Foundation of Königsberg

In the Prussian area lay several villages such as Lipnick and Sakkeim, as well as the fort of Twangste, which the German Order overcame and destroyed in 1255. It became the beginning of the present Kaliningrad, as the order established a new fortress and named it Königsberg after the Bohemian King Ottokar II. that funded the construction.

Königsberg Castle was thus a reality and the Germanic settlement with the later name Steindamm emerged northwest of the castle with the permission of the German Order.

The pagan compatriots conquered in 1255 besieged Königsberg seven years after their defeat. They fought against the conquerors and their Christianity of the area. The first settlement was destroyed on that occasion, but even before the end of the siege in 1265 a new one emerged south of the castle. It lay by the river and became the old town of Königsberg; Altstadt.

The Königsberg Fortress

During the siege of 1262-1265, the German Order of the German Order showed its strength. Despite years of siege, the fellows could not overcome the Germans, who could, among other things, receive supplies by river.

The importance of the castle and thus the fortress for the German colonization of the area was emphasized, and the city remained a heavily fortified German city until the last battles of World War II.

The city is growing

Altstadt settlement received commercial property rights in 1286 and was thus the leading city around Königsberg, although Steindamm was also located by the castle. The castle itself was also expanded continuously. In the early years it was made of wood, but from 1261 it was built in stone.

The Königsberg towns grew and more villages emerged. It applied to Löbenicht in the first place in the year 1300 and the Kneiphof in 1327, and each city had its own rights, markets, trade, fortresses and churches.

Most of the new citizens came from Germanic areas in present-day Northern and Eastern Germany. They brought with them their customs and dialects, but from the beginning the administrative languages ​​were Latin and High German, which was guaranteed by the German Order.

In 1309, Königsberg’s importance in the German Order was emphasized by the Order’s Grand Master taking up residence here. The Christian order also founded a cathedral in Kneiphof in 1326.

Medieval Altstadt

The central district was Altstadt, and around it grew suburbs and other cities in all directions. The Hufen, Laak, Lastadie and Lomse areas were also managed by Altstadt, which had also established magazines in Lastadie and Lomse.

In the years 1359-1370, a wall was erected around Königsberg’s Altstadt as well as the cities of Kneiphof and Löbenicht, and in the early centuries many bridges over the city’s river were also established. The first was Krämerbrücke, which connected Altstadt and Kneiphof. Internationally, several connections were also made during this time; the city joined the Hanseatic League in 1339.

The Thirteen Years’ War

In 1440, the cities of Altstadt and Kneiphof sent representatives to the Prussian federation, which was the beginning of a settlement with the German Order.

Thus, 1454-1466 it came to the Thirteen Years’ War, where these Königsberg cities allied themselves with the King of Poland against the Order. Andreas Brunau was mayor of Altstadt, and his goal was an autonomous city with control over Samland.

However, Altstadt and Löbenicht joined the German Order again and defeated the Kneiphof in 1455. Two years later, Grand Master Ludwig von Erlichshausen fled from Order Marienburg to Königsberg.

The war ended with the Second Peace in Thorn in 1466. With that, Prussia surrendered land to Poland, and Königsberg was formally governed by the Polish crown as a county.

Königsberg in the 1500s

With the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, Königsberg became predominantly Lutherans. Grand Master Albert of Brandenburg in 1525 secularized the remaining lands of the German Order, and he himself became a Protestant.

Albert became the first Duke of the newly established Prussian Duchy. Formally, Prussia and thus Königsberg remained subordinate to Poland, but the Prussian states allied themselves under Albert.

Culturally and commercially, there was also positive development in Königsberg. Duke Albert founded the city’s university in 1544, and politically enjoyed the city and the region a substantial autonomy with its own currency and German as its language. Exports consisted of furs, timber and wheat, among other things, and it generated considerable revenue.

As Swedish armies rushed through Brandenburg in the 1700s, the Hohenzollern’s court fled to Königsberg. Later, in the years 1656-1660, several peace agreements were concluded, and with them, Prussia gained independence from both Poland and Sweden. It also came to an association of Brandenburg and Prussia.

The city in the 1700s

At the beginning of this century, around 40,000 inhabitants lived in the various cities of Königsberg. Part of the city’s trade had long been amber, and in 1701 the production of the amber room, first installed at the Charlottenburg Castle in Berlin, started to be given to Russia’s Peter the Great in 1716 as a sign of Prussian-Russian peace and alliance.

1701 was also the year when Frederick I was crowned king of Prussia. The ceremony took place in Königsberg Castle. The country had now risen from duchy to kingdom, and although the primary royal residences lay in Berlin and Potsdam, Königsberg was for a time the formal capital.

