Royal castle Koenigsberg in Kaliningrad. Royal Königsberg Castle, now ruins...

the Royal Castle

The construction of the Royal Castle in Warsaw began simultaneously with the construction of the city, and not at a distance from it, but as one of the organic elements in the system of defensive walls, as a corner bastion of fortification. This wooden and earthen castle was built at the end of the 13th century by Prince Konrad I of Mazovia. At first the city was made of wood, and the first monumental brick structure on its territory was the tall Grodskaya Tower, which was also called the Great Tower. At first, this tower housed a prison for the gentry, and today you can still see carved coats of arms, signs and inscriptions on its walls. In the 15th century, part of the tower collapsed, and in documents of that time it began to be called Broken: in its original form, it survived only up to the second floor.

Princess Anna, the wife of Prince Conrad II, significantly expanded the princely residence, which looked like a quadrangle with four gates and four towers at the corners. The castle was surrounded by a wall and deep ditches with drawbridges. Scientists believe that already in the middle of the 16th century, two ceremonial residence ensembles grew up on the territory of the castle, which at the same time had a defensive significance. After the death of the last of the Masovian princes, Warsaw came into the possession of kings from the Jagiellonian dynasty, and the castle was occupied by Sigismund the Old. Repair and construction work was carried out in it several times, but they occurred irregularly and did not particularly affect the architectural appearance of the castle.

Under Sigismund Augustus ( the last king from the Jagiellonian dynasty) Warsaw, located almost in the very center of the state, acquired much greater importance than ever before, and the king was going to seriously rebuild the Royal Castle. In 1563, royal architects created a model of a new castle, but construction work began only in the summer of 1569. The interior of the Big House underwent especially great changes: a hall (30x10 m) was built on the ground floor, in which meetings of the State Sejm began to be held.

The royal apartments were located in the New Royal House, which stood at an obtuse angle to the Great House. Such an unusual location of both buildings was explained by the terrain and the shape of the high, steep bank of the Vistula. In 1572, the reconstruction of the castle was interrupted due to the sudden death of King Sigismund Augustus, and after that no major construction work was carried out there.

A new period in the history of the Royal Castle begins at the turn of the 16th-17th centuries, when King Sigismund III of the Vasa dynasty decides to move the capital of the state from Krakow to Warsaw. Many government institutions were moving to the new capital, to accommodate which it was necessary to expand the castle. According to the project of the chief royal architect D. Trevano, who supervised the construction of a permanent residence for the king, his family, court and numerous government institutions, a complex of buildings was erected near the pentagonal palace and two courtyards appeared in a shape approaching a triangle. The entire ensemble was dominated by a tower with a high baroque roof.

The construction of the northern and western wings of the new Royal House with a high tower and the southern wing dragged on for 25 years, and the Royal Castle was completed only by 1610, and the tower was erected in 1619. It was called Sigismund's Tower (after the king), and it was also called the Clock Tower, since there was a large clock on it, on the dial of which the date was placed - 1622. No images of this castle have survived, except for a very approximate representation of its architectural forms in panoramic images cities. However, it is known that the castle was a quadrangle and consisted of individual parts. In one of them, which occupied part of Castle Square and was called “Chest” One Hundred Great Castles / comp. ON THE. Ionina. - Moscow: Veche, 2004. - P. 193, trials were held. The second part of the castle, with an extensive courtyard, was intended for royal apartments, and the third was occupied by courtiers and various services.

In the first half of the 17th century, the Royal Castle witnessed important state events, and in addition, it housed a rich collection of paintings, which included paintings by Rubens, Rembrandt and other great artists. Shakespeare's plays were performed in the castle theater during the author's lifetime, and during the reign of King Vladislav IV, a new theater was built for the old Italian opera.

In 1644, King Władysław erected a monument to his father, King Sigismund III. The monument consisted of a marble column of the Corinthian order, which was crowned by a copper, fire-gilded statue of the king - a monarch and a warrior: a coronation cloak falls from his shoulders, revealing knightly armor. In his right hand the king holds a curved saber, in his left - a cross, its size exceeding the statue itself. When the column fell into disrepair, it was replaced with a new one, and the old one - with traces of bullets from street battles - was located in the courtyard of the nearby Bernardin monastery.

The splendor of the Royal Castle was brought to an end by the Swedish intervention of 1655-1656. The castle, burned and ravaged by the Swedes, remained abandoned for a long time. King Augustus II, instead of restoring the historical residence of the Polish monarchs, built himself a new palace, which was called “Saxon”. But the castle was slightly improved: the part of it that faced the Vistula was updated, and some of the halls were decorated. All planned work to restore the castle had not yet been completed when a fire occurred in 1767.

A year before the fire, Stanislaw-August Poniatowski was elected to the Polish throne, who brought with him that love of art and the “mania of construction” to which all European sovereigns were subject at that time. The new king sets up a theater in Warsaw Castle and gathers architects at his court and painters, he loves literature, even encourages satire, which castigates the corruption of morals in Polish society, curious relics and too hasty imitation of everything new. Major construction work begins at the Royal Castle, and in general, Warsaw owes all its monuments, reflecting the art and tastes of the 18th century, to the era of the reign of Stanisław-August Poniatowski.

The king entrusted the drawing up of projects for the construction of the castle to the Italian D. Merlini. Construction began in 1770 and ended 16 years later. In addition to D. Merlini, the artists M. Bacciarelli and Plersh, the sculptor J. Monaldi and other master performers were involved in the decoration of the Royal Castle. Three new halls of the Castle were dedicated to the history of Poland, the development of science and art in the Age of Enlightenment. The walls of the Knights' Hall were decorated with 6 large canvases by M. Bacciarelli, dedicated to important social and state events. The decorative decoration of the Knights' Hall was complemented by bronze and painted portraits of outstanding commanders, diplomats, poets and scientists, and among them - a portrait of the great astronomer N. Copernicus.

On the walls of the adjacent room, called the Marble Cabinet, there were portraits of 23 Polish kings. And in the Conference Room, located near the Throne Room, there were 7 portraits of European sovereigns - contemporaries of King Stanislaus Augustus, which meant close ties between Poland and other European states. The throne room was upholstered in red damask velvet and decorated with rich sculptural carvings in the form of gilded foliage. The canopy of the royal throne was decorated with eagles sewn with silver threads.

The most magnificent in the Royal Castle was the Ballroom, the walls of which were decorated with double columns of golden knock, above them was spread the beautiful ceiling “The Birth of Light”, created by M. Bacciarelli on a mythological plot.

When King Stanisław August left Warsaw, the castle fell into complete disrepair, and the partitions of Poland put an end to its splendor. The most valuable collections were taken out of it, and in the 19th century the castle was used for office purposes, and its lower floors were even rented out to private individuals. Napoleon, during his stay in Warsaw in 1806, occupied part of the castle, and then the King of Saxony (and the Duke of Warsaw) ordered the restoration of the castle and lived in it along with his court. During the reign of Russian Emperor Alexander I, when Warsaw began to be decorated with new buildings, the old Royal Castle was not forgotten. The Krakow Gate and the buildings in front of the castle were broken, after which two of its walls opened. On the Vistula side, hanging gardens were built on high arches, from which a distant view of the river and the outskirts of Prague opened up.

After Poland gained independence in 1918, Polish restorers returned the Castle to its original appearance and the historical halls to their splendor. The next disaster for the castle came at the very beginning of World War II. In mid-September 1939, when German pilots began bombarding the Castle with incendiary bombs, the roofs began to burn. After the Castle was subjected to even more heavy bombardment, it was decided to transport its most valuable collections to National Museum, since it had finally become clear that the Nazis wanted to destroy the Castle to the ground. At the very beginning of November 1939, Hitler ordered it to be razed to the ground in order to destroy this symbol of the Polish state and people. Hitler's sappers drilled 10,000 holes in the walls of the Castle for dynamite charges, but, fortunately, this barbaric act was postponed. But before the enemy fled Warsaw in November 1944, dynamite charges were placed in the prepared holes, and the walls of the Castle were blown into the air.

It turned into ruins, and on Castle Square, near the blown-up column and the smoking ruins of Warsaw, lay a monument to King Sigismund III.

Legends and were of the Royal Castle of Königsberg

Komsomolskaya Pravda has prepared a special project dedicated to the main virtual attraction of Kaliningrad

762 years ago, according to the German chronicler Peter of Dusburg, Königsberg Castle was founded on the high bank of the Pregel River. The appearance of the castle, and subsequently the city of the same name, is associated with the King of Bohemia, Ottokar II Przemysl, who at that time led a crusade against the pagan Prussians. Many historians also say that Königsberg (translated from German as King’s Mountain) received its name thanks to Ottokar. However, there are different versions on this matter. Be that as it may, today Königsberg Castle, which stood until the early 1970s, when it was finally blown up, in Kaliningrad, and not only is called Royal.

Several decades have passed since the castle does not physically exist, but despite all this, it is one of the two most popular buildings in modern Kaliningrad (the second building is, of course, the House of Soviets). They constantly talk and write about him, his photographs are hung on city streets and in the offices of Kaliningrad companies, experts, politicians and ordinary people argue frantically over whether the castle needs to be restored. One opinion: it is necessary - it will again become the architectural dominant of the city center. Other: in no case, because the restoration of the castle is nothing more than an act of “creeping Germanization.” And these disputes, it seems, will not subside soon. More precisely, they will calm down when the castle is either finally restored, or another shopping center (or something similar) appears in its place.

