Holiday in Kaliningrad (Königsberg)

About Kaliningrad (Königsberg)

Kaliningrad, the former Königsberg, is one of the most fascinating anomalies of European geography. The Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea, wedged between Poland and Lithuania, was the capital of East Prussia for over 700 years and the home of Immanuel Kant before it became Soviet in 1945. Today, Kaliningrad is a city of contrasts: Prussian brick Gothic next to Soviet panel buildings, Kant's philosophy next to Putin's patriotism. The Cathedral on Kneiphof Island (now Kant Island) is the most impressive preserved building of old Königsberg. The Gothic brick cathedral from the 14th century, which houses the tomb of Immanuel Kant on its north wall, has been lovingly restored after the war and now hosts a museum and a concert hall with one of the best organs in Russia. The Amber Museum in a Prussian fortress tower showcases the world's largest collection of the "gold of the Baltic." Kaliningrad is at the center of the largest amber deposit in the world — about 90% of the world's amber comes from this region. In the museum, visitors can admire pieces with trapped insects and have amber processed in workshops. The Fisherman's Village (Rybatskaya Derevnya), an artificially created district on the Pregolya River styled like a Prussian old town, offers restaurants, a lookout tower, and a promenade. It is an attempt to revive a piece of the war-destroyed Königsberg. The Curonian Spit, a 98-kilometer-long sand dune peninsula stretching from Kaliningrad to Lithuania, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and features the "Wandering Dune of Epha" — a 60-meter-high dune with panoramic views over the lagoon and the Baltic Sea. The Königsberg Zoo, one of the oldest zoos in Europe (1896), and the numerous fortress structures from the Prussian era complete the cityscape. Kaliningrad is a journey through different epochs — Prussian, Soviet, modern Russian — and that is precisely what makes it so special.