On April 22, 1724, Immanuel Kant was born in Königsberg, and his philosophical career brought both him and the city into world history. In the same year the cities of Altstadt, Kneiphof and Löbenicht were combined into one city; thereby the big city of Königsberg was a reality.

In 1756, despite the intentions of the amber room in 1716, it came to war between Prussia and Russia. Russian troops came to the city and left it first in 1762. Among the visiting military people was the leader Alexander Suvorov.

By the end of the century, the population had reached 55,000, and there were more than 200 breweries in Königsberg.

Industrialization and new suburbs

The population continued to rise, and Königsberg was the ongoing capital of the various administrative divisions of which the East Prussian region was a part. In 1871, Königsberg and East Prussia became part of the united Germany.

The 19th century was not only political, trade and industry also grew sharply over the century. In 1860, the railroad between Berlin and St. Petersburg was opened, which helped to develop the city’s economy. Königsberg was also connected by rail with other cities such as Pillau and Insterburg.

Industries grew alongside the increased trade, and people moved to Königsberg. Suburbs such as Amalienau and Maraunenhof were established, and in 1900 lived 188,000. That figure had risen to 246,000 in 1914.

World Wars and USSR

The first half of the 20th Century came to prominence in World War II in much of Europe, and in only a few places were the consequences as noticeable as in Königsberg and East Prussia.

After World War I in the years 1914-1918, Königsberg was cut off from the rest of Germany when the Polish Corridor was established, which allowed Poland access to the sea around present-day Gdynia. Naturally, this presented challenges for the city and the region purely geographically.

The interwar period was the last time for peace in Königsberg’s densely-built center, where Altstadt, Löbenicht and Kneiphof housed the city’s castle, cathedral and other institutions.

That changed with World War II, where Königsberg was repeatedly exposed to aerial bombardments. From 1941, the Soviet Union carried out several missions, with the destruction intensified with British bombs in the summer of 1944. Lancaster aircraft first attacked on 27 August with no success in hitting the center. Three days later, the next voyage followed, and here the result was that about 20% of the city’s industry and 40% of the city’s housing was destroyed. The central districts were largely crushed.

The successful Soviet advance to Berlin in 1945 passed through Königsberg, which, as a historic fortress town, was ordered to be defended and held by German Adolf Hitler no matter what. After fierce fighting, Soviet troops occupied the city, which was estimated to be 90% destroyed at the end of the war.

The new Russia

After the end of World War II, German East Prussia was divided between Russia and Poland, and Königsberg became one of Russia’s westernmost metropolitan areas with a strategically good location on the Baltic Sea coast. Soviet head of state Mikhail Kalinin died at the time when a Russian name for the city was to be found, and in his honor Königsberg became Kaliningrad.

Kaliningrad city and region had to be repopulated, and people from all over the Soviet Union moved here, while remaining Germans were exiled.

New construction in Kaliningrad

As the only ice-free port on the Baltic Sea in the Russian Soviet Republic, Kaliningrad became the base of the Soviet Union’s Baltic Sea Fleet, and a large merchant fleet was also built in the area that was closed for entry during the Cold War due to military installations.

The city was rebuilt with new housing and large public buildings. The trams and railways began to run again, and Kaliningrad became a relatively prosperous region in the Soviet Union due not least to a very large military economy.

The Exclave in the West

Between the world wars of the 20th century, Königsberg was isolated from the fatherland, and that fate once again overtook the city in the new motherland.

With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Kaliningrad was geographically separated from the rest of Russia, making access to the capital of Moscow not least difficult; especially after Poland and Lithuania’s accession to the European Union in 2004.

60th and 750th anniversary

In 2005, Kaliningrad celebrated two anniversaries. That year was 750 years ago when the German Order founded the castle of Königsberg, and it was also 60 years since Germany was defeated in World War II, which made Königsberg a Russian city.

Both were celebrated with a number of events and major new facilities, not least seen at the central Victory Square. It was the center of parades in the Soviet Union, and a statue of Lenin was the centerpiece. In connection with the anniversaries, the square was redone and the Orthodox Church of the Savior rose as a new center.

Kaliningrad today

Today’s Kaliningrad is characterized by new buildings throughout the city. Offices, apartments, malls and other things are shooting up, so the city is constantly changing its appearance. Among the new houses are both German and Soviet buildings as representatives of their time, and thus Kaliningrad with tourist eyes is a place where many cultures have visibly influenced the development.

The story is recounted in a distinguished way at the city’s historical museum, and many other cultural institutions, parks and amusements are also ready to welcome travelers. In 2018, Kaliningrad also became the center of the world’s footballing eyes as the city’s newly built stadium laid grass for several matches during the World Cup in soccer held in several cities in western Russia.