54°40N 20°30E, pop (2001e) 424 800. Capital of Kaliningrad region, W Russia; on the R Pregel at the point where it flows into the Vistula Lagoon, an inlet of the Baltic Sea; founded (1255) as a fortress of the Teutonic Knights; renamed (1946) after E Prussia was ceded to Russia; a major ice-free Baltic seaport and naval base; important industrial, fishing, and commercial centre; birthplace of Frederick I, David Hilbert, E T W Hoffmann, Immanuel Kant, Fritz Lipmann, Regiomontanus; university (1967); railway; airfield; cathedral; Institute of Oceanography; botanical and zoological gardens; shipbuilding, machinery, wood-pulp, chemicals, agricultural products.
КалининградKaliningrad
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| Government | |||||
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Russia District Subdivision |
Russia Northwestern Federal District Kaliningrad Oblast |
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| Mayor | Yuri Savenko (2005) | ||||
| Geographical characteristics | |||||
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Area - City |
215.7 km² |
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Population - City (2005) - Density |
434,954 2,016/km² |
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| Coordinates | 54°44′0″N, 20°29′0″E | ||||
| Elevation | 4.8 meters m | ||||
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Time zone - Summer (DST) |
EET (UTC+2) EEST (UTC+3) |
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| Other Information | |||||
| Postal Code | 236010 | ||||
| Dialing Code | +7 (040 12) | ||||
| License plate | 39 | ||||
| Website: http://www.klgd.ru/en/ | |||||
Kaliningrad (Russian: Калинингра́д), until 1945 known by its German name Königsberg, then briefly as Kyonigsberg (Кёнигсберг), is a seaport and the administrative center of
Kaliningrad Oblast, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea.
Under its original German name of Königsberg (help·info), it was the capital of the German province of East Prussia, the earlier Ducal Prussia, and before that of the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights.
Geography
Kaliningrad is located at the mouth of the navigable Pregolya River, which empties into the Vistula Lagoon, an inlet of the Baltic Sea.
Until circa 1900 ships drawing more than seven feet of water could not pass the bar and come into town, so that larger vessels had to anchor at Pillau (now Baltiysk), where merchandise was moved onto smaller vessels. (See also Ports of the Baltic Sea.)
Khrabrovo Airport is located 24km north of Kaliningrad, and has a few scheduled/charter services to several destinations throughout Europe.
History
Teutonic Order
Around 300 BC an Old Prussian settlement called Tvanksta (also Tvangste, Tvangeste) was founded near the site of modern Kaliningrad.
Königsberg was originally the capital of Sambia, or Samland, one of the four dioceses into which Prussia had been divided in 1243 by the papal legate William of Modena.
Königsberg eventually became a member of the Hanseatic League and an important port for the southeastern Baltic region, trading goods with Prussia, Poland, and Lithuania.
As a result of its defeat in the Thirteen Years' War at the hands of Poland, the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights was reduced by the Peace of Toruń in 1466 to the area of later Ducal Prussia, held by the Teutonic Order under the feudal overlordship of the Polish crown.
Ducal Prussia
With the secularisation of the Order's territories in 1525, Grandmaster Albert of Prussia of the Hohenzollern dynasty became the Duke of Prussia after paying feudal homage to King Sigismund I of Poland.
Anna, daughter of Duke Albert Frederick, married Elector John Sigismund of Brandenburg, who was granted the right of succession to Ducal Prussia on Albert Frederick's death in 1618.
Brandenburg-Prussia and German Empire
In the Treaty of Oliva in 1660 the Hohenzollern dynasty negotiated the release of Ducal Prussia from Polish sovereignty for the duration of their line, upon the expiration of which the duchy would revert back to Poland. By the act of coronation in Königsberg in 1701, Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg became King Frederick I of Prussia, King in Prussia, independent in Prussia (though not in his other domains) from both Poland and the Holy Roman Empire. After the Partitions of Poland, Königsberg became the capital of the newly-created province of East Prussia within the Kingdom of Prussia.
