The master of the Teutonic Order considered the new cathedral too similar to a fortress and stopped construction until the church authorities promised to give the future temple an exclusively cult look. On the north side of the cathedral, you can see a ledge in the place where the masonry passes from a thickness of 3 meters to a smaller one - up to 1.28 meters. I had to lighten the foundation. The image of the cathedral corresponds to the layout of order churches with a three-nave church for the laity and a single-nave choir for chivalry, but without an underground chapel. The towers that burned down in the 16th century were rebuilt in the Renaissance style. On a square base south tower a superstructure appeared with 12 corners, later crowned with a spire.
The clock on the cathedral tower, despite its medieval appearance, is the most accurate in Kaliningrad, with a modern mechanism and satellite communications.
The weakness of the foundation did not allow the towers to be raised to the intended height, and the building began to sag dangerously. The North Tower deviated 45 centimeters from the axis and is a bit like the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa. The interior of the naves by 1400 was decorated with frescoes with scenes from the Holy Scriptures. The main impression that the cathedral makes even now is endless space, and this distinguishes it from the soaring cathedrals of late Gothic. The length of the building is 88.5 meters, the height of the tower with the spire is 50.75 meters, and the width is 30.2 meters. “The local cathedral church is huge,” wrote Russian historian N.M. Karamzin. - With a great note, I examined there the ancient weapons, armor and cone of the most pious of the Margraves of Brandenburg and the bravest of the knights of his time. Where are you, I thought, where are you, dark ages, ages of barbarism and heroism? Your pale shadows terrify the timid enlightenment of our days ... "
In 1511, Grand Master of the Teutonic Order Albrecht of Brandenburg liberated Prussia from the power of the Pope and converted to Lutheranism. Changes were expected and the Cathedral. It was transferred to the city of Kneiphof, and in 1560 to the Albertina University. Duke Albrecht is buried in the Cathedral, almost the entire eastern wall was occupied by a luxurious epitaph on the model of Italian tombstones of the heyday of the Renaissance. Now only the architectural frame has been preserved from the monumental monument. In the northern part of the altar, in 1588, the burial place of the professors of the Königsberg University was founded. Most of the hundred tombstones and epitaphs have not been preserved, but the rest are being carefully restored. In 1804, at the northeast corner of the cathedral, he found last resort the great German philosopher Immanuel Kant.
Cathedral in wartime
In August 1944, after 600 British air raids, Kneiphof Island was practically destroyed. The walls of the cathedral survived, but the entire interior was destroyed in the fire. It is known that the Nazis forbade firefighters to put out the fire. For many years after the war, the cathedral was a majestic ruin, standing alone in the middle of a deserted island. It was saved from final destruction by the grave of Kant, who was considered in the USSR as a herald of communist ideology.
The only statue from the Cathedral that survived the raid in 1944 - the image of Countess Dorothea, the wife of Duke Albrecht - was found during the search Amber room and is now kept in the Museum fine arts them. Pushkin in Moscow.
The Cathedral in Kaliningrad received the status of a monument of republican significance in 1960. In 1992, the tragic ruins were mothballed, and work began on historical reconstruction. Despite the damage and losses, the cathedral deservedly belongs to the architectural monuments of the federal category of protection.
Kant's grave
The great philosopher Immanuel Kant was the last to be buried in 1804 in the professorial tomb near the northern choirs of the Königsberg Cathedral. In 1880, a Neo-Gothic chapel was erected over the grave. For the bicentennial anniversary of Kant, the architect Friedrich Lars received an order to rebuild the tombstone. Visiting Kant's grave was allowed twice a year: February 12 and April 22 - on the days of the birth and death of the philosopher.
In addition to philosophy, Immanuel Kant taught at the Albertina University such unusual disciplines as fortification and pyrotechnics.
Wallenrodt Library
Two rooms with baroque paintings, decorated with amazing wooden carvings, on the second floor of the south tower, have kept the famous Wallenrodt library since 1650. Founded by Chancellor Martin von Wallenrod and his son, by the 20th century it consisted of 10,000 unique books collected from all over the world. Only a part of the rarest volumes survived in the university library, the rest of the priceless books perished in the fire of the cathedral.
Organ
In the Cathedral you can attend concerts of organ music. The cathedral regained its voice in 2008. The system of the Large and Small organs was restored by German craftsmen according to pre-war drawings using modern fiber-optic and computer technologies. The decorative part of the largest organ in Europe is decorated with filigree carvings and moving figures by Kaliningrad masters.
Euler problem
The cathedral bridge between Allstadt and Kneiphof stood only 50 years after the construction of the Cathedral began. Seven bridges remained in the city, thrown across the river, washing the island and diverging into two branches. Is it possible to walk around Königsberg, having crossed all the bridges, without entering any of them twice? Mathematician Leonid Euler's problem about Königsberg bridges is the basis of graph theory, which still helps in the study of transport systems, optimization of cargo delivery and data routing on the Internet.
belfry tower
During the construction of the roof of the longitudinal nave at the end of the 16th century, an error was discovered in the planning of the building: the tower part turned out to be displaced relative to the central part. To fix it, the medieval builders found an elegant solution - at the place of the bend of the roof they erected a masking small belfry tower.
The Nazis dug up Kant's grave in an attempt to measure his skull to prove that he was of the Aryan race.
