Kaliningrad ( , , , Prussian:Twānksta) is a seaport and
the administrative center of Kaliningrad Oblast
, the Russian
exclave between Poland
and Lithuania
on the Baltic
Sea
. The territory, the northern part of the
former East Prussia, borders on
NATO
and EU members
Poland and Lithuania, and is geographically separated from the rest of
Russia.
Originally
named Königsberg
, the Prussian and German town had been
founded in 1255, and was then largely destroyed during World War II. Its ruins were occupied by
the
Soviet Army in 1945 and it was renamed
Kaliningrad in 1946 in honour of
Mikhail
Kalinin. The former Russian name was
Kyonisberg (
).
At the
2002 Census, its
population was 430,003, an increase from the 401,280 recorded in
the
1989 Census. Its ethnic
composition is 77.9%
Russians, 8.0%
Belarusians, 7.3%
Ukrainians, 1.9%
Lithuanians, 0.6% Germans and 0.5%
Poles.
History
As Königsberg
The castle of Königsberg was built in 1255 by the
Teutonic Knights as a tribute to King
Ottokar II of Bohemia, who had
led a campaign against pagan
Sambians.
The town
became a member of the Hanseatic
League, then in 1457 headquarters of the Teutonic Order, and
seat of the secular Duchy of Prussia
in 1525. Königsberg became a centre of
education when the
Albertina University was
founded by Duke
Albert of
Prussia in 1544. By the act of coronation in Königsberg in
1701,
Prince-elector Frederick III of
Brandenburg became
Frederick
I,
King in Prussia.
After World War I, the creation of the Polish Corridor cut off East Prussia and Königsberg from the rest of
Weimar
Germany
.
What remained of Königsberg City
Centre in 1949.
King's castle in 1950s
the
bombing
of Königsberg in World War II in 1944, the town suffered heavy
damage from British air attacks and burned for several days. The
historic city center, including Altstadt, Löbenicht and Kneiphof,
was completely destroyed: the cathedral, the castle, all the
churches of the old city, the old and the new universities and the
old shipping quarter were destroyed. The
Battle of Königsberg raged all
through February and March 1945. The city was bombed and shelled
continuously. On April 9 the
German
military commander surrendered the remnants of his forces to
the Soviet army. About 50,000 residents (compared to Königsberg's
population on January 1, 1940 of 372,270) remained in the ruins of
the devastated city. The remaining German population was
expelled by the
Soviet Union from 1945–48.
The city
is famous in the history of
mathematics in connection with the famous Seven Bridges
of Königsberg
problem. The solution of this problem by
Leonard Euler was the beginning of the
branch of mathematics known as
graph
theory, and the first example of methods which were to form the
mathematical discipline of
Topology.
Soviet Union
Map of Kaliningrad Oblast in the
historical Northeastern Prussia
At the end
of World War II in 1945, the city became part of the Soviet Union
pending the final determination of territorial
questions at the peace settlement (as part of the Russian SFSR)
as agreed upon by the Allies at the Potsdam Conference:
VI. CITY OF KOENIGSBERG AND
THE ADJACENT AREA
The
Conference examined a proposal by the Soviet Government that pending
the final determination of territorial questions at the peace
settlement the section of the western frontier of the Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics which is adjacent to the Baltic Sea should pass from a point on the eastern shore of
the Bay of
Danzig
to the east, north of Braunsberg
and Goldap
, to the
meeting point of the frontiers of Lithuania, the Polish
Republic and East
Prussia.
The Conference has agreed in principle to the proposal of the
Soviet Government concerning the ultimate transfer to the Soviet
Union of the city of Koenigsberg and the area adjacent to it as
described above, subject to expert examination of the actual
frontier.
The President of the
United States and the British Prime Minister
have declared that they will support the proposal of the Conference
at the forthcoming peace settlement.
Koenigsberg was renamed
Kaliningrad in 1946 after
the death of
Chairman of
the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR
Mikhail Kalinin, one of the original
Bolsheviks. The German population was
expelled and
the city was repopulated with Russian citizens. German was replaced
by Russian as the language of everyday life. The city was rebuilt,
and went through industrialisation and modernisation.
