, infobox_width = , image = Kaliningrad 05-2017 img04 Kant Island.jpg , image_size = , alt = , caption = Front (west side) of the cathedral , map_type = , map_size = , map_caption = , location = Kneiphof,

Kaliningrad Kaliningrad ( ; rus, Калининград, p=kəlʲɪnʲɪnˈɡrat, links=y), until 1946 known as Königsberg (; rus, Кёнигсберг, Kyonigsberg, ˈkʲɵnʲɪɡzbɛrk; rus, Короле́вец, Korolevets), is the largest city and ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

, geo = , latitude = , longitude = , religious_affiliation =

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Russian Orthodox Russian Orthodoxy (russian: Русское православие) is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, whose liturgy is or was traditionally conducted in Church Slavonic language. Most ...

, rite = , region = , state = , province = , territory = , prefecture = , sector = , district = , cercle = , municipality = , consecration_year = , status = Cathedral , functional_status = Former , heritage_designation = , leadership = , website = , architecture = yes , architect = , architecture_type = , architecture_style = Brick Gothic , general_contractor = , facade_direction = , groundbreaking = , year_completed = 1380 , construction_cost = , specifications = yes , capacity = , length = , width = , width_nave = , height_max = , dome_quantity = , dome_height_outer = , dome_height_inner = , dome_dia_outer = , dome_dia_inner = , minaret_quantity = , minaret_height = , spire_quantity = , spire_height = , materials = , nrhp = , added = , refnum = , designated = Königsberg Cathedral (russian: Кафедральный собор в Калининграде, Kafedralny sobor v Kaliningrade; german: Königsberger Dom) is a Brick Gothic-style monument in

, located on Kneiphof island in the Pregel (Pregolya) river. It is the most significant preserved building of the former City of

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was name ...

, which was largely destroyed in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Dedicated to

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

and St Adalbert, it was built as the see of the Prince-Bishops of Samland in the 14th century. Upon the establishment of the secular

Duchy of Prussia The Duchy of Prussia (german: Herzogtum Preußen, pl, Księstwo Pruskie, lt, Prūsijos kunigaikštystė) or Ducal Prussia (german: Herzogliches Preußen, link=no; pl, Prusy Książęce, link=no) was a duchy in the region of Prussia establish ...

, it became the Lutheran

Albertina University The Albertina is a museum in the Innere Stadt (First District) of Vienna, Austria. It houses one of the largest and most important print rooms in the world with approximately 65,000 drawings and approximately 1 million old master prints, as well ...

church in 1544. The spire and roof of the cathedral burnt down after two RAF bombing raids in late August 1944; reconstruction started in 1992, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

History

14th Century to World War II

A first smaller

cathedral was erected in the Königsberg Altstadt between 1297 and 1302. After the Samland bishop Johann Clare had acquired the eastern part of Kneiphof island from the

Teutonic Knights The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians o ...

in 1322, he and his cathedral chapter had a new see built at the site and ensured its autonomy by a 1333 treaty with Grand Master

Luther von Braunschweig Luther von Braunschweig (also known as Lothar of Brunswick; – 18 April 1335) was the 18th Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, serving from 1331 until his death. Life Luther was a younger son of the Welf duke Albert I of Brunswick-Lüne ...

. The construction is considered to have begun about 1330. The original building in Altstadt was subsequently demolished and materials from it were used to build the new cathedral on Kneiphof. The soil on which the cathedral was built was marshy, and so hundreds of oak poles were put into the ground before the construction of the cathedral could begin. After a relatively short period of almost 50 years, the cathedral was largely completed by 1380, while works on the interior frescoes lasted until the end of the 14th century. The choir contained murals from the 14th and 15th centuries, late Gothic wood carvings, and medieval monuments in the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

style, the chief of which was a statue of

Albert, Duke of Prussia Albert of Prussia (german: Albrecht von Preussen; 17 May 149020 March 1568) was a German prince who was the 37th Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, who after converting to Lutheranism, became the first ruler of the Duchy of Prussia, the s ...

, carved by Cornelis Floris de Vriendt in 1570. The cathedral originally had two spires. The spires (one north and one south) overlooked the entrance (west side) of the cathedral. In 1544 the two spires were destroyed by fire. The south spire was rebuilt, but the north spire was replaced by a simple gable roof. In 1640 a clock was built underneath the rebuilt spire, and from 1650 the famous Wallenrodt Library, donated by Martin von Wallenrodt, was situated underneath the gable roof. In 1695, an organ was installed in the cathedral. In the 19th century, the organ was restored and then renewed. On 27 September 1523, Johann Briesmann gave the first

sermon in the cathedral. From then on, until 1945, the cathedral remained

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

. Albert, Duke of Prussia, and some of his relatives, as well as other dignitaries, were buried in the cathedral.

Pre World War II photos

Image:Dom Wiederherstellung Königsberg.jpg, Inside the cathedral Image:Dom Fuerstengruft.jpg, The tomb of

World War II

Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the

Late Middle Ages The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Europe, the Renai ...

until 1945, and the easternmost large German city until it was conquered by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

near the end of

. In late August 1944, British bombers carried out two-night raids on Königsberg. The first raid, on 26/27 August, largely missed the city, but the second raid, on 29/30, destroyed most of the old part of Königsberg (including Kneiphof), and the cathedral was hit. The part of the cathedral directly underneath the spire (today's Lutheran chapel) is where 20 to 25 citizens of Koenigsberg survived during the second air raid. During reconstruction in 1992, hundreds of skeletons, mostly of children, were discovered under tons of rubble in that area. The predominance of children and the circumstances of their internment cast doubt on whether the remains were in fact victims of the air raid.

Post World War II

After the war, the cathedral remained a burnt-out shell and Kneiphof was made into a park with no other buildings. Before the war, Kneiphof had many buildings. One of the buildings was the first

building, where Immanuel Kant taught, which was situated next to the east side of the cathedral. New construction nearby includes the ''House of the Soviets''. Shortly after Kaliningrad was opened to foreigners in the early 1990s, work began to reconstruct the cathedral. In 1994 a new spire was put in place using a helicopter. In 1995 a new clock was put in place. The clock has four bells (1,180 kg, 700 kg, 500 kg & 200 kg), all cast in 1995. The clock chimes every quarter of an hour. On the hour, the clock chimes by playing the first notes of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, followed by monotonic chiming to indicate the hour. Between 1996 and 1998, work was done to construct the roof. Work was also done to put in stained glass windows. One problem during the reconstruction was the subsidence of the cathedral which had happened over time. Even during German times, the subsidence had been evident. Today, the cathedral has two chapels, one

, the other

, as well as a museum. The cathedral is also used for concerts. File:Konigsberg (Kaliningrad) cathedral.jpg, Königsberg (Kaliningrad) cathedral File:Inside the Konigsberg (Kaliningrad) cathedral.jpg, Inside the cathedral File:The new organ.jpg, The new organ File:The list of outstanding scientists from the university Konigsberg in the cathedral.jpg, The list of outstanding scientists from the

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg (german: Albertus-Universität Königsberg) was the university of Königsberg in East Prussia. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke Albert of Pruss ...

in the cathedral File:Restored glass window.jpg, Restored glass window

Kant's Tomb

The tomb of the philosopher

Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and ...

, the "Sage of Königsberg", is today in a mausoleum adjoining the northeast corner of the cathedral. The mausoleum was constructed by the architect Friedrich Lahrs and was finished in 1924 in time for the bicentenary of Kant's birth. Originally, Kant was buried inside the cathedral, but in 1880 his remains were moved outside and placed in a

neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

chapel adjoining the northeast corner of the cathedral. Over the years, the chapel became dilapidated before it was demolished to make way for the mausoleum, which was built on the same spot, where it is today.

Other burials

Heinrich Reuß von Plauen Heinrich Reuß von Plauen (died 2 January 1470) was the 32nd Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, serving from 1467 to 1470. He was the nephew of the previous Grand Master, Ludwig von Erlichshausen, and a distant relative to the 27th Grand Master, ...

Johann von Tiefen Johann von Tiefen (died 25 August 1497) was the 35th Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, serving from 1489 to 1497. Von Tiefen's date of birth is unknown, although it is believed he hailed from Switzerland. His beginnings in the Teutonic Order ...

* Martin Truchseß von Wetzhausen *

Stanislovas Rapalionis Stanislovas Svetkus Rapolionis ( la, Stanislaus Rapagel(l)anus, Stanislaus Lituanus, pl, Stanisław Rafajłowicz; – May 13, 1545) was a Lutheran activist and Protestant reformer from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. With patronage of Albert, Duke ...

Ludwig von Erlichshausen Ludwig von Erlichshausen (1410–1467) was the 31st Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, serving from 1449/1450 to 1467. As did his uncle and predecessor Konrad von Erlichshausen, Ludwig came from Ellrichshausen in Swabia, now part of Satteldo ...

* Heinrich Reffle von Richtenberg *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Konigsberg Cathedral Churches completed in 1380 Brick Gothic Buildings and structures in Germany destroyed during World War II Churches in Kaliningrad Cathedrals in Russia Churches in Kaliningrad Oblast

Cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

Gothic architecture in Russia Lutheran cathedrals Lutheran churches in Russia Russian Orthodox cathedrals in Russia Burial sites of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck 14th-century churches in Germany Burial sites of the House of Hohenzollern Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Kaliningrad Oblast