Peter I, studying the Wallenrodt library, discovered an old Radziwill Chronicle, which tells about Ancient Rus'.
The ruins of the Cathedral can be seen in the films "Zhenya, Zhenechka and Katyusha" and "The Kerosene Worker's Wife".
Kneiphof Island, Grosser Domplatz 58
Now official name No; applied by Kneiphof
In the western part (tower) today: an Orthodox chapel, an Evangelical chapel, the Cathedral Museum and the Kant Museum.
After restoration, the nave is to be used in a multicultural way.
Construction history:
The predecessor building was erected after the foundation of the Samland Cathedral Chapter in 1286 on the outskirts of the Altstadt between Pregel and Löbenicht (sometime between 1297 and 1302). Bishop Johannes Clare (1322-44), for whom this church seemed too small, began around 1327 on the eastern half of Kneiphof transferred to him, the construction of a walled episcopal courtyard, to which later a covered gallery and a shelter building were added in the southern part. Further towards Pregel, the episcopal chamber and, to the east of it, a school (later becoming a university), as well as a hospital, grew up. It is impossible to establish the exact date of the beginning of the construction of the Cathedral; in 1320, there is mention of the intention to build, probably the Bishop of Claret started the work sometime in 1332, at the latest in 1333. His original intention to make the Cathedral in the form of a fortified church is evidenced by the eastern wall of the choir built first of all, having a thickness of 3 m. A wide passage for the defenders was also to be built on top of this massive wall, and corner towers should be attached to it. And the construction of the northern wall was initially carried out up to a height of 2.75 meters with the same thickness. But further construction in such a massive manner failed due to the protest of the owner of the territory, Grand Master of the Teutonic Order Duke Ludger von Braunschweig. Therefore, the upper part of the northern wall, as well as the south wall, which had not yet been erected at that time, had a thickness of only 1.28 m.
Between 1335 and 1340 the church choir was closed with a "half-timbered" wall as a temporary measure. After that, the temple of God began to be used as such. At this time, the famous frieze arose high above in the choirs, starting at the northern wall, passing further along the eastern and ending on the northern (it also disappeared completely, you can read about it in Seidel's book).
Presumably, only at that moment the western towers were erected (it is this explanation that lends itself to a slight displacement / breakage of the main axis visible in the plan). Both towers were built in 1344. Images of their appearance have not been preserved. They most likely arose on the model of Kulm or Kulmsee. At the same time, work on the longitudinal nave, laid out in the form of a basilica, progressed so much that it was possible to begin the construction of a wooden ceiling and roof (the roof was completed in 1351). But before the Cathedral was rebuilt, under the Grand Master Winrich von Kniprod (1351-82) perestroika had already begun: it was decided to build a hall church with three naves. Rebuilding with the construction of vaults lasted until 1382. At the same time, the windows in the middle nave disappeared, and the windows of the side aisles increased in height.
In 1544, both towers burned to the ground. Their re-erection took place during the Renaissance; a superstructure with 12 corners was added to the south tower, in which bells were hung. The north tower remained in a subordinate position with simple gables on the western and eastern sides. The designs for both were carried out by the former court joiner Hans Wagener. These works were completed in 1552.
In 1564 (or 1568) a charming little tower was erected on the roof of the longitudinal nave - a horse rider.
In 1650, the library, founded already in 1629 by chancellor Martin von Wallenrodt, was moved to a still unused room in the south tower under the bells.
In 1901-07, the Cathedral was restored under the leadership of the provincial conservator Richard Detlefsen. The purpose of this restoration was to restore the previous state before 1400. Following the dictates of the times, they used all their imagination; for example, on the southeast corner of the choir, a small fortified turret was re-created on the basis of the remains of a foundation in the wall. Inside, old frescoes were released from under the plaster. In addition, an attempt was made to counteract the poor building foundation and the lack of foundation (then a subsidence of 1.67 m deep was found under the south tower).
The bombings of August 1944 caused heavy damage. The church was completely burned out. The pediment of the north tower and parts of the vault collapsed. The remaining vaults could have been saved if conservation work and the erection of a temporary roof had been carried out in a timely manner. But for 20 years nothing happened, during which time the Cathedral was exposed to atmospheric influences, and given over to marauders; disappeared, first of all, including the remains of the monument untouched by the fire; and in general, the ruin was in a disconsolate state.
In 1972, the first maintenance work began on the structure. However, in 1975, the last span in the longitudinal nave collapsed. And only since 1976, certain conservation work began, for example, overlapping and additional laying of walls. Recovery, as such, began only in 1990.
Construction description
Western towers.
The western front is divided into three parts into the southern and northern towers and the middle structure. Both lower floors form a through basement. So on the entrance floor, three simple rooms with cross vaults appeared, connected to each other and a longitudinal nave. The middle room serves as a vestibule. It has a round, very original turret with a staircase leading to the upper floors. The middle room on the second floor was covered with a now reconstructed ribbed star-shaped vault. One floor above was the Wallenrodt Library in the south tower (directly under the belfry) and in the middle room. One of the rooms was painted, while in the other baroque figures and wood carvings were made. The room in the north tower was not previously used. All three rooms now house the Kant Museum.