Be that as it may, the Royal Castle still exists in the minds of Kaliningrad residents, it is constantly discussed and written about. We write too. Today, for example, exactly 762 years after the moment when Ottokar and his comrades laid the first stone on the Royal Mountain (this happened in winter, and the construction itself started six months later), Komsomolskaya Pravda presents to your attention a small special project dedicated to this important, but virtual landmarks of our city.

Castle with royal status

Just like any other self-respecting medieval city Europe, the most important first defensive, then administrative, and then simply tourist site in Königsberg was the castle. Which, accordingly, was called Koenigsberg. It was already in Soviet folklore that they began to call him Royal. Although, to be fair, there is a certain logic in this. Although Kaliningrad archivist Anatoly Bakhtin, a major specialist in the history of the Teutonic Order, there are doubts about the “royal” origin of Königsberg Castle.

Castle yard. On the right is the once popular restaurant "Blütgericht".

In the footsteps of Ottokar II

But what, Anatoly Pavlovich, because according to the most popular version, the castle was called Royal because it was founded on the personal orders of the Czech king Ottokar II, who led the next crusade to Prussia?

No one can reliably confirm this, although such a mention is made by the famous chronicler Peter of Dusbrug in his “Chronicle of the Prussian Land”. But I doubt that Ottokar was even here. Most likely, his army, returning along the ice of the frozen river from Tapiau (modern Gvardeysk. - Ed.), did not go along the now known channel, but along a different one and went straight to the bay. The king himself, after the goal of the campaign was achieved: several fortresses were taken and the Prussian tribes were brought into submission, probably remained in the Rudau region (the current village of Melnikovo. - Ed.), where he met with local princes who converted to the Christian faith and received gifts and privileges for this. However, this is just a hypothesis. Be that as it may, later a well-known legend (the authenticity of which can be debated) took shape and took root among the masses. This often happens in history.

- But there are no doubts about the date of foundation of the castle?

Not the slightest. In the winter of 1255, the territory was captured, and in the summer they began to build a fortress. Again, it is not known for certain whether, as they say, there was a Prussian sacred grove in this place, there was an ordinary fortification, or there was nothing there at all. Perhaps the archaeological excavations currently underway at the site of Königsberg Castle will bring some clarity. But for the construction of a strong point, the protruding part of the steep bank above the Pregel floodplain was ideal. Since it was already surrounded by river waters on three sides, all that remained was to dig up the base of this small peninsula with a ditch. Then build a defensive rampart, topping it with a palisade. This fortress itself was of modest size - less than 100 by 100 meters. But the order immediately set its sights on a larger site next door, to which they soon began to transport stones for a more substantial castle. Although its construction, I think, began only 15-20 years later, because it took time to procure the required amount of building materials, then the Second Prussian Uprising broke out...

- By the way, the rebels were never able to take Königsberg Castle then?

- Failed. It so happened that no one could ever take him. The stone castle was never even stormed. Based on the fact that the usual construction period for a castle was at least a decade, it was only by the 90s of the 13th century that the entire perimeter was made of stone. But by that time, the order’s possessions had already expanded so much that Königsberg Castle was far from the borders on which the war was fought. fighting. The Lithuanians sometimes reached it during their raids, but, of course, they did not dare to undertake a long and difficult siege of such an impressive structure. In size, Königsberg Castle was second only to Marienburg, although later it seemed to be surpassed in this regard by Ragnit (modern Neman. - Ed.). The base, about three meters high, was made of wild stone, on which brick walls and towers rose.

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Königsberg Castle had the usual rectangular shape for these buildings of the Teutonic Order - in this case, elongated from west to east. It was surrounded by a double wall with four corner towers - two on the north and south sides. Of these, only the octagonal Haberturm (that is, the Oat Tower) in the northeastern corner of the fortress remained until modern times. Built at the end of the 14th century, the main Schlossturm tower crowned the entire architectural ensemble. Inside the fortress, in the western half of the castle courtyard, the Convention building was located. It contained a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary and a refectory. Adjacent to the inner ring of the fortress wall was a hospital, a shelter for elderly knights - a firmarium, a small barn and other premises. There was a well in the center of the courtyard.

When lime is stronger than stone

- Were the bricks for such a large-scale construction made right there, on site?

Yes. Clay was dumped into the dug ditches, filled with water and left to settle for several years, stirring occasionally. This was necessary in order to remove lime impurities - if this is not done, the lime will then simply explode the brick. When the mixture reached the required conditions, we began to form bricks.

They say that the traces of animals and people found on order bricks are connected with some mysterious rituals practiced by the builders of Teutonic castles?

Complete nonsense. They simply dried the brick right there, next to the housing. Children, dogs, various domestic animals were running around the site - no, no, someone was stepping on the still plastic clay. I myself came across bricks, for example, with traces of bird feet. In general, no magic or other cabalism, just ordinary everyday moments.

But what about the bonding solution, which was allegedly mixed with blood, egg yolks and other exotic ingredients - also lies?

Well, maybe eggs and other things were added somewhere to increase strength, since they write that. But the builders of the Teutonic castles did not particularly need this, since they had at their disposal the best lime in all of Europe, which was delivered from Sweden. Over the years, not only did it not crumble or weather, but, on the contrary, it only became harder. Its quality can be judged at least by this fact. While working on Balga, I needed a cobblestone. On a stone that had fallen out of the old wall, there were remnants of medieval lime, which I decided to chip off. But in the end, the stone itself split, but the lime remained intact...

- What was Königsberg Castle like at the first stage of its existence?

According to the statutes of the Teutonic Order, the permanent presence of 12 knights plus the commander in the castle was quite sufficient. Although here everything depended on the size of the fortress. Since Königsberg Castle was quite large, from 40 to 80 order brothers could live in it at the same time. Therefore, the purpose of the castle in those harsh times was purely utilitarian; it did not shine with special beauty. A kind of stone box with narrow loopholes instead of normal windows. The basement and first floor were used for storage of various equipment and products. On the second floor there was a refectory, a meeting room and bedrooms - a kind of knightly dormitory. On the topmost - third (sometimes fourth) floor, away from dampness, grain reserves were usually stored. Along the perimeter there was a military passage with embrasures both outside and inside the castle. The latter was done in case the besiegers broke through into the castle courtyard. There was also a pre-castle fortification - a fort, where other premises could have been arranged, say, for the Supreme Marshal of the Teutonic Order, who had a residence here. A two-story building was built for such an important leader.

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After the reform of the administration of the order carried out in 1309, Königsberg became the residence of the order marshal. And above the extensive cellars, where the famous Königsberg wine restaurant “Blütgericht” was later built, a so-called marshal’s house with residential and service premises was erected. When the Supreme Master moved in there in 1457, the entire building began to be called the Hochmeister wing. Later, the court court, the budget ministry, the chamber of military and state property, and the state archive of East Prussia were located there. The exhibition collection of the Königsberg State Library was also kept there.

Where does the underground passage lead?

Well, what would a medieval castle be without an underground passage! They say that there were several of these in Königsberg, including one that stretched under the river bottom to the island of Kneiphof?

Alas, only one underground passage is reliably known - the same one that was rediscovered during archaeological excavations several years ago. Which for some reason has not yet been cleared, which, I must admit, surprises me extremely. But this can be done even by volunteers, if there is not enough money. Even in response to my questions, representatives of the historical and art museum, in whose jurisdiction the object is located, referred to the need to obtain various permits for work and other bureaucratic red tape. But it seems to me that no one simply wants to seriously get involved with this work. We also know about a secret communication linking the castle with the fort. But it was a relatively short and shallow underground passage, and it was probably destroyed already in Soviet time when the Central Square with its fountain was being built.

It is known that over the centuries-old history of its existence, Königsberg Castle was rebuilt several times. How significant were the changes in his appearance?

Well, by the 18th century, or even earlier, from the medieval Gothic there, in addition to the basements, only small fragments remained in the northern wing. During the Thirteen Years' War, the southern wall was badly damaged. There was a period in early XIX century, when a significant part of the castle was completely destroyed - either after a fire, or as a result of some other incident. This is even reflected in the engravings. And in this completely unsightly form it existed for quite a long time, although at that time it was still considered royal. Intensive restructuring began during the reign of Duke Albrecht, who no longer needed a military castle, but a secular palace.

In which there are not cramped cells, but spacious rooms, not narrow loopholes, but wide windows. Then came the time of the Baroque, when Gothic was generally considered barbaric architecture. They rushed to plaster everything, all the castles: Brandenburg, Insterburg... even the Cathedral on the island was also plastered. Only by 1911, when it was carried out large-scale reconstruction, the plaster was finally knocked down. Then another restructuring followed. Let's say, if we take the most popular view, thanks to postcards, from the side of the facade, then the huge window in the center was replaced by many smaller openings.

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After the secularization of the Prussian possessions of the Order by Albrecht of Brandenburg in 1525, Königsberg Castle became the property of the Duke of Prussia and was once again reconstructed. In 1697, the Elector of Brandenburg and the Duke of Prussia, Frederick III, received the Grand Embassy of Peter I at the castle. The so-called Muscovite Hall remained in memory of this event. The coronation of the first Prussian king, Frederick I, took place in the castle church in 1701.