Königsberg became a centre of education when the Albertina University was founded by Albert of Prussia in 1544.
Königsberg as well was the place where the first printed books in Lithuanian language were published and it for long remained the center of the publishing in Lithuanian because here there were educated Lithuanians (from Lithuania Minor, which was as well part of East Prussia;
It was the birthplace (1690) of the mathematician Christian Goldbach and the home of the philosopher Immanuel Kant.
Of Königsberg's notable structures, the 1815 Encyclopaedia Britannica refers to "the magnificent palace in which is a hall 274 feet long and 59 broad without pillars to support it, and a handsome library.
By 1800 the city was approximately five miles in circumference and had 60,000 inhabitants (including a military garrison of 7,000).
Königsberg flourished as the capital of East Prussia.
Weimar Republic
After World War I, the creation of the Polish Corridor cut off the East Prussian land connection from the rest of Weimar Germany. The Ostmesse (East European Fair) at the Königsberg Tiergarten was organized every year since 1920, it was intended as a compensation for the geographical distance that handicapped the economic development of East Prussia and its capital Königsberg.
Third Reich
In 1932 Prussia's legal (Social Democratic) government under Otto Braun was ousted by the Reich Government, and Gauleiter Erich Koch replaced the elected local government during Nazi rule from 1933 to 1945.
In 1935, the Wehrmacht designated Königsberg as the Headquarters for Wehrkreis I, (under the command of General der Artillerie Albert Wodrig) which originally took in all of East Prussia.
Winston Churchill [WWII, Book XII] referred to Königsberg as "a modernised heavily defended fortress".
Bombing by British
In 1944 Königsberg suffered heavy damage from British air attacks and burned for several days. (Four of the attacking aircraft were lost.)
Three nights later on the 29/30 August, a further 189 Lancasters of No.
The historic city center, consisting of the quarters Altstadt, Löbenicht and Kneiphof was in fact completely destroyed, among it the dome, the castle, all churches of the city, the old and the new university and furthermore the old barnquarter.
German surrender to the Red Army
Many people fled Königsberg in advance of the Red Army's advance after October 1944, particularly after word spread of alleged Soviet atrocities at Nemmersdorf and Gumbinnen.
On April 9 — one month before the end of the war in Europe — the German military commander, General Otto Lasch, surrendered the remanants of his forces, which had numbered 35,000. (Lasch's subterranean command bunker has been preserved in Kaliningrad as a museum.)
About 50,000 survivors (out of Königsberg's prewar population of 316,000) cowered in the ruins of the devastated city.
Soviet Union
At the end of World War II in 1945, the city became part of the Soviet Union (as part of the Russian SFSR) as agreed upon by the Allies at the Potsdam Conference.
Russian Federation
Due to the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Kaliningrad Oblast became a Russian exclave, separated from the rest of Russia.
When Poland and Lithuania became members of the European Union in 2004, the region became completely surrounded by the EU.
Today, there is some debate about giving the city its old name back, as has happened in several Russian cities like St. Petersburg and Tver, which were known as Leningrad and Kalinin, respectively, during much of the Soviet time period.
Historical names
German: Königsberg Lithuanian: Karaliaučius Czech: Královec Sorbian: Kralowc Polish: Królewiec Latin: Regiomontum Dutch: Koningsbergen French: Konigsbergue Russian: Кёнигсберг Greek: ΚαινιξβέργηSightseeing
Königsberg Cathedral Sackheim Gate, Royal Gate and Brandenburg Gate Dom Sovyetov of Kaliningrad Cathedral of Christ the Saviour (Kaliningrad) Kaliningrad Zoo (formerly: "Königsberg Tiergarten") and former Ostmesse locality Ploshchad Pobedy (city centre) Kant Russian State University (formerly: "Königsberg Albertina University", "Kaliningrad University") old fortificationsCoats of arms
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Coat of Arms of Altstadt (Old town) of Königsberg, 1286 |
Modern coat of arms |
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