The aforementioned three-part division into two towers and the middle structure has almost no effect on the facade. Rather, the façade is divided up to the bases of the towers by two narrow but noticeable decorative strips into horizontal fragments, which partially deprive the Gothic windows of the possibility of giving the impression of aspiration upwards. Below, in the basement passing under two floors, a closed brick wall prevails, which is somewhat enlivened by 11 axes of Gothic forms similar to the walls of the longitudinal nave, of which only three are real windows, and the rest are made in the form of blind arcades (of which later two were half covered with buttresses) . The second (or middle) fragment lying above is more interesting. Between two plaster belts, 18 very high and slender decorative arches are built close to each other, overlapped by lancet arches. In these high decorative arches on the second, distant level, other small decorative openings are arranged, divided into three floors. The forms vary in an exquisite way: on the sides of the towers, for example, internal decorative arches protrude over two "floors", while elongated forms, to increase the scope, stand above the short ones. And only upon closer examination it turns out that some of the decorative arches are made in the form of window openings. This shows that decorative arches were primarily a form of decoration and not meant to imitate windows.
And only above the second decorative belt is the tower zone with its middle pediment divided into five parts, two pilasters of which begin already between the decorative arches and are located in opposition to the horizontal decorative belts. Both towers could not be built to great heights due to poor building foundations. They remained tower stumps with stepped gables with gable roofs between them. These gables were demolished after a fire in 1544. On the square base of the south tower, a two-story superstructure with 12 corners was erected, on which a spire covered with flat tiles was built only in 1552. Interestingly, Gothic windows were replaced by Renaissance forms, supplemented by semicircular arches with small keystones. Yes, and the northern tower, restored with a simple pediment, shows typical forms of the Renaissance.
Longitudinal nave. By the nature of its plan, the Cathedral follows the scheme of order churches with a three-nave parish church and a single-nave choir with a direct ending, but without a crypt (underground chapel). According to the original concept, the parish church was made in the form of a basilica with high windows in the middle nave. Above it was built a simple wooden ceiling. Buttresses were not initially provided for, they were added only after the appearance of vaults.
The church, with three naves and five bays, gave the impression of space, although it did not have that upward aspiration that took place in the South and West German late Gothic. But with a height of 17 m, the width-to-height ratio of almost 1:1.5 deserves attention. The lower side aisles allow one only to guess the history of their origin from the former forms of the basilica. When the outer walls were raised, the windows were extended, and the existing decorative row was continued in the south in a vertical direction, and doubled in the north. As in the lower part of the western front, only one window was made in each bay. For a more satisfactory design of the spaces between the two buttresses, decorative arches were added to the side of the windows (which had been painted over before, and during the restoration in 1907 were supplemented with decorated openwork ornamental forms). During the rebuilding for the parish church, new, richly profiled columns were erected, which were slightly elongated at the base. And only their sandstone plinths remained from the time of the original basilica. The columns passed without heels into arches, carrying a star-shaped dome of 12 parts. The domes of the side aisles had a peculiar shape: The middle rib in the form of a pear-shaped rib (*) crossed the entire space, on both sides segmental vaults adjoined it along the vaults. After 1500, the eastern span of the northern nave collapsed. During the re-erection, the star vault was again preferred. The inner surfaces of the fired brick wall and column were plastered and partly decorated. Already in 1833, wall paintings were discovered in the choir stalls and in 1863 in the parish church, others were found during restoration in 1907.
On the western end of the middle nave, an organ platform was built in 1717, which was expanded in 1833 to a singing empora. Being a little over 3 m high, at first it blocked the incoming full view of the church nave. The organ itself was made in 1721 by Joshua Mozengel.
In the east, the middle nave ended triumphal arch, whose height roughly corresponds to the height of the lowest choir. Initially, a 4 m high lettner stood here, which had two passages. Later, the opening was enlarged, and in this place a renaissance altar was built, which was enlarged with the addition of baroque elements.
Choir section. Section along the longitudinal nave.
On the reverse side of the tomb to Duke Albrecht. As of 1350 (approximately)
Condition 1340-1944 (tombs from 1571)
The single-nave choir, five bays long, shows, especially today, when its powerful brick structure is not covered by anything, its character of a defensive structure. Its “defensive” function was used by the French during the occupation in 1807, when they abused it for a short time, adapting it to a military prison. After the transformation into a normal church, which the Grand Master demanded shortly after the start of construction, the southern wall probably became 2.60 m higher than the northern one. Because of this, the truss truss, which is located misaligned above the choirs, turned out to be uneven. From the very beginning, the construction of vaulted ceilings over the choirs was envisaged, as evidenced by the buttresses made together with the outer walls. The heel stones of the stellated vaults in the form of thin columns adjoined the wall for a length of 2.80 meters.
Inside, the choirs were separated by a lattice: two eastern spans formed a high choir; since the burial of Duke Albrecht, a princely crypt has appeared here. The three remaining bays were accessible to all and formed the lower choir, there were also seats for the choirs.
Externally, the south side of the choir was made with less decoration, most likely, there used to be a covered gallery here. But the north side, overlooking the Altstadt, was made using large funds with profiled windows and buttresses. The upper completion of the side walls in its division corresponded to the originally planned covered gallery. In the north, these were semi-circular, in the south, decorative lancet rows. Together with a new roof structure, they were restored in 1997 and 1998.
a common part
Lengthwise cut.