Royal status

Despite all these upheavals, Königsberg Castle invariably remained the most status object for the city?

Without a doubt. Since the 18th century, Prussian kings have always been crowned here. After the unification of Germany in 1870, the Prussian kings became Kaisers (emperors). But before becoming the ruler of the empire, he first had to receive the title of King of Prussia. It should be noted that Soviet architects were well aware of this status, because Moscow specialists insisted on the conservation of the ruins and the subsequent restoration of the Königsberg Castle. It was the local party elite that somehow managed to insist on its complete demolition. Even under the Germans, in order to achieve a beautiful view of the castle, entire streets of houses that surrounded it closely were demolished on the southern and southwestern sides. There were even many extensions directly to the castle walls - especially from the north. Archaeologists working at the castle site recently stumbled upon the foundations that remained from them. They didn’t even immediately understand what it was...

- How realistic are the plans to recreate Königsberg Castle?

If desired, this can be done without any problems. Although medieval technologies, of course, will no longer be used. But there are many other ways. Of course, restoration on the original foundations is unrealistic. Perhaps there should be a concrete base, lined with boulders at the bottom and brick at the top, as it once was. As for the form in which the castle should be restored, this is, without a doubt, in its condition in 1944 - this is the most recognizable form. I do not rule out that in the first few years many, especially inveterate aesthetes, will spit in disgust when they look at the “remake.” But think how quickly Kaliningraders got used to the same Fish Village! And then, in this part of the city an architectural dominant is needed, which could serve as the basis for the planned restoration of the cities of Altstadt and Kneiphof. The House of Soviets is clearly not suitable for such a role.

Where to look for the treasures of the Royal Castle

Over its 700-year history, Königsberg has accumulated so many cultural artifacts that it would be more than enough for several cities. Today in Kaliningrad we have only a small fraction of what was in the city before the war. The most valuable things were either swept away by the fire of war, or dispersed to unknown places, or moved to other cities and already there delight curious tourists.

Back in January 1945, Stalin issued a decree “On the procedure for using captured national economic property,” which stated what to do with what, says Sergei Yakimov, director of the Historical and Art Museum. – The decree did not say a word about cultural values! Therefore, the attitude of the Red Army military leaders towards them was appropriate.

The royal castle boasted rich collections of weapons and military equipment.

The Mystery of the Amber Room

The most valuable exhibit of Königsberg was, of course, the Amber Room, which the Nazis took from the Catherine Palace in Pushkin. They have been searching for it throughout the post-war period; they have dug up tons of East Prussian soil, but so far the search has not been crowned with success. IN Lately The version that the room does not exist in Kaliningrad is becoming increasingly popular - either it was taken outside of East Prussia, or it burned down during one of the many fires in the Royal Castle.

General Smirnov, the first commandant of Koenigsberg, writes that during the examination of the Royal Castle, many books, paintings, carpets, dishes and other valuable items from Petrodvorets and Gatchina were found, continues Sergei Yakimov. – There, in one of the rooms of the southern wing, a book of records of the castle museum was discovered, in which the Amber Room was listed as number 200. I can tell you as a museum worker that if museum objects are transported somewhere, then so are the accounting books.

It turns out that the Amber Room was not moved anywhere? So she died in a fire?

“I read documents from that time in which there is not a word about the fire,” continues the museum director. – The fire happened, I suspect, later.

The chair from the Tiled Hall of the Royal Castle and the frame of the crown with the scepter of King Frederick I of Königsberg are now in Charlottenburg Palace. And books from the Silver Library of Duke Albrecht ended up in the university library of Toruń.

Sergei Yakimov told a story about the keeper of the amber room, Professor Alfred Rhode. In his opinion, if the Amber Room had been taken away, then Rode would certainly have left - such is the fate of all curators of museum collections: they follow their collection like a thread following a needle. However, the professor remained in Königsberg and one day came to the military commandant’s office. “My name is Professor Rohde,” he said. “Last night your soldiers raped my wife and stripped me.”

Along with Professor Rohde, the mystery of the Amber Room perished. Many have no doubt that it is still stored somewhere in the Kaliningrad region. Or another version is that the room was taken out in a hurry, and after that there was a fire in the castle.

If at least some mention remains of the Amber Room, then the fate of the entire two museums is covered in deep darkness. It's about about the Museum of the Teutonic Order in Lochstedt Castle, the ruins of which are located near Primorsk, and the Pillau Museum.

There was an interesting story with Lochstedt,” says Sergei Yakimov. – When our troops took the castle, they found there exhibits of the Vilnius Historical Museum, which the Germans had taken away at the beginning of the war. And - not the slightest trace of the Order Museum. No books, no paintings, no knight's armor - nothing!

This is what the historical center of Königsberg looked like in the late 1930s.

There was an interesting story with Lochstedt,” says Sergei Yakimov. – When our troops took the castle, they found there exhibits of the Vilnius Historical Museum, which the Germans had taken away at the beginning of the war. And - not the slightest trace of the Order Museum. No books, no paintings, no knight's armor. Nothing!

Sergei Yakimov suggests that the exhibits of the Lochstedt Museum were packed into boxes and hidden somewhere some time before the Soviet offensive on Pillau.

"Silver Library" and the "Prussia" collection

In the Royal Castle, which at the beginning of the last century the Germans turned into a museum complex, and in addition to the Amber Room, there was a huge amount of cultural property. It is enough to mention the extensive collection of amber, which was collected over centuries, a collection of royal regalia, ceremonial portraits of Prussian kings and other paintings, weapons. The castle housed the famous “Silver Library” - 20 volumes of ancient books in silver bindings, the richest archaeological collection of the Prussia Museum... Most of these treasures were lost during a British air raid in August 1944 - then the castle, like the entire central part of Königsberg, suffered greatly. The Germans managed to take something to the interior of Germany. The rest disappeared in an unknown direction and after war time collected bit by bit. I managed to collect, admittedly, not much.

A huge part of the cultural property was exported as trophies, but this was not recorded as cultural property, says Sergei Yakimov. “They disappeared into the vastness of the vast Soviet Union. They also settled in the apartments of Kaliningrad residents. But something still remains hidden underground.

The fate of the archaeological museum "Prussia" - a collection of antiquities from the times of Prussian tribes and Teutonic knights - is characteristic. Before the advance of the Red Army, the collection was dispersed in different places. It is assumed that one part of it, stored in the basements of the Royal Castle, burned down during a fire back in August 1944, the other was discovered in the post-war period in Poland in the city of Kętrzyn. Well, the biggest surprise awaited the search engines at the turn of the millennium. A significant part of the Prussia Museum, already plundered by black diggers, was found in the casemates of one of the Königsberg forts. Now it is exhibited in the Historical and Art Museum.

The famous Königsberg libraries have also been preserved. Now, however, they are far from our city.

Most of the “Silver Library” (14 volumes) was discovered in the Polish city of Torun, and now unique books are in Warsaw. As for the collection of books from the 16th – 18th centuries, the so-called. The Wallenrod Library, which was located in the Königsberg Cathedral, the remaining part of it is scattered in different corners. 291 bindings from a unique 10,000-strong collection were discovered in 1981 in the Uzkoye estate near Moscow and then transferred to Kaliningrad State University. However, the lion's share of surviving books today is in various collections in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Poland and Lithuania.

Excavations at the castle site have been taking place since the 90s of the last century. Something has come across, although there are no sensational finds yet.

They collected 1,500 boxes of extremely valuable property! - says Sergey Yakimov. “Only among the collected scientific equipment was there something that was not produced anywhere else and that could not be bought for any money.

And yet the valuable cargo was appreciated. Its approximate cost was about 10 million rubles in gold... And this was only what they managed to find immediately after the assault, what did not have time to burn, was not hidden and did not become personal trophies immediately after the capture of the city by the Red Army.

A huge part of cultural property was taken out as trophies, but this was not recorded as cultural property, says Sergei Yakimov. “They disappeared into the vastness of the vast Soviet Union. They also settled in the apartments of Kaliningrad residents. But something still remains hidden underground.

Andrey Przhezdomsky

Koenigsberg was not only a transit point for valuables transported by the Nazis, but also had its own cultural, historical, scientific and technical resources. The city had dozens of museums, research and educational institutes, laboratories, libraries, archives, and financial institutions. Each of these objects contained hundreds and thousands of exhibits, tomes, paintings, objects of decorative and applied art, unique scientific instruments and what is usually stored in bank safes, says the researcher. - During the war years, these collections were significantly replenished with trophies exported by the Nazis from the occupied territories of Poland and the Soviet Union, material assets confiscated from Jews sent to their deaths in Auschwitz, Majdanek, Treblinka and other concentration camps. Considering that from the beginning of the war in 1939 to mid-1944, Königsberg, unlike most cities in Germany, was the calmest city, since it was not subject to Allied bombing (our two raids in 1941 do not count), they concentrated here various items Nazi plunder from Central and Western Europe - from France, Benelux, Czechoslovakia...

A painting by the Bohemian artist Matthias Zwischek, which was kept in the Royal Castle, is now in Berlin.