As the westernmost
territory of the USSR, the
Kaliningrad
Oblast became a strategically important area during the
Cold War. The Soviet
Baltic Fleet was headquartered in the city in
the 1950s. Because of its strategic importance, Kaliningrad was
closed to foreign visitors.
In 1957 an agreement was signed and later came into force which
delimited the boundary between Poland and the Soviet Union. (Full
text: ), for other issues of the frontier
delimitation see.
Russian Federation
Kaliningrad is the only Russian Baltic Sea port that is ice-free all year around and hence
plays an important role in maintenance of the Baltic Fleet.
Due to the
collapse of the
Soviet Union in 1991, the Kaliningrad Oblast became an
exclave, geographically separated from the rest of
Russia.
This isolation from the rest of Russia
became even more pronounced politically when Poland and Lithuania became members of NATO and subsequently the
European Union in 2004. All military
and civilian land links between the region and the rest of Russia
have to pass through members of NATO and the EU. Special travel
arrangements for the territory's inhabitants have been made through
the
Facilitated Transit Document (FTD) and
Facilitated
Rail Transit Document (FRTD).
Today, there is some debate about changing the name of the city
back to "Königsberg" in the same way that several other Russian
cities have reverted to their pre-Soviet names, e.g.
St. Petersburg and
Tver
, which were known in the Soviet era as Leningrad and
Kalinin, respectively. "Kyonig" (a shortened
Russian form of "Königsberg") is often used in advertisements for
tourism companies in the region. Another possibility would be to
give it a Russian name similar to other historic Slavic names, such
as "Korolevets".
In July 2007, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister
Sergei Ivanov declared that if US-controlled
missile defense systems were
deployed in Poland, then nuclear weapons might be deployed in
Kaliningrad. On 5 November 2008, Russian leader
Dimitry Medvedev said that
installing missiles in Kaliningrad was almost a certainty. These
plans were suspended, however, in January 2009.
Geography
Kaliningrad is located at the mouth of the
navigable Pregolya
River
/Pregel River, which
empties into the Vistula
Lagoon
, an inlet of the Baltic Sea.
Sea
vessels can access Gdańsk Bay
/Bay of
Danzig
and the Baltic Sea by way of the Vistula Lagoon and the Strait of
Baltiysk
.
Until
circa 1900 ships drawing more than 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. In 1901 a
ship canal
between Königsberg and Pillau was completed at a cost of 13 million
German marks which enabled vessels of a draught to moor alongside
the town. (See also
Ports of the
Baltic Sea.)
Khrabrovo
Airport
is located north of Kaliningrad, and has a few
scheduled/charter services to several destinations throughout
Europe. There is the smaller Kaliningrad
Devau Airport
for general aviation. Kaliningrad is also
home to Kaliningrad
Chkalovsk
naval air base.
City districts
The city is divided into five city districts, called
raions.
City raion
(Gorodskoy raion) |
Russian name |
Inhabitants
1 January 2006 |
Notes |
| Baltiyskiy (Baltic raion) |
Балтийский |
67.461 |
|
| Moskovskiy (Moscow raion) |
Московский |
83.389 |
|
| Leningradskiy (Leningrad raion) |
Ленинградский |
150.757 |
named
after Leningrad, now Saint Petersburg , Russia |
| Oktyabrskiy (October raion) |
Октябрьский |
43.239 |
named after the October
revolution |
| Tsentralnyy (Central raion) |
Центральный |
78.805 |
lies to the northwest of the historical city centre |
Climate
Cityscape
Museums
Museum of History and Arts (former
city hall)
Kaliningrad has many museums.
A few examples are the Immanuel Kant museum
on the Kneiphof
island, the Museum of History and Arts, which still
has parts of the so-called Prussia collection of local
archaeological findings, and the Kaliningrad Amber Museum, which is
situated in the Dohna tower near the Rossgarten Gate
. The city also has an art gallery with eight
exhibition rooms.