Status for 1907 - 1944
Königsberg Cathedral is hardly a building structure that could impress with its particularly successful proportions or uniform decoration. The significance of the Cathedral is more evident as a powerful order church, which - in accordance with the requirements of the time - was constantly rebuilt and shaped in a new way from the Gothic to the Baroque, until at the beginning of the 20th century it underwent a thorough restoration in the manner appropriate to that time.
The great length of 98 m is striking, which was best observed in 1994, when the towers again reached their former height, and the longitudinal nave and choirs joined them in the form of a “low” ruin, which stretched and stretched in length. Due to the newly restored very high roof, this impression of “infinity” is blunted, and the power of the building can now be perceived in its entirety. In particular, the southern tower with its spire, which until 1997, due to its height, was presented in a certain sense even in a more favorable light, gives the impression of being crushed, subordinating to the long church nave.
In the fantasy-filled times of rebuilding and new design at the end of the 19th century, there were projects for the erection of both towers in the “Gothic” sense, that is, higher (which has already happened in other places, but fortunately not in Königsberg). It is impossible to imagine that tall towers were able to create balance with a very elongated nave. So the tower side with the spire and the trench is just a showcase in the best sense of the word: starting with the Gothic aspiration to the sky with high rows of windows and narrow decorative arches above them presented at the top in the Renaissance, this aspiration is calmed down by the wide pediment of the north tower and compact semi-circular windows. south tower. Well, then, as a dot above the “i”, everything is dodecagonal superstructure of the southern tower with its sharp pyramidal roof - elements that are once again tied to the Gothic aspiration to the sky.
Outbuildings
Like all medieval churches, the cathedral in Königsberg acquired several outbuildings:
The baptismal chapel was added in 1595. The two buttresses of the northern wall of the longitudinal nave were connected to each other, and the entire room was covered with a wooden vault. As a dividing wall from the side nave, a form typical of the Renaissance was taken: on the parapet, eleven slender Ionic columns with an ancient system of beams were placed in two rows. The opening in the middle was crowned with a semicircular arch.
The sacristy was built in the corner between south wall side nave and choir stalls. It consisted of the sacristy itself with a vault and an auxiliary room, access to which was possible only from the outside. On the walls of the base of both rooms, an auxiliary room for technical devices has now appeared, made of bricks of a different type.
Professor's tomb. Since 1558, all professors of the university opposite had the right to be buried in an open gallery along the northern wall of the choir. Immanuel Kant was in 1804 the last one who solemnly found his eternal rest here. In 1809 an open promenade gallery was erected, but due to poor condition it was demolished in 1880. A small hall with two pediments in the Gothic style was erected over the burial place of Kant, which, however, soon also fell into disrepair. And only on the great anniversary of Kant in 1924, a new worthy building was erected on the same place.
Today's state
The appearance of the cathedral with the help of restoration work has been mostly restored (if you do not take into account the condition brick wall, unsatisfactory work to improve it and not always the right shape and material for covering the buttresses, the roof, the spire of the tower and the sacristy). The final restoration of the outer part of the wall began in 1999, while the places that were not well executed during the early restorations should also be updated.
In the inner part of the choirs and the parish church (both covered with a roof of a light metal structure, the side walls are fixed with a steel structure) one could see the horrifying state in which the Cathedral was back in 1976 when the conservation work began or in 1990, when the restoration itself began.
All the very rich interior decoration burned down in 1944, the vaults collapsed one after another, the baked brick walls appear to be bare without plaster, the side walls, although they still exist, stand crookedly and, at a height of 17.7 m, deviated from the vertical up to 42 cm Even the initially preserved floor was destroyed during the first conservation work. The epitaphs on the walls, which came out of the war relatively intact, were destroyed beyond recognition only in subsequent years.
But the curvature of the interior walls is not the result of a lack of maintenance work, it is a problem that has been troublesome since the beginning of the cathedral's construction work in the 14th century. The building soil of the island on Pregel consists of an earth embankment, a 3-4 meter layer of peat, and under them there is sludge and quicksand. These layers are by no means load-bearing. The outer walls stand on arched devices, and only the columns most likely stand on stilts.
Interior
Monument to Duke Albrecht as of 1945
It's me.))) This is how our generation remembered him............
The mentioned rich interior, which was constantly enriched from the 14th to the 19th century, was in 1944 and in the first post-war years it was almost completely destroyed. Only parts of individual epitaphs and crypts in the wall remained.
Almost the entire eastern wall is still occupied by a monument to Duke Albrecht (it remained almost undamaged after the bombing, but then all the figures, coats of arms, columns and other decorations were taken away, today only a bare architectural frame remains - 11 m high, 12.5 m width). This monument is considered one of the main works of the sculptor Cornelis Floris of Antwerp (1513 - 1575) and was made in Antwerp. Duke Albrecht died in 1568, the year 1570 is on the monument, and it was erected in 1571. The Italian graves of the heyday of the Renaissance served as a model, which in turn are rooted in ancient Rome.
The middle part is formed by a large semi-circular niche, surrounded on the sides by four small niches, in front of which there are Corinthian columns with a ceiling structure. A luxurious sarcophagus stood in a large niche, on its slab the duke knelt, praying in front of the altar. Allegorical figures stood in the side niches. Under the pediment that completed everything was a very realistic image of the Last Judgment. The figures were made of white alabaster, the architectural parts were made of Belgian limestone.