So, what was stored in Königsberg? Let's start with what was kidnapped by the Nazis on Soviet territory. These include exhibits of Belarusian museums (about 12 thousand) - paintings by outstanding artists, icons of Russian and Western European painters (at least 1.7 thousand), antique furniture by Russian masters, collections of artistic porcelain from Russian, Chinese and Western European masters, carpets and tapestries. The Nazis took no less number of trophies to Königsberg from the territory of occupied Ukraine: over 1.5 thousand exhibits from the Museum of Russian Art in Kyiv; more than a thousand paintings, including paintings by Aivazovsky, Vasnetsov, Vrubel, Kramskoy, Shishkin; about a thousand icons from the Kiev Pechersk Lavra; folding icons, Caucasian sabers and daggers from Taganrog museums, etc. And the suburban palaces of Leningrad in Pushkin, Pavlovsk, Gatchina! The Nazis plundered them completely. There are park sculptures, tens of thousands of volumes of rare books and manuscripts, paintings by artists Spielberg, Zegers, Corrado, Bessonov and many others, French grandfather clocks, crystal chandeliers, porcelain vases and thousands of other exhibits.

Koenigsberg treasures from museums and private collections also make up a considerable part of the valuables lost during the war. The Silver Library of Duke Albrecht, a significant part of the collection of the Amber Collection of the Geological and Paleontological Institute, gold and silver jewelry, antique porcelain and earthenware, Limoges enamels, many sculptural works and paintings. And there is no need to talk about precious metals and stones, bars of gold and platinum, gold and silver coins, as well as thousands of gold crowns knocked out from prisoners, living and dead. A huge number of them were stored in safes and special underground shelters.

How the witch was drowned in the cat's stream

Despite the fact that only dungeons remain of the Königsberg Castle, it is the most famous landmark of modern Kaliningrad. At least those that have not survived to this day. It is worth adding that many mysteries and secrets, legends and tales, as well as quite scientific assumptions and disputes are associated with the Koenigsberg Castle.

At the beginning of the 18th century, the witches who lived in Königsberg looked something like this.

Nomadic Fortress

To begin with, the very foundation of the fortification, around which the city of Königsberg later grew, still raises many questions. It is known for certain that the castle owes its origin to the King of Bohemia, Ottokar II Przemysl, who in December 1254 led another crusade to Prussia to help the Teutonic Order, which was exhausted in a difficult struggle with the pagans.

Concentrating his forces on Balga, on the morning of January 9, 1255, Ottokar moved across the bay to Medenau (the modern village of Logvino in the Zelenograd region). “...The king entered Sambia with his army near the volost called Medenov, and, having burned everything that could be taken by fire, and having captured and killed many people, he spent the night there,” writes the order’s chronicler Peter from Dusburg. - The next day he came to the Rudov volost (the village of Rudau - now Melnikovo. - Ed.) and took the castle with a powerful blow. And such a massacre of the Sambian people was done there that the nobles offered hostages to the king, asking him ... not to destroy the entire people.”

Further, Ottokar’s bloody path lay through Waldau (Lower Guryevsky District), Kaimen (Zarechye) and Tapiau (Gvardeysk). “... So that he would not inflict on them (the Prussians) the same massacre as the others, each of them (the Prussian leaders) gave his sons as hostages, pledging under pain death penalty humbly obey the demands of the faith and brothers, continues Peter of Doesburg. “When all this was duly accomplished, the king... having walked to the mountain where the Koenigsberg castle now stands, he and his brothers decided to erect a castle there to defend the faith and left them wonderful royal gifts to help build it.”

After this, considering his pilgrim mission completed, the king left for home. That is, it may well turn out that Ottokar never visited the mountain itself on the banks of the Pregolya, only from afar appreciating the benefits of the place and advising to build a castle here. Following this advice, according to Peter of Dusburg, “the master and brothers successfully prepared everything necessary for construction and, taking with them the Prussians loyal to themselves, with a large army they went in the year of our Lord 1255 and in the place that is now called the old castle, built Königsberg Castle." According to the chronicler, the Prussians called the high hill Tuvangste from the name of the forest that covered it (possibly sacred grove). Peter does not mention a word about any Prussian fortress. The Teutons had already erected a powerful wooden-earth fortification, leaving Burchard von Hornhausen as commander there “with many brothers and squires.” Plus, initially the castle was not located where the order’s dungeons gape today. Only later was it “transported to the place where it stands now, on that mountain, and surrounded by two walls with nine stone towers.”

Hordes of wolves rushed at the gate...

The construction of the very first Königsberg Castle is associated with a mystical story about an old she-wolf who appeared every evening at the construction site and watched people, keeping within the distance of a crossbow shot. The order's brothers felt so uncomfortable under the wolf's gaze that they decided that one of the Prussian wolf sorcerers had turned into a beast. The she-wolf was nicknamed Guerra. They said that her lair was not far to the east of the castle, and the Teutons did not even dare to look in that direction.

Either wolves attacked Königsberg Castle, or werewolves... This is how medieval artists depicted werewolves.

The winter of 1256 turned out to be fierce. In the vicinity of Königsberg, packs of wolves were rampant, and people often became their prey. And then one day the wolves approached the very walls of the fortification. Having lured the animals closer with pieces of meat that were thrown through loopholes, the Teutons shot the “children of Guerra” with crossbows. That night, a deafening howl was suddenly heard, and hordes of huge wolves surrounding the castle began to rush at the gate, scratching them with their claws. The entire order brethren was gripped by horror.

“And with the first ray of sunshine they saw Guerra in the castle courtyard,” says the legend. “And no one could raise the crossbow or draw the sword.” They opened the gate, allowing the old she-wolf to leave. But long after this, murdered brother knights were found on the river bank: some with their faces eaten away, others with terrible wounds, and many completely torn to pieces. No one else saw Gerra herself, only her traces in the vicinity of the castle, which plunged even the bravest warriors into horror.”

Gallows on the mountain

Unlike the legend of Guerra, the so-called. The Second Prussian Uprising is a historical fact. It lasted for 12 years, and began after the knights suffered a severe defeat at Durban on July 13, 1260. Then one hundred and fifty order brothers, led by Master of the Livonian Order Burchard von Gornhausen and Marshal Heinrich Botel, fell at once. Here is what Peter from Dusburg writes about this: “...The Prussians, seeing that the brothers suffered losses in this battle in brothers, squires, horses, weapons and other things necessary for battle, heaping evil upon evil and misfortune upon misfortune, again abandoned the faith and Christians and slipped back to their former errors, and the Sambas of one person named Glande, the Nattangi - Heinrich Monte, the Warmians - Glappo (or Glappe - Ed.), the Pogezans chose Auttum, the Barts chose Divan as leaders and leaders of their army.”

His associates were no less talented military leaders. It is known that Divan died during the siege of the Shensee fortress. Heinrich Monte managed to be taken by surprise at one of the sites with a small number of soldiers. The “vile traitor” who caused so much trouble was first hanged by the enraged Germans, and then pierced with a sword. Glappe was betrayed by one of his close associates named Steinov. He advised to besiege one of the castles in Sambia, and in the meantime he informed the Koenigsberg commander about the whereabouts of the leader. Suddenly attacking the Prussians besieging the seaside castle, the Teutons killed everyone. “But he (the commander) took Glappo with him to Königsberg and hanged him on the mountain, which is still called Mount Glappo after his name,” the chronicler informs.

It is, of course, impossible to determine today with an accuracy of one meter where that gallows stood. It is only known that the place of execution was chosen on a gentle hill opposite the castle: historians believe that in modern landmarks it is somewhere in the area of ​​the House of Communications - Kopernik and Zhitomirskaya streets.

Ghost of the Iron Maiden

The Cat Creek once flowed near Königsberg Castle - it is believed that it was on the site of modern Zaraiskaya Street. This waterway also appears in several ancient legends.

One of the legends tells about two witches who, as is customary among this category of representatives of the witchcraft workshop, loved to turn into cats. Taking on an animal form, the inventive friends climbed into the brewing kettle and, as if in a boat, rode in it not only along the stream, but even went out into the river. Having had a fun night, the cats became women again when day came.

The witches were let down by their inherent immoderation in sexual relations. Regular rafting in the beer cauldron and other entertainment left almost no time and energy for housekeeping. And the friends hired a boy to serve them. Apparently, the young man was not only hard-working, but also handsome, and maybe the aforementioned hypersexuality of the sorceresses had an effect. Be that as it may, they soon demanded intimate services from the boy.

With witches and sorcerers in the Middle Ages, the conversation was short: a passionate conversation and a fire. Miniature from 1447.

The young lover tried his best in bed too. Again, we can assume that at first he even liked it. But then the boy got tired of the constant harassment of his employers, and he came up with a way to get rid of the villainous women. Watching when they once again turned into cats, the servant locked them both in the notorious cauldron, which he put on the fire, boiling the witches alive.

Moral: pedophilia, even in the Middle Ages, did not bring anyone any good in the end.

Another legend tells of a beautiful girl who was suspected of witchcraft. Such an accusation was verified simply: the alleged witch was placed in a bag and thrown into the water. If she didn’t drown, it means she became a victim of slander, but this, it seems, never happened. Our heroine also died, drowned in Cat Creek. And then she returned from the other world dressed in armor, and even clutching a sword in each hand! This ghost was known in Königsberg under the name of the Iron Maiden.