The
Museum of the World's Oceans is located on the former research
vessel Wityaz on the shore of the Pregel
river. The museum displays the newest technologies on sea
research and also shows the diversity of the flora and fauna of the
world's oceans. An anchored
Foxtrot-class submarine next to the
museum, the B-413, hosts an exhibit about the Russian submarine
fleet.
Theatre
Main city's theatre
Kaliningrad
Philharmonic Orchestra is
accommodated in the former Catholic
Church of
the Holy Family
of Königsberg, built in 1907. The church was
destroyed during World War II, but rebuilt afterwards. The
building, which has noted acoustics, functions as an organ hall
since re-opening in 1980.
The city's theatre is still located in the former Königsberg
theater, which was opened in 1910. The building was rebuilt after
the war using earlier plans for the theater and opened in 1960.
The
colonnade in front af the entrance was modeled after the Bolshoi
Theatre
in Moscow.
The regionally famous Kaliningrad Puppet Theatre has had its seat
since 1975 in the Queen Louise Remembrance Church. This
neo-romantic church, designed by architect Fritz Heitmann, was
built in 1901.
Architecture
Gate of the Friedrichsburg
Castle
The former Königsberg Stock
Exchange
The
pre-war city centre (Altstadt and Kneiphof) currently consists of
parks, broad avenues, a square on the site of the former Königsberg
Castle, and only two buildings: the House of the Soviets ("Dom Sovyetov"),
roughly on the site of the former Castle, and the restored Königsberg
Cathedral
on the Kneiphof island (now "Kant island").
Immanuel Kant's grave is situated next to the Cathedral.
The new
city centre is concentrated around Victory
Square
. The Cathedral of Christ the
Saviour
, consecrated in 2005, is located on that
square.
Also worth seeing are the former Stock Exchange, the surviving
churches, and the remaining city gates.
In anti-clockwise order these
gates are: the Sackheim
Gate
( ), King's Gate
( ), Rossgarten Gate ( ), Attack Gate ( ), Railway Gate ( ), Brandenburg
Gate
( ), and Friedland
Gate ( ). Apart from the already mentioned Dohna tower,
which houses the Amber museum, the Wranger tower also remains as a
reminder of the former Königsberg city walls. Only the gate of the
former Friedrichsburg Castle remains.
Monuments
The Kant statue.
Monument for the 1200 Guardsmen.
Notable monuments include the statue of
Immanuel Kant in front of the
Immanuel Kant State
University of Russia. The statue was made by famous sculptor
Christian Daniel Rauch and
unveiled in 1864. The statue was destroyed in 1945, but was
remoulded in 1992 on the initiative of
Marion Dönhoff. Also worth seeing is the
Cosmonaut monument, which honours the Kaliningrad cosmonauts
Alexei Leonov,
Yuri Romanenko and
Alexander Viktorenko. Other statues and
monuments include the statue for count Albrecht, the statue for
Friedrich Schiller, the statue
for tsar
Peter the Great, the
"Mother Russia" monument, and the Monument for the 1200 Guardsmen,
remembering the
Battle of
Königsberg.
Parks
The
Kaliningrad
Zoo
was opened as the Königsberg Zoo in 1896.
The collection, which extends over 16.5
ha,
comprises 315 species with a total of 2264 individual animals (as
of 2005). The Kaliningrad zoo is also an arboretum.
Lower Pond
Centrally
located in the city is Lower Pond
( ), an artificial lake. Lower Pond is
surrounded by a promenade, and the area is popular for recreation,
especially in summer.
Culture
Music
The modern city and region of Kaliningrad is home to the
Kaliningrad
Regional Philharmonic and Symphony Orchestra, the
Lik male
chamber choir and the
Garmonika Russian
music ensemble, as well as the
Kaliningrad Chamber
Orchestra.
Cuisine
Rosgarten gate - now a
restaurant
Kaliningrad has its own vodka and beer brands,
Stari
Konigsberg and
Ostmark respectively. Since the
early 1990s many new restaurants have opened
in the city. These restaurants offer culinary specialities of
former
East Prussia, like
Königsberger Klopse, but also many
fish and salad dishes, Italian pizza and sushi, which is as popular
in Kaliningrad as in the rest of Russia. Königsberger Fleck, a
bovine tripe soup and yet another culinary speciality from former
Königsberg, no longer belongs to the eating culture of
Kaliningrad.
The people of Kaliningrad generally imported their respective
culinary traditions to the region when they settled in the area
after 1945.
Borshch and
okroshka are very popular, like in the rest of
Russia.
Transport
Kaliningrad central railway
station
A Kaliningrad tram
Kaliningrad's airport is located near Khrabrovo. The airport mainly connects Kaliningrad to
other Russian cities, but also offers flights to cities in
Western Europe and Israel.
In Baltiysk one can take a ferry to Saint Petersburg, Copenhagen
, Riga
, and
Kiel
. Kaliningrad's international train station
is
Kaliningrad
Passazhirskiy, which in German times was known as
Königsberg Hauptbahnhof.
Trains depart in the directions of
Malbork
, Berlin
, Baltiysk, Moscow
, Saint
Petersburg, Minsk
, Kharkiv
, Anapa
, and
Bagrationovsk
. A unique feature of the Kaliningrad railway
is that the track in the direction of Berlin has a normal gauge,
instead of the common Russian
broad
gauge.
Regional trains depart from
Kaliningrad Severnyy,
the former
Königsberg Nordbahnhof, which is situated on
Victory Square, the current city centre.
Trains depart to
Zelenogradsk
and Svetlogorsk
and also once a day to Sovetsk
.
In 1881 the Königsberg tramway was opened, and it still functions
to this day. In 1975 a trolleybus system was also introduced.
Economy
In 1996 Kaliningrad was designated a
Special Economic Zone. Manufacturers
based there get tax and
customs duty breaks
on the goods they send back to Russia. Although corruption was an
early deterrent, that policy means the region is now a
manufacturing hub. One in three televisions in Russia is made in
Kaliningrad, and it is home to
Hummer and
BMW car plants. Now Kaliningrad's major
industries are manufacturing, shipping, fishing and amber products.
Moscow
has declared it will turn the region into "the Russian Hong Kong
".
The
European
Commission
provides funds for business projects under its
special programme for Kaliningrad. The region has begun to
see increasing trade with the countries of the
EU as well as increasing
economic growth and rising industrial
output. With an average
GDP
growth of more than 10% per year for three years to 2007,
Kaliningrad is growing faster than any other region in Russia, even
outstripping the success of its EU neighbours.
Military
Baltic fleet headquarters
Kaliningrad
Oblast used to be the most heavily militarized area of the
Russian Federation, and the density of military infrastructure was the
highest in Europe. It was the headquarters of the former Soviet
Baltic Military District.
Kaliningrad also functions as the
headquarters of the Russian Baltic
Fleet, circled by Chernyakhovsk 
, Donskoye 
and Kaliningrad Chkalovsk (naval air base).
Sports
Kaliningrad is home to the football club
FC Baltika Kaliningrad, which plays
in the
Russian First
Division.
Notable residents
- See also: List of people from
Königsberg
- Writers
- Athletes
- Cosmonauts
- Others
International relations
Twin towns - Sister cities
Kaliningrad is twinned with:
See also
References
- Kaliningrad Oblast
- Learn Russian in Russia
- Transit from/to Kaliningrad Region,
www.euro.lt
- Council Regulation (EC) No 693/2003,
eur-lex.europa.eu
- "Medvedev Says Russia to Deploy Missiles Near
Poland" Associated Press via Yahoo News
- "Russia scraps plans to deploy nuclear-capable
missiles in Kaliningrad" The Guardian
- Classics Today.com - Your Online Guide to Classical
Music
- 'Kaliningrad erases stains of past' 16 October
2006
- 'Regions and territories: Kaliningrad' 18 December
2007
External links
, March 1997.
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