in general disrepair. And only in 1960, by a resolution of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR, the Brandenburg Gate was declared a monument of urban planning and architecture of republican significance...
The bright but still cold February sun illuminated the ancient walls of the gate - silent witnesses rich history Koenigsberg. The skyward gables looked beautiful against the blue sky, probably the same as a century and a half ago, catching the eye of a casual passerby.
I wanted to look endlessly at the gates and the line of cars passing through them, but my path lay further - towards the South Station, where, a hundred meters from the gates, on a section of the ancient wall, there are memorial high reliefs informing us that here in the 19th century they were buried Professor - Rector of the Albertina University of Königsberg.
This is the philosopher Christian Jacob Kraus (1753-1807) (German: Christian Jacob Kraus), anatomist and physiologist Karl Friedrich Burdach (1776-1847) (German: Karl Friedrich Burdach), after whom the nerve bundle in the posterior columns of the spinal cord, which provides the sense of touch, is named and deep sensitivity of the lower extremities and lower parts of the body and philologist Ludvikas Reza (1776-1840) (German: Liudvikas Gediminas Rėza).
By the way, on the high relief of the famous Lithuanian poet there was an unforgivable mistake in the name (LudviGas instead of LudviKas), but let it be on the conscience of the author of this memorial sign. I’ll also add that in Kaliningrad in 2000, in the park of the Lithuanian sister cities at the intersection of the street. Chestnut Alley and Victory Ave., the monument to Ludvikas Reza by sculptor A. Sakalauskas was solemnly opened.
Meanwhile, I, passing beautiful building South Station, went out onto Kalinin Avenue and headed to the next gate on our route - Friedland. Also in the third part I will introduce you to another city gate of Königsberg - the Sackheim Gate.
To be continued...