Good wine for a suicide bomber

It is a rare story about Königsberg Castle without mentioning the restaurant “Blütgericht” - translated from German as “Bloody Judgment”, located in one of the basements of the order’s stronghold. Until the 17th century, there was a prison with numerous torture chambers, to which the drinking establishment, which arose in 1827, owes its name. In memory of the prison, a “Chamber of Martyrs” was installed in the restaurant, where the Martyr’s Passage led with maliciously grinning faces painted on the walls.

And here we cannot do without a fragrant legend. They say that one Koenigsberger, sentenced to death for his passion for black magic, on the way to the scaffold persuaded the executioner and the convoy to go to the Blutgericht and drink a glass of good wine No. 7. It was unthinkable to refuse the suicide bomber’s last request. As a result, the whole company got completely drunk, with the exception of the condemned man, who was either being cunning or experiencing such fear that he couldn’t get drunk. The master of affairs and the guards fell asleep, some at the table, some under it, and the condemned warlock safely took off.

Who knows how reliable this whole story is. But it is known for sure that the popular restaurant was willingly visited, for example, by the famous writer Ernst Amadeus Theodor Hoffmann. And he even wrote one of his poems right in the wine cellar, which is called “Blütgericht.”

The Mystery of the Amber Room

If we move from fairy tales to stories, it is necessary to mention that Königsberg Castle, among other objects, is indicated as a possible storage location for the Amber Room. Her search became one of the fetishes of the second half of the 20th century and does not stop to this day. It has been practically proven: at least for some time, the famous “amber cabinet”, disassembled into parts and packed into boxes, was indeed stored in the northern wing of the castle along with other works of art. Most likely, he died there in a fire after the carpet bombing of the city by British aircraft in August 1944.

An employee of the brigade of the Committee for Cultural and Educational Institutions under the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR, which, after the capture of Königsberg by Soviet troops, worked on the territory of the castle, Alexander Bryusov in his diary mentions the found copper pendants and burnt carved moldings from the doors of the Amber Room, as well as iron plates with screws, with which parts of the cabinet were attached to the walls of the drawers. Nevertheless, the fact of the destruction of the treasure, to the delight of treasure hunters, adventurers, fiction writers and journalists, was never finally proven. Therefore, they continue to appear periodically sensational reports about another possible hiding place with an Amber Room inside. And in this regard, they are in no hurry to completely discount the Königsberg Castle.

One of the most visited attractions; monument of national culture in. The castle was built at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th century by Sigismund III Vasa, in whose honor there is an honorary monument on a high column opposite the building. This lock is included in the version of our website.

Today, within the walls of the castle there is Art Museum, where you can see paintings by Rembrandt himself. Geographically, the castle is located on Palace Square in the historical center of the city. During hostilities in the mid-20th century, the entire architectural complex was destroyed by bombing. From 1971 to 1988 restoration was carried out. In addition to the museum with a permanent exhibition, the castle has spacious halls where important symposiums, conferences and even concerts are held.

The day of free visiting of the castle is Sunday. On other days there is an entrance fee. The museum is open from 10 am. Some halls have their own names, for example, the Throne Room or the Knights' Hall. More than 500 thousand people visit the Royal Palace every year. Finding it will not be difficult, since it is located in the very heart of the Old Town on Palace Square.

Photos of the attraction:

If you take old postcards or photographs of pre-war Königsberg, the Castle will certainly be visible on most of them. It can be the center of the composition or visible in the distance, but it is thanks to it that we understand that the photograph was taken in our city, and not in any other. And let the definition business card city" is hackneyed and banal, but it is almost impossible to avoid it when talking about the visual perception of Königsberg and the role of the Castle in it.

Königsberg Castle

1 out of 10

View across the Pregel to the Fish Market, the Old Town and the Royal Castle towering above them.

Boating on the Castle Pond. In the background you can see the Castle tower, which has not yet acquired its neo-Gothic crown. 1844

View of the Castle across Monetnaya Square from the Castle Pond. In the left foreground is the Oatmeal Tower.

The canonical skyline of pre-war Königsberg. On the left is Laak, on the right is Kneiphof.

View of the Castle from the Kneiphof Long Street. Now this is the space under the Estakadny Bridge.

Bird's eye view of the Castle and Altstadt. Not a single house has survived to our time.

1944th. The British bombing destroyed the roofs, but not the walls. The castle looks quite good.

1945. The assault is over. The castle survived, although it is clear that it took quite a beating the second time...

Sixties of the XX century. The bell tower is no longer there, but the Castle can still be brought back to life if desired...

Western wing with massive buttresses. It is planned to begin the reconstruction of the Castle from there.

The recognition of the Castle especially contrasts with the current faceless wasteland in its place. A wasteland, which, oddly enough, is also a personification. The personification of the one torn from general history cities of a huge and interesting period. Fortunately, there is finally hope that the division of history into “correct” and “undesirable” will forever remain a thing of the past.

It is no coincidence that I write the word “Castle” with a capital letter. The Germans themselves did not call it “royal” and very rarely called it “Königsberg”. On maps, postcards, books and booklets it was written simply Das Schloβ - “Castle”. With a capital letter, as is customary in German denote nouns. And when the word “Castle” was spoken in Königsberg, no one specified which one. And this is also an indicator of its importance for the city and for its residents.

What is a “Castle”?

From the school course on the history of the Middle Ages, we well remember that a castle is a fortress and the home of a feudal lord. But in fact, the role of the feudal (knightly) castle was much broader - it personified and confirmed the sovereignty of the feudal lord. The political situation in the feudal states of Europe and the level of development of military affairs were such that, having powerful walls and a small but devoted garrison, the owner of the castle could resist not only neighboring knights, but also the overlord.

The concept of the castle's defense was that, even after the besiegers had overcome the high and powerful walls or broken through the gates and burst into the courtyard, they would have to take each tower, basement, building and, of course, the citadel (donjon or bergfried) by storm, spending to do this significant forces, losing fighters.

The castle is characterized by consistent lines of defense and the possibility of creating local centers of resistance. Each staircase was designed in such a way that it was easier to defend than to take by storm. Secret doors and the moves made it possible to attack the enemy from the rear, from where he did not expect. Towers turned into isolated bastions, basements into traps. It often happened that, having captured the walls and outer towers, the attacking side became so bogged down in the siege of the internal buildings that they ran out of funds for combat operations, and the mercenary soldiers simply went home. Therefore, the castles did not surrender until the last minute in the hope of lifting the siege or the arrival of outside help.

It was no easier to wage a long siege of the castle, hoping that hunger would force its defenders to surrender to the mercy of the besiegers. The castle garrison was usually much smaller than the enemy army, and therefore, while the defenders in the castle were saving food supplies and counting the days, outside its walls it was necessary not only to feed a huge army, but also to build temporary housing for it, cover it with a ditch and a palisade ( palisade) from enemy attacks, to ensure that the soldiers, tired of the siege, did not relax on patrol and did not indulge in drunkenness and robbery. If the siege dragged on into the winter, then additional costs arose for heating temporary buildings. The lifting of the siege was sometimes facilitated not only by the depletion of the treasury, but also by epidemics, other military conflicts, riots, and even the death of the leader of the besieging army. Thus, the knight's castle was very effective means defense, making it possible to withstand a much stronger enemy at low cost of maintaining troops. That is why castles became widespread in medieval Europe. In France alone their number exceeded five thousand.

However, there is a significant difference between a feudal castle and an order castle, such as the Castle in Königsberg. Firstly, the order's castle belonged to the corporation, which, in fact, was the knightly order. Therefore, a war with the garrison of a neighboring castle was excluded, which means that castles could and should have been built so that one would cover the other during a siege. Secondly, from the very beginning, castles in Prussian territories were designed against an enemy who was not experienced in the intricacies of siege. During the time of expansion into the Baltic states, the Order was strapped for funds, and, given the technical and organizational weakness of the Prussians, castles were built very rationally, without fortification excesses and unjustified costs.

It should be noted that the need to build castles in the occupied territories was also stipulated by the charter of the Teutonic Order, according to which the brothers of the order could only spend the night in castles and nowhere else. This was caused by monitoring the brothers' compliance with monastic vows and, above all, the vow of celibacy.

Therefore, the network of order castles and fortifications was built based on the average duration of a day's horse journey for a heavy knight with servants and foot soldiers, and the distance between neighboring castles did not exceed 30 kilometers. The castles had everything necessary for the daily life of knight-monks: living quarters, refectory (remter), hospital (firmaria), toilet (danzer), barns and warehouses, stables, forges. The castle's water supply required the presence of a well in the castle yard. Living spaces were heated by fireplaces and special stoves with ducts in the walls and ceilings for the passage of hot air. Most castles were built near a stream, which was blocked by a dam to form a castle pond. A mill was built on the dam, which in those years was almost mandatory attribute castle

Komturstvo (commandership) is the minimum administrative unit within the Order. By 1300, the Teutonic Order had about 300 commanders located throughout Europe, from Sicily to the Baltic states. As a rule, the commander's office consisted of one castle and the territories immediately adjacent to it. At the head of each commander was a commander. The smallest and poorest commanders could field only a dozen armed soldiers, the largest and most influential - more than a thousand.

Having entered the Prussian lands, the knights of the Teutonic Order discovered that many places favorable for the construction of a castle were already occupied by primitive wooden-earth Prussian fortifications and sanctuaries. Without any prejudice, the Order establishes its own castles in their place, using ready-made ditches and ramparts. It can even be argued that, as a rule, the knights of the Order did not build their castles on bare ground. The two largest Komtur castles in our region - Balga and Königsberg - were no exception.