Of the more than 100 epitaphs formerly located on the outer and inner walls, only a few have survived. Inside, in addition to the monument to Albrecht, only the remains of two epitaphs can be seen on the choirs on the south wall. Plate for the epitaph to Prince Bogislav Radziwill (died in 1669) and his wife Anna Maria, nee. Princess Radziwill (two large wreaths with inscriptions and two full-size busts are missing); then the architectural framework of the epitaph to Duchess Anna Maria, second wife of Duke Albrecht (died 1568); and there is a lack of inscriptions and figurative decorations.
The round stair tower shown below in the entrance hall has already been mentioned. Square columns make it possible to see a spiral staircase. In the lower part and under the roof, semicircular vaults are so intertwined with each other that they form small lancet vaults. Boetticher wrote: “The turret is so original that it is impossible to put anything similar next to it.” Arches intertwined in the form of lancet vaults are one of the inventions of Norman architecture in Sicily in the 11th and 13th centuries.
epitaphs
better preserved on the outer walls, since they mostly do not contain any luxurious architectural details and no figured decorations, but are simply set into the wall in the form of slabs. They were restored and mothballed in 1995/96.
Let's start from the south side of the cathedral:
Outside, on the last, eastern span of the longitudinal nave, in the lower part of the decorative window, there is a simple tablet in honor of Sarah Bregelia; it consists only of an inscription framed in a frame.
Further, already on the outer wall of the choirs in the second bay (to the east of the extension of the former sacristy) there is a well-preserved (albeit broken in three places) epitaph of Suzanne von Kalkstein. Above the inscription are two coats of arms; the slab is framed by a saying in the form of a frame on all four.
At the fifth and last bay of the choirs is the epitaph of Chancellor Johann von Kreutzen and his wife Jeofemia, née Damerau; above the inscription, the couple itself is visible, he is wearing knightly armor, and she is wearing a long dress and a necklace around her neck; above a row of coats of arms.
Now let's move on to the eastern wall of the choirs: there hangs, near the Kantian portico, a well-preserved epitaph of Ursula von Pudlitz, nee von Grünberg, wife of the noble Mr. Wedigo Raymar zu Pudlitz, year of death - 1612. Both coats of arms are set above the inscription in the recess.
Other epitaphs are located on the northern side of the Cathedral facing the city. In the penultimate bay (next to Kant's tomb) on the outer wall is a heavily blurred epitaph of Albrecht Baron von Kittelitz, regent and landhofmeister (you can hardly recognize the figures with folded hands).
The next epitaph is located on the wall of the choir and is better preserved; it is dedicated to Koelestin Kowalewski (the medallion located above the inscription is now missing).
Well, in the end, in the second span, we see the well-preserved epitaph of Andreas Fabricius. It is decorated richer with a coat of arms in the middle, framed by a vault of the Renaissance. There is also a saying on it, which encloses the entire slab like a frame on four sides.
On the northern wall of the longitudinal nave on the fifth eastern span, there are two epitaphs at once: the first is not identified and consists only of a frame. The second row, richly decorated, is dedicated to Matthias Stoius. This one is reminiscent of its division into two parts and a small pediment on top of the epitaph in the church premises.
The last epitaph is located to the left of the window of the 4th bay (the bay east of the baptismal chapel) and is dedicated to Christopher Preuss and his wife Jeofemia Stolpiana. It is framed by an eye-catching frame.
Inside the choirs on the floor there was a tombstone of the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order Luther von Braunschweig (at first it was temporarily surrounded by boards). This plate with inscriptions is broken in several places. In 1998, she was photographed for restoration.
A story with a photo about the very "heart" of old Kaliningrad - Kant Island, formed by the branches of the Pregol River, and the recently restored Cathedral of the city.
The fact that we have the opportunity to admire Cathedral of Kaliningrad, we owe first of all to Kant - or rather, to his grave, located right there on the island of Kant next to the cathedral. Or, more precisely, the respect that the leader of the world proletariat had for the famous Konigsberg thinker. Do not mention Lenin Kant so complimentary in your speeches and writings, the heart of Old Kaliningrad is Kant Island, which is Kneiphof would look completely different today, and for good reason.
On August 20, 1944, the British began a three-day bombardment of Königsberg, which resulted in the complete destruction of Kneiphof: the Royal Castle, and the triple Old Town - Alstadt, Lebenicht And Kneiphof- and from the famous Cathedral by May 1945, only a charred skeleton remained. And the victors would have blown it up - at home we and completely entire churches were blown up - but someone remembered Lenin and Kant in time. So the fate of the other buildings of Kaliningrad, which were dismantled for building materials, and then quite rightly sent by barges to long-suffering Leningrad to be used in its restoration, did not suffer: it was decided to leave it as it is - they say, let the descendants deal with all these talkers Kant , the Soviet occupation authorities at that time had their worries through the roof.
Then, immediately after the victory over Germany, there was still no final decision on the further ownership of East Prussia and Kaliningrad-Königsberg, and the winners sought to take absolutely everything that could be useful in the restoration of Soviet cities destroyed by the Germans to the USSR. After the end of the war until the beginning of perestroika, the Cathedral was a huge and gradually crumbling ruins, the authorities of Kaliningrad considered it a “symbol of Prussian militarism” and had absolutely no desire to restore it. The restoration of the Cathedral began only in the 90s of the last century, and O Most of the work was carried out with German money, which was not approved by everyone in Kaliningrad: it was widely believed that this was only the first step towards "creeping Germanization".
Old Kaliningrad: Kant Island
Once this place was called Kneiphof and one half of it belonged to the bishop, and ordinary citizens were allowed to settle in the second. And this division is associated interesting story. East Prussia in those days was the edge of the "civilized world" and all the news from Europe was brought here by messengers. So, in order to get to the castle or to the bishop, they had to pass that half of Kneiphof, where the townspeople lived. And they came up with the idea of intercepting them on the way, feeding them (and, most importantly, giving them a good drink - so that the messenger would only be able to crawl to their destination the next day) and thus learn important news before the authorities. For example, if a messenger brought news of a crop failure to the castle, the townspeople, having learned about it in advance, sharply raised the price of grain and flour, and so on. So already in those days information ruled the world.
In addition to the Cathedral and big park, today there is nothing on the island, but this was far from always the case: once the island was a district of Koenigsberg named Kneiphof and had a very dense residential development - as of 1939, there were 304 houses and 28 streets on the island, and lived there 20 thousand people - completely destroyed by British bombers.
The main attraction of Kant Island, in addition to the recently restored Cathedral, is, of course, the grave of the famous philosopher:
Kant's grave
Officially, “the restless old man Immanuel” (by Bulgakov’s definition) is considered the last to be buried in the “professor’s tomb” of the Kaliningrad Cathedral in 1804 - but the philosopher’s grave is located not inside the building, but near it. Apparently, this is a reflection of the difficult relationship between the great Koenigsberger and the church: on the one hand, Kant’s independent views and judgments did not allow him to be buried inside the cathedral, and on the other hand, the same Kant argued that religion without a church is unthinkable. Again, it was Kant who, from the standpoint of reason and logic, "destroyed" the five proofs of the Existence of God - but he also formulated his own "Kant's proof".
Kant, the son of a simple saddler and housewife, who was born on April 22, 1724 and later became a world famous philosopher, was not destined to find peace even after his death: his grave was either destroyed (for example, by Napoleon's soldiers), then restored, or simply transferred from place to place . The museum of the Cathedral has an interesting picture illustrating the "acquisition" of Kant's skull during regular excavations.
In 1880, a neo-Gothic chapel was erected over Kant's grave, which in 1924, on the 200th anniversary of Kant, was replaced by a colonnade with thirteen pink porphyry columns; moreover, the new building contrasts strikingly in its appearance with the Cathedral itself.
Inside the colonnade, a stone tombstone is installed, which is a cenotaph - that is, there are no remains of Kant under it, they lie deeper.
A bronze statue looks down on the last refuge of the great philosopher. Duke Albrecht, the founder of the Albertina University (by the way, Martin Luther advised the Duke to establish the university), whose tomb was less fortunate than the cathedral - what was left of it after the battles for the city is now exhibited inside the Cathedral.
Statue of Duke Albrecht
Actually, the statue of the duke is not original: it was installed in 2005 in honor of the 750th anniversary of Kaliningrad. The original version of the work of the sculptor Johann Friedrich Reusch could not be saved from being melted down, which is a pity: it was remarkable at least by the hands of the duke - as you know, Reusch found the sitter for the statue of Albrecht in the port of Koenigsberg. As a result, the statue of an aristocrat who rarely lifted anything heavier than a china cup in his life had the powerful arms of a longshoreman.
Between the Cathedral and Honey Bridge you can find Monument to Julius Rupp, theologian and university lecturer:
And Kant, and Adalbert, and Rupp united Königsberg University, the oldest university in Prussia - which, unfortunately, did not save him from death under British bombs in the summer of 1944.
By the way, there is another statue nearby, erected in honor of an aristocrat who had considerable growth and did not shy away from physical labor. Meaning Peter I, whose monument flaunts near the main entrance to the Cathedral.
Statue of Peter the Great
>Peter was installed on Kant Island in memory of the visit by the Russian emperor to the house of the local governor of Negelein. The autocrat visited the latter twice: first incognito, as part of the Great Embassy of 1697, and in 1709 Peter and his wife Catherine visited an old acquaintance already openly, returning from the city of Torgau, where the marriage of Tsarevich Alexei and the German princess Charlotte of Wolfenbüttel took place. In the same Torgau, where, after 236 years, the “meeting on the Elbe” of the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition took place.
By the way, about the allies and their contribution to the destruction of the old Kaliningrad-Königsberg. The vengeful British couldn't let Germany be defeated by the Soviet Union before they razed several German cities to dust in retaliation for the Luftwaffe's bombing of London. And so, at the very end of the war, about two hundred British Lancasters tried to grind the then capital of East Prussia into brick chips, and at the same time show the Soviet authorities (still allies, but it was already clear that we would soon become irreconcilable rivals) all the power of aviation " Her Majesty." Both goals have been achieved: Old city The future of Kaliningrad was seriously destroyed, and the “soviets” took such a warning with all due seriousness and tried to speed up the development of Soviet atomic weapons and their means of delivery as much as possible. And very soon, after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it became clear how right they were.
There is another version of the reasons for such a fierce bombardment of Koenigsberg by the British Air Force - let's say, conspiracy theories. According to it, even before the war on Kant Island, in the heart of today's old Kaliningrad, the Nazis created the secret laboratory "Königsberg-13", where the German "rune warriors" conducted mystical experiments to create a new terrible superweapon capable of bringing victory to the "race of demigods" in war with the undermens. Well, they conjured there - and let them conjure, the master's business, but once Winston Churchill was informed that Nazi mystics had created his voodoo doll at the mentioned laboratory with the most obvious bad intentions towards the British prime minister. Sir Churchill did not take this news as nonsense, but ordered the Royal Air Force to stop such outrages - which resulted in a devastating bombardment of the Prussian capital by the aforementioned Lancasters. Whether the British bombs got that laboratory remains unknown, but the complete destruction of the governor's house (the one where Tsar Peter once stayed), the city hall and many more unique buildings of the old Königsberg is clearly documented.
Cathedral of Kaliningrad
It is generally accepted that the construction of the Cathedral, dedicated to the Highly Sacred Body of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, All Saints and Saint Adalbert, began in 1333 - and this is the figure that flaunts on the weather vane of the North Tower. When it turned out that the parishioners no longer fit into the old Lutheran church, the Teutonic Order allowed the local bishop to build a new cathedral on Kneiphof.
However, five years after the start of construction (in total it lasted eighty years), the master of the order called the bishop to him and asked why he was building “another fortress” on the island. The fact is that the original project provided for the construction of a cathedral-fortress, because the territory had just been conquered by the order and was located on the very border. However, the grand master of the order, Luther of Brunswick, considered that "there is no need to build another fortress at an arrow's flight distance from the castle of the order."
Thus, it was necessary to make changes to the project and in the future the cathedral was built exclusively as place of worship. However, this was not without complications: the soil on Kant Island is very unstable and about a thousand oak piles were driven under the foundation of the church (according to other sources, the piles were made of Norwegian larch - the only tree hardening from water and which does not eat bark beetle). During the construction there was a shrinkage of the soil, a wall cracked on the main nave of the cathedral, and now the axes of the two cathedral towers diverge by one and a half meters. To hide this defect, another “camouflage” turret was installed on the roof of the cathedral.
Cathedral of Kaliningrad
IN late XIX century inspector by architectural monuments East Prussia examined the cathedral and with German scrupulousness reported to his superiors about his deplorable state. By that time, builders in Europe were already using concrete with might and main, and it was from this material that a special “substrate” was made, which in 1902 was placed under the foundation of the building so that it would no longer sink into the loose soil of Kneiphof (by the time the inspector checked the Cathedral, the shrinkage was 1, 2 meters). If not for this substrate, it is unlikely that the cathedral survived the English raid and its skeleton stood until the end of the last century.
After its restoration, the Kaliningrad Cathedral, built in the brick (Baltic) Gothic style, is one of the most famous Gothic buildings in Russia. Currently, the temple is not functioning and services are held only in the Orthodox and Evangelical chapels located inside. The rest of the area of the Cathedral is used as a museum and a concert hall.
Entering the huge concert hall on the first floor, you can see one of the largest organs in Europe, on which the composer and storyteller Hoffmann once played music. It makes sense to climb the spiral staircase higher and see the unique exposition of the museum dedicated to Kant. During its inspection, you can see the famous restored stained-glass windows, the font in which Kant and his death mask were baptized, as well as tombstones and epitaphs of the most respected citizens buried in the walls of the cathedral.
A ticket to the museum costs 150 rubles, another 50 rubles will have to be paid for permission to take pictures. When visiting the museum, I recommend taking a guide (it will cost an additional 150 rubles to the main ticket price) - without his explanation, the purpose and history of many exhibits will be completely incomprehensible. But with a guide, everything falls into place and a 30-minute visit to the museum turns into a memorable event. The guide tells in detail and interestingly from the life of Kant, the creation of the "Albertina state" and much more.
After the war, Kaliningrad was the only place in the Soviet Union where filmmakers could find "real Germany" - albeit thoroughly destroyed. Therefore, many films, primarily about the war, were filmed here. For example, the Cathedral flashed in one of the episodes of the film "Zhenya, Zhenechka and Katyusha" - against its background, a soldier overturns a canister of fuel.
Official website of the Kaliningrad Cathedral Schedule of organ music concertsOld Kaliningrad: Sculpture Park on Kant Island
As I already wrote, until the beginning of the 90s of the last century, there was nothing on Kant Island except the ruins of the cathedral and trees, which were planted specially to correct this gloomy picture at least a little - after all, the very center of the city. At some point, the authorities tried to change this situation, and in the 1980s, by decision of the Kaliningrad Executive Committee, sculptures were sent from the USSR Art Fund to Kaliningrad, which were then installed in the park. Now in sculpture park 23 works are presented, united by the common theme "Man and the World", among which two can be distinguished:
"World without war", 1981
"Creation", 1982
Kant Island: Honey Bridge
Once upon a time there were several bridges on Kneiphof: Blacksmith, Lavochny, Trebukhovy, Green. Honey, along which today you can walk from the Cathedral to the Fish Village, was built later than all - in 1542.
honey bridge
View of the Cathedral and the Honey Bridge from the Fish Village:
Fish village, view from the Honey Bridge:
Kaliningrad, Kant Island - how to get there
By car: in the navigator you need to type the address Oktyabrskaya street house 2.
By public transport:
1. To the stop Fish Village: by bus 45, minibus t72, t80, t92
2. To the stop of SK Yunost, located on Moskovsky Prospekt: bus: 45, 49; trolleybus: 2, 7; minibus t65, t72, t75, t77, t80, t87, t93.
3. To the stop House of Culture of Sailors on Leninsky Prospekt: bus 1, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 17, 18, 19, 21, 23, 27, 30, 36, 37, 44, 49, 159, 106, 108; trolleybus 1, 5; tram 3, 5; minibus t62, t63, t64, t66, t67, t69, t70, t71, t77, t83, t84, t85, t87, t88, t89, t90, t93, t86.
Useful links around Kaliningrad:
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Unforgettable walks in the old Kaliningrad!
Your Roman Mironenko
How to get to the Kaliningrad Cathedral on your own. Opening hours of the museum and organ hall, Kant's grave in the Cathedral.
On the territory of this city there are many ancient monuments that annually attract lovers of antiquity from all over the world. The place of honor in popularity among the sights of Kaliningrad is occupied by the Cathedral (Kreuzkirche), erected at the beginning of the 14th century under the leadership of Bishop John.
Cathedral of the times of Königsberg
The Cathedral of Kaliningrad was the central temple district of Kneiphof, where services were regularly held with the presence of the first persons of the city and the state.
Today you can admire the cathedral of the former Königsberg in its original form!
The remains of nobles and spiritual dignitaries lie in the crypts of the cathedral. The first grave belongs to the Grand Master of the Order of the Teutonic Knights Lutger von Braunschweig and has been located here since 1335. The last burial was made in 1809 - it belongs to the stillborn son of Princess Marianne and Prince Wilhelm. Among the legendary personalities who found their last refuge within the walls of the Königsberg Cathedral, there is more than one master Teutonic Order, some Zemland Bishops, professors of the local university and other equally significant people.
But the most prominent person, whose grave is also located within the walls of the cathedral, was the German philosopher Immanuel Kant. His burial stands out from the rest: relatively recently (in relation to the age of the cathedral, of course), namely in 1924, in honor of the 200th anniversary of Kant, a portico was built over his grave.
Until the Second World War, the Cathedral was a model of splendor; its walls housed one of the largest libraries in Prussia, founded by Martin von Walendorf in the 50s of the 17th century. In addition, the temple was proud of one of the largest organs in Europe.
But as a result of Allied air raids at the end of World War II, the cathedral was destroyed, and the interior decoration was lost. However, tombstones and epitaphs miraculously managed to survive.
Cathedral of Kaliningrad
Decades later, researchers and historians who studied the ruins of the cathedral managed to find funds and obtain an order to begin the restoration of the Kaliningrad Cathedral. It happened only in 1992. Thanks to an unexpected decision in those troubled times, today everyone can enjoy not only the facade of the cathedral that has risen from the ruins, but also the exposition of the museum named after I. Immanuel Kant.
Map of Königsberg and souvenirs on the territory of the Kaliningrad Cathedral
The route of the tour of the Cathedral includes a visit to the Kant Institute, an Orthodox chapel, a library restored “from the ashes”, etc.
But the main achievement of the restorers is the opening of a concert hall designed for 700 visitors. The organ complex located here has no equal on the territory of Russia. It consists of a large and small organs and allows you to achieve amazingly rich sounds. In addition, the acoustic possibilities of the Cathedral itself are said to be limitless!
One conclusion can be drawn: the architects managed to restore not only the "body" of the cathedral to the smallest detail, but also to resurrect the spirit that hovered in these walls for many centuries of the cathedral's life.
Cathedral - how to get there
Kaliningrad Cathedral is located in the heart of Kneiphof Island (or Kant Island, as it is called), at the address: st. Kant, 1.
You can get to the island from Victory Square by tram No. 3, 5. The Fish Village stop, from which you will have to walk 300 meters. If Leninsky Prospekt is closer to you, choose any minibus and get off near. Then cross the road and move across the road bridge to Kneiphof - you will notice the Gothic spire from afar.
Opening hours of the museum and organ hall
Currently, Orthodox and Protestant chapels are open in the premises of the Cathedral. The following museum expositions are open: “History of Kneiphof Island”, “Immanuel Kant and Koenigsberg”, “Cathedral. Resurrection from the Ruins”, “Wallenrodt Library”.
In the altar part, at the stage of restoration, the gravestone of Duke Albrecht, a monument to which can be seen on the territory of the temple, opposite the grave of Kant.
Opening hours of the Cathedral: from 09-00 to 17-00 seven days a week.
Information can be specified on the official website - www.sobor-kaliningrad.ru. There you can also find the schedule of organ music concerts in the Kaliningrad Cathedral.
Excursions around Kaliningrad and the region
Unusual routes organized by locals. Creative people come up with excursions, who have something to tell about the city and its surroundings. They will tell you where to spend time and what you can save on.
Hotels in Kreuzkirche
If you liked the location of the Cathedral, then your intuition did not let you down - if somewhere it is worth living in Kaliningrad, then it is in the area of Kant Island. On the map below you will find all the hotels located in the vicinity of Kreuzkirche.
Summing up
It does not matter whether you are interested in the history of the building, whether you want to admire the restored library or whether you love organ music. If you have arrived in Kaliningrad for the first time, you should know that you will not be able to avoid visiting the Cathedral, because this is the soul of the city.