Speaking about order castles as fortifications, it should be noted that, unlike the large castles of Western Europe, they were far from perfect. If in Italy or France medieval fortifiers set up a whole heap of additional defensive lines, skillfully used the breaks in the walls and towers placed outside the walls to conduct flanking fire on the enemy, fortified under the castle walls, from bows and crossbows, then in Prussia the knights relied primarily on natural barriers, ditches, ramparts and high walls.

The key element of the defense of the order's castle was the parham - the area between the outer defensive wall (parham wall) and the main wall of the castle. According to the plan of the order's fortifiers, having overcome the outer wall with battles and significant losses, the enemy found himself in an open area, which was shot through by the defenders of the castle from the battle floor (usually the second).

Stones and logs flew from the walls onto the heads of the attackers, and to top it off, there was a sortie of heavily armed warriors who finally dealt with the besieging detachment. It was here on the parham site that the main events were supposed to take place, ending in the complete defeat of the enemy. Such a simple plan of active defense implied that the attackers lacked perfect technology for storming castles and the qualitative superiority of the knights in offensive and defensive equipment. Therefore, castles that more or less coped with the task of resisting Prussian detachments turned out to be insufficiently protected when they had to defend themselves from Lithuanian or Polish troops.

From Otakar to the Marshal's Castle

It's no secret that the appearance of Königsberg Castle is associated with the name of the Czech king Otakar II Přemysl. True, the king himself did not see the castle named in his honor - he was a very energetic person and immediately after he provided the Teutons with invaluable military assistance in the conquest of Sambia, he left home, since he had a lot of business in the Czech Republic, starting with fighting wayward barons and strengthening royal power. Judging by the chronicles, he did not take part in the foundation of Königsberg - at the time of the founding of the castle, Otakar was already on his way. However, political relations between the Order and the Czech Kingdom from then on were friendly, until the very end of the Order.

But there is no doubt about the direct participation in the founding of Königsberg by another participant in the Sambian campaigns - the first commander of Königsberg Castle, Burchard von Hornhausen. According to archaeological excavations carried out by the Germans, the very first wooden-earth fortification was located in the area modern house Tips and paths on the slope of the Royal Mountain leading to the Moskovsky supermarket.

But by 1257, construction had begun on a stone castle on the site where it stood for the next 700 years. However, at the very beginning of construction work they were prevented by an uprising of the local population, which began in 1260. This was the second Prussian uprising since the start of the Teutonic conquest of Prussia.

To their surprise, the brothers of the Order discovered that over the years the Prussians had learned a lot from them, in particular the organization of a siege and the use of siege weapons. The Knights of the Order themselves called this uprising “the apostasy of the Prussians,” because the Prussians who had been baptized and were subjects of the Order state, including those in military service, rebelled. This time, the knight's castles, previously inaccessible to them, except for Balga and Königsberg, which the Prussians unsuccessfully stormed and then besieged, were captured one after another. The siege of Königsberg lasted two and a half years, and only the possibility of supplying the Castle with provisions according to Pregel allowed the garrison to hold out until the arrival of military assistance from the German princes. Immediately after the blockade was lifted in 1263, construction of the stone castle resumed, taking into account the consequences of the Prussian siege. The same thing happened at Balga Castle. The defense of castles was not limited to the construction of powerful walls; now almost all castles had an advanced fortification - a forburg. Measures were taken to secure the already conquered territories from outside invasion by constructing a protective ring of small castles. The rivers Pregel, Deyme, Alle (Lava) were taken under control of the castles. The effectiveness of the measures taken is evidenced by the fact that the castles of Königsberg and Balga were never taken by the enemy during the time they had fortification significance.

The extremely advantageous geographical position of Königsberg led to its elevation above the rest of the Order's castles. By 1312, during the period of increasing pressure on Lithuania and constant retaliatory campaigns of the Lithuanian army, Koenigsberg became the residence of the Marshal of the Teutonic Order, in fact its military capital.

By this time, the castle had been transformed in an appropriate way: all four corners of the castle received defensive towers, of which the octagonal Ovsyanaya (“Haberturm”) stood out, which survived until the time of the final demolition of the castle ruins. The north side received two intermediate towers, and the south - three. All the towers were extended beyond the walls, allowing flanking fire to hit the enemy entrenched directly under the wall. The shape of the towers was rectangular - according to the fortification canons of that time, they were considered more effective than round ones. At the end of the 14th century, a large castle tower was built, so familiar to us from photographs. This tower, due to its design, was not a donjon or a bergfried, but rather an observation tower, combining the functions of a bell tower, and later a tower for the main city clock. The dancers (toilets) of the Castle rose on the western side, just where Leninsky Prospekt now runs.

However, then there was a ditch in this place. The main building of the Castle was the quadrangular building of the convent (knightly assembly). It is characteristic that it was during the heyday of the Order that the culmination of the development of the Castle as a fortification unit occurred. But other times were just around the corner. Firearms that appeared in Europe swept away from the pages of history not only knightly cavalry, but also castles.

The fortress becomes a residence, monument, museum

The very first use of siege artillery in Europe showed that all the old fortification forms in the form of brick walls and towers were not capable of withstanding the new type of troops. Stone and then cast iron cannonballs, methodically fired at direct fire from the so-called breach batteries, crushed bricks, smashed loopholes, and broke the battlements of parapets. The castles themselves were completely unsuitable for placing fortress weapons in them: the towers were too cramped, the staircase openings were narrow and inconvenient, and the defensive passages on the walls were vulnerable to siege artillery. Instead of castles, earthen ramparts and bastions gradually began to be erected, and only the inertia of military thinking still sometimes assigned stone strongholds the role of a citadel surrounded by a ring of bastions. For Prussia, this moment came during the formative years of the secular duchy.

The last time numerous castles were listed as fortifications was in the text of the Treaty of Krakow, which was signed by the newly-minted Duke Albrecht in 1525. It was Albrecht who began the reconstruction of the Castle into the residence of the ruler, although it was fortified, primarily against weakly armed rebels.

Under the first duke, the southern wing of the Castle was changed (architect Andreas Hesse), and the famous building of the architect Friedrich Nusdorfer was built above the eastern gate, which was called the “Albrecht building”. The greatest changes in the Castle took place under the regent George Frideric in 1584 - 1594. He invited the architect Blasius Berwart, who demolished the remains of the convention house and erected the western wing with buttresses and two large round towers, known from numerous photographs and drawings. The castle church was opened on the second floor of the western wing.

The castle was made royal by the first Prussian king, Frederick I. Firstly, he was crowned in it, and secondly, he ordered it to be his second residence. The project for the reconstruction of the eastern wing was prepared by the architect Schultheis von Unfried, but it was far from being fully implemented. This is how the “Unfried building” appeared in the Baroque style in the southeast of the Castle. Its construction was completed only during the Russian rule in Königsberg during the Seven Years' War. The last major construction work in the Castle was carried out by the architect Schlüter, who in 1864 erected a neo-Gothic spire on the main castle tower. After that, all changes were local in nature: pediments and retaining wall fences were changed, sculptures were installed. The castle has finally turned from a fortress into an architectural monument different eras. In the 20th century, the premises of the Castle were used mostly as museums, for which the entire southern wing, part of the western and separate rooms of the eastern and northern were given over.

But, above all, the Castle was the main city landmark of Königsberg, its front façade, which was known and recognized not only by the townspeople, but also by millions of people around the world. And most importantly - his heart.

"Citadel" or "rotten tooth"

There is and cannot be any justification for Hitler's fascism. He brought innumerable troubles and suffering not only to the peoples of Europe and our country, but also to the environment in which he was born, in which he was nurtured and which he used to establish his terrible ideology. Königsberg Castle is only a small grain of sand in the huge destructive fire tornado that the Second World War, unleashed by Hitler, swept across our planet.

With the arrival of the Nazis, the Castle faced the unenviable fate of being a venue for Nazi meetings, exhibitions of National Socialist propaganda, and also becoming a repository for cultural property looted by the Nazis. It is unlikely that the RAF crews thought about this as they dropped incendiary bombs into the darkness of the Königsberg night, but it was this raid on August 30, 1944 that marked the beginning of the end for the Castle. The damage from the bombing was catastrophic: a fire that broke out in the Castle led to severe destruction of the southern and eastern wings. The roof and upper floors of the northern and western wings were burned out. A huge number of exhibits from the museums located in the Castle were lost. Miraculously, the Amber Room, packed in advance in boxes and hidden in the basements, survived, but many other treasures disappeared forever in the flames of the fires. But these were far from the last trials that befell Königsberg Castle.

In military documents of the 3rd Belorussian Front, the Castle was often referred to as the "Citadel". This was done not at all because the military command did not know that the castle as a fortification unit was outdated five centuries ago.

Soviet propaganda of those times worked out historical parallels between the “dog knights” and Hitler’s invaders, groundless from the point of view of a historian, but understandable to soldiers who looked death in the eyes every day.

From time to time, Nazi propaganda also appealed to the spirit of long-dead knights. Thus, without going into the essence of historical events, some made the Teutons a justification for their criminal plans, others had to overthrow these plans along with their symbol. It is curious that some representatives of the Nazi party elite in Königsberg actually considered the walls of the Castle to be a serious defense against modern weapons at that time. So the commandant of Königsberg Lyash in his memoirs describes the facts that Gauleiter Koch proposed to drag a gun onto the Castle tower and fire at the Russians from there, and then called for defending the castle as the last stronghold of the city’s defense. However, neither one nor the other plan came true. It was simply impossible to drag the gun onto the tower, and the group of SS men and police officers defending the Castle tried to leave it at the first more or less strong fire from the Red Army units.

But although there was no assault on the Castle as such, artillery shelling and the work of attack aircraft led it to an even more deplorable state than the one in which it was after the British bombing. Only the old cellars of the Castle could be considered surviving. The above-ground buildings were walls without ceilings with numerous holes and breaches. Immediately after the war, the ruins of the castle were turned into a “quarry”, where bricks were “mined” for the reconstruction of Soviet cities. Finally, in the 1960s, the question of the future of the Castle was raised head on.

According to legend, it was finally decided by the chief ideologist of the CPSU Central Committee, Comrade Suslov. While on a work trip to Kaliningrad, he, driving past the ruins of a castle, scolded the local leadership: “You haven’t pulled out this one yet.” rotten tooth fascism?!”

After this phrase, the opinions of the leaders of the city general plan, representatives of the USSR Ministry of Culture and museum workers of Kaliningrad no longer had any significance. The Castle was finally demolished by 1969, but its cellars were accessible to the curious for several more years, until the development of the Central Square began.

Heart of the city

For almost 700 years, no one in Königsberg wondered where his heart was. Because the answer was on the surface. The castle and only the castle. We started thinking a little later, when this heart finally stopped beating. And it became clear that neither the former city magistrate (popularly TseGe is the central grocery store, and later the city administration building), nor the started but not built DeEs - the House of Soviets - reach the heart of the city. The first is, at best, his head, the second is a big and ugly wart. Archaeologists unearthed a piece of the city’s stopped heart, but that didn’t make it start beating. Should the city continue to live without a heart, or will we still have the courage to admit that best heart What can a city simply not have, in which History, Culture and Art are brought together? I think the answer to this question is not as far from today as it sometimes seems.

Alexey Petrushin
Amateur historian, local historian

Stop “Heart of the City”: what’s happening to the city planning bureau

The other day, information appeared about the liquidation of the urban planning bureau “Heart of the City,” whose task was to work on returning Kaliningrad’s historical center, which is now replaced by wasteland, ruins and the bulk of the House of Soviets. “Real Estate of New Kaliningrad.Ru” covered the activities of the bureau from the very beginning until the death convulsions (while this was possible), so we decided to try to understand what happened and how it came to this.

The liquidation of the “Heart of the City” became known from a message on the project’s Facebook page. This page ceased to be official after my dismissal from the bureau ideological inspirer project by Alexander Popadin.

At the same time, the project website moved from tuwangste.ru to the faceless sg39.ru. However, no official information about the closure of the bureau has been received. The “Heart of the City” itself is mysteriously silent; the government of the Kaliningrad region refused to make any comments, promising to arrange a briefing. According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, “Heart of the City” is still operating, and is headed by Olga Markova, who officially replaced Popadin in July.

The bureau began to become feverish after the change of curator in the government - the “Heart of the City” was taken over by the ex-head of the Svetlogorsk district, appointed Deputy Prime Minister, Harry Goldman. For some time, the new deputy prime minister did not appear in the public sphere, until in May it became known about Popadin’s dismissal from the post of head of the bureau. Just a few days before his dismissal, Popadin gave great interview“New Kaliningrad.Ru”, which also discussed the new curator. “For example, I think that my main task is to help Harry Goldman avoid those mistakes that could lead to problems like the “Svetlogorsk glass”. Because the “Svetlogorsk glass” is, in my opinion, a karmic object. This is the case when the word “investor” should not mean “almighty”, who only solves his problems and that’s it,” Popadin told New Kaliningrad.Ru.

After Popadin left, Olga Markova took over his duties until she was officially appointed director in July. From that moment on, all the activities of the bureau became classified to the public. It was possible to understand what was happening inside and around the non-profit partnership only through Goldman’s rare statements to selected media, as well as through decisions of the government and the regional Duma. For example, in an interview with the portal kgd.ru (which was previously headed by Goldman), the Deputy Prime Minister openly stated that the government was no longer satisfied with the project of the winner of the international competition, Anton Sagal, which actually canceled out the bureau’s three-year work. “We want to take a slightly new look at the “Heart of the City” and the central part. Naturally, the results of the competitions will be taken into account. We want to look at this territory from the angle of two tasks. The first is creating a comfortable environment for citizens, the second is attracting large number tourists. We have ordered a study in which both city residents and individual professional groups. They will all express their vision of this territory, and based on the results of the research, we, together with the public, will make a decision on the further development of the project. Of course, all this will be viewed through the prism of the “Heart of the City” competition. We will take the three first places and the audience award as a basis,” said Goldman.

On the same dates, the government of the Kaliningrad region decided to provide a potential but still unknown investor with state guarantees worth 170 million rubles. The “red house” did not comment on this decision. True, Goldman recently announced that it was decided to refuse state guarantees - they say that the construction of the West Wing of the Royal Castle will be financed at the expense of the investor’s money, and it will be chosen by the Investment Council.

Since Popadin's departure, the bureau itself has entered the public space only once - with an archaeological cleanup at the ruins of the Royal Castle, during which everyone was invited to dig deeper into the ruins. It is curious that the contractor for the archaeological excavations had not yet been chosen at that time - the competition was declared invalid. As a result, the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences took over the excavations, which was initially ready to carry out all the work for 9.3 million rubles. True, in August it turned out that the archaeological expedition did not have enough workers, and the bureau began looking for volunteers who were ready for a six-day working week work 7–8 hours. Free, of course.

During the three years of the bureau’s existence under Popadin, about 50 million rubles were allocated for it (5 of which remained in the accounts of the collapsed Investbank); in June 2016, a decision was made to allocate another 17 million rubles for the activities of the partnership.

Over the course of three years, the “Heart of the City” held two international competitions, not counting related projects such as the Kneiphof bridges and the “Kant’s house”. Based on the ideas of the winners of the first urban planning competition, it was decided to develop a consolidated concept and design project. Participants in the second competition were asked to determine the architectural appearance of the Central Square and the territory of the Royal Castle. The winner was the young architect Anton Sagal, who proposed combining the partially restored Royal Castle with modern architecture. However, the project that satisfied the architectural jury did not ultimately satisfy the government.

It’s hard to say what will happen next with the bureau. The government and the “Heart of the City” itself refuse to comment. According to the portal rugrad.eu, the authorities are going to merge the “Heart of the City” with the Tourism Development Corporation, the fate of which is also rather vague. Just at the end of August, the new head of the Corporation became the ex-head of the Overhaul Fund, as well as the former head of the housing and communal services department of the Svetlogorsk district, which, we recall, was headed by the current acting Deputy Prime Minister Harry Goldman, Vladimir Fomin. According to a source of “New Kaliningrad.Ru”, close to the Corporation, the scandal there arose precisely because the “Svetlogorsk” group of officials wants to give land on the Island for housing development.

“The Tourism Development Corporation is a black box that is difficult to look into. The Corporation’s reports should become more humane, so that it becomes clear what it does,” Acting Prime Minister Anton Alikhanov scolded at the end of August. Now it looks like they are going to put “Heart of the City” in this black box.

Tatyana Ziberova
Photo: Vitaly Nevar,
"New Kaliningrad.Ru"

Treasures of the Third Reich in the dungeons of Kaliningrad. What does the former City of Kings of Königsberg hide?

Königsberg Castle- castle of the Teutonic Order in Königsberg (Kaliningrad), also called the Royal Castle. Founded in 1255 by the Czech king Ottokar II Přemysl and existed until 1968. Until 1945, various administrative and public institutions of the city and East Prussia were located within its walls, as well as museum collections and halls for ceremonial receptions. The name of the castle gave the general name for the city that arose near the castle walls. Along with the Cathedral, it was the most important and oldest landmark of the city

The building had a maximum length of 104 meters and a width of 66.8 meters. The tallest building in the city - the Castle Tower, 84.5 meters high, was rebuilt in 1864-1866 in the Gothic style. Twice a day a chorale sounded from the Castle tower. At 11 o'clock in the morning - "Oh, preserve your mercy", at 9 o'clock in the evening - "Peace to all forests and fields."

The castle was rebuilt many times and combined various architectural styles (Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo). Its purpose also changed according to periods. The original fortress acquired the characteristics of a castle. The castle was transformed from a seat of power into a museum complex and became the center of spiritual life.

Components of a castle

German historian Dr. Gunnar Strunz recently visited Kaliningrad, the former capital of East Prussia, Königsberg. He visited this city with a series of lectures about the ancient order castle of Koenigsberg, destroyed by British bombing during the Second World War. This castle has a rich and interesting history that dates back to 1257.

During his visit, he made a proposal to restore the most beautiful premises of this building, which local residents called the Castle of the Three Kings - the church, the “Hall of the Muscovites” and others. In his opinion, this will help attract tourists to Kaliningrad and increase their interest in the historical heritage of this city.

Coronation of Frederick I in the Castle Church, 1701

In 1944, the building was severely damaged during the bombing carried out by British aircraft, and in the early 60s of the twentieth century, by order of the Kaliningrad regional committee of the CPSU, the ruins of this castle were finally demolished.

In 2010, Kaliningrad authorities announced preparations for a referendum on the restoration of Konigsberg Castle. It was planned to hold it in March 2011 in order to combine it with elections to the local regional Duma. However, the referendum was never held. This is not the first unsuccessful venture to study and restore this architectural monument, as will be seen below.

However, the idea of ​​restoring and reconstructing the castle was not rejected or forgotten. It did begin to receive practical implementation, although in a different way than originally planned. The government of Kaliningrad agreed to the proposal that came from the German side to perpetuate the architectural appearance of old Koenigsberg in bronze.

Funds for this project - the creation of a model of the historical center of Königsberg as it was before the massive British air raids in 1944 completely changed its face - were collected by former residents of the capital of East Prussia. The project is a bronze copy of the architectural ensemble of the old city with a diameter of 3 meters, where the Castle of the Three Kings will be built. The model is planned to be installed on Kant Island near the restored Cathedral.

But this is data only about the external part of the castle. There are also numerous dungeons and passages located under the Castle of the Three Kings. They are completely walled up and well preserved. And, according to Moscow archaeologist Ivan Koltsov, restoration will not require much effort or money. In addition, they are capable of bringing huge profits to the Kaliningrad treasury. What is this statement based on?

Castle courtyard - western and northern wings

Report to the CPSU Central Committee

Russian journalist Sergei Turchenko, studying at the Central state archive Russian Federation archival documents containing information about cultural property stolen by the Germans in former USSR, discovered a memo from dowsing engineer Ivan Koltsov, sent to the CPSU Central Committee and dated May 8, 1982.

This note stated that his research allowed him to draw up a diagram of the main underground passages and structures of Koenigsberg. There is reason to believe that they contain enormous valuables stolen by the Nazis during the Great Patriotic War. Patriotic War. According to assumptions, this is a large amount, estimated in tens of tons of gold, silver, amber, and precious jewelry. Perhaps this is where fragments of the Amber Room, paintings, books and much more are located.

A network of underground passages and structures in which valuables are hidden was built in different time, starting from the 13th century, it is located at various depths from 16 to 68 meters. It has several main directions radiating from the city center, that is, the former Royal Castle. The memo also mentions a certain special room where plans and diagrams of all the dungeons of Koenigsberg are stored.

The same note contains information that the central entrance to the dungeons of Koenigsberg, which was located on the territory of the Castle of the Three Kings, was blown up and littered with debris to a depth of at least 16 meters. But the author of the note believes that at greater depths the corridors are in a condition suitable for research and are not flooded. He also believes that there were other entrances to the dungeons.

Sergei Turchenko managed to find the author of this note, Ivan Evseevich Koltsov, who in the 80s of the last century was an employee of the “closed” dowsing bureau under the Council of Ministers of the USSR. In 1982, Ivan Evseevich Koltsov, as part of an expedition, examined the ruins of the former Koenigsberg, at the same time he drew up detailed diagrams of the dungeons under this city and sent his report with the above-mentioned memo to the CPSU Central Committee.

But the reaction that followed to his report was, according to Ivan Evseevich, strange, to say the least. He was removed from participation in the State Historical and Archaeological Expedition, which after some time ceased to exist altogether. As far as he knows, the diagrams he compiled were not used in any search work in the area.

Eyewitness testimony

The conversation with Koltsov left more questions than answers. Can we trust his data about the dungeon system near Kaliningrad? If possible, then to what extent? Are these data confirmed by other sources? Sergei Turchenko decided to look for answers in Kaliningrad itself.

At the beginning of his journey, while still in a train compartment, he heard a story in which the dungeons of this city appeared. A fellow traveler told him that her friend’s son once brought home a large piece of synthetic fabric. He said that he found it in the basements of one of the flooded forts, where he climbed with friends. A friend of hers sewed a shirt for her son from that fabric, being surprised that the fabric, despite lying in water for a long time, looked like new.

When the mother began to iron this shirt, the fabric flared up under the iron like gunpowder. The frightened woman contacted the police. Divers were sent to the said fort, who discovered a cache of such rolls in it. This is how the Nazis produced gunpowder. The history of further searches in this direction remains unknown. As will be seen from further eyewitness accounts, the authorities continue to show surprising indifference to such facts. What caused this lack of interest? Perhaps the internal affairs bodies simply did not believe the frightened townswoman?

The researcher decided to turn to other sources.

Post-war literature also contains some mentions of the Königsberg dungeons. In particular, Stanislav Garanin, in his book “The Three Faces of Janus,” wrote about eight hundred and sixty-two blocks in the city, each of which was connected to the others by a single defensive system. Passages connected the basements of the houses. Underground there were power plants, ammunition depots, and hospitals.

Also in the same literary work, a situation is described in which some heroes, who went down into the dungeons through a sewer hatch, saw an underground hall, along the wall of which there was a pier. At this pier there was a small, four meters long, submarine.

But this is a literary work that cannot claim documentary accuracy. The data presented in it amazes the reader, but raises questions about their reliability. It was necessary to find evidence from real eyewitnesses.

The former head of the underwater technical works department, Mikhail Matveevich Lif, said that although he does not know the underground communications of Kaliningrad completely, but only in the part that concerned his work, he can say that in the area of ​​​​the former palaces and under fortifications there are two and three-story dungeons. Most of them are flooded or covered with stones. Some of them are still used as warehouses today.

So these dungeons still exist? But are they accessible to tourists? Perhaps these are just warehouses, partially destroyed during the bombing and nothing more. But Mikhail Matveevich also mentioned a certain underground aircraft factory. But this plant is also flooded and littered with stones. He also told a story about some home-grown “treasure hunters,” which once circulated among his friends. It was as if these people had found an artificial grotto in one of the lakes, the entrance to which was blocked by a German anchor mine.

One of the treasure hunters soon died under unclear circumstances - he fell from the fifth floor. Another turned for help to a familiar midshipman-sapper, who did not pay much attention to this request. But after the “treasure hunter” went missing while on one of his trips, the sapper became worried and filed a report with the police. Unfortunately, the police search yielded no results. Lief also spoke about one of his colleagues and comrades, Grigory Ivanovich Matsuev, who had been in Koenigsberg since 1945.

After leaving military service, Matsuev remained in the underwater technical work detachment. He has dozens of dives into the Pregol River and lakes. He just said that at that time the upper floors of the basements of the Royal Castle were not yet flooded. This is very interesting and echoes what Koltsov said. Could these floors have been flooded later, after research carried out by a historical and archaeological expedition, of which Koltsov was a member?

But let us return to the story of Mikhail Matveevich Lif about his comrade. Special attention one story evokes. Grigory Ivanovich once talked about how one day, not far from the ancient city gates, a large hatch was discovered in the floor of a fortification. When it was opened, they saw that the tunnel, the entrance to which it covered, was completely flooded with water. Matsuev dived there and saw a large room with a large number of shelves on which lay many rolls of unknown material.

Several of them were brought to the surface. Further analysis showed that it was gunpowder. Perhaps Germany, bound by the Treaty of Versailles, did not have the right to issue weapons and explosives more than the permissible amount. Therefore, the gunpowder that was made in Koenigsberg was camouflaged under fabric. But again, not a single mention of treasure. And that these passages may be available for visits. The researcher found it necessary to continue his search. On what were Koltsov’s statements based?

Archived data

Sergei Turchenko thought this information was not enough, and he decided to return to the archives and continue his search there. Many months of painstaking work in the Central Archives of the Russian Federation were not slow to bear fruit. He found several documents there that attracted his attention and confirmed the presence of extensive dungeons near Kaliningrad.

They discovered historical reference by the German researcher F. Lars about the Royal Castle. It said that construction of the castle began in 1257 and continued until 1810. During this long six-century construction, the castle was rebuilt several times. Extensive underground work was also carried out. Professor Heydeck, who carried out geological excavations under the Royal Castle in 1889, mentioned 7-8-meter thicknesses of “cultural” deposits. He also mentioned the ancient dungeons that stretch under the Castle Church, former home Convent and the restaurant "Blütgericht" ("Last Judgment"). But all these researchers mentioned only the dungeons of the first tier. For some unknown reason, deeper excavations were not carried out. Perhaps the limited technical capabilities of that period interfered.

But such work was not carried out in 1945. Although, to search for cultural values ​​that may have been hidden in Konigsberg, a special commission was created under the leadership of General Bryusov. His diary has been preserved, in which he kept a detailed account of the activities of this expedition. From this diary we managed to find out the following interesting detail. A certain doctor Alfred Rohde, who was the curator of the Koenigsberg museums and did not have time to leave the city when it was liberated by Soviet troops, actively dissuaded the expedition from excavations in the southern wing of the castle.
Rohde argued that during the war there was a hospital there, which was damaged by bombing and littered with stones. And nothing can be found in these rubble except corpses.

After mysterious disappearance Roda was exposed to his deception. Military experts who examined the characteristics of the rubble of the southern wing of the castle proved that the explosion did not occur from above, as it should have happened if an air bomb had hit this wing of the castle, but from below, which makes one think about its artificial origin. Dr. Strauss, who arrived in Konigsberg at the call of the commission and was Rohde’s former assistant, categorically denied the presence of any hospital in the southern wing of the castle. He confidently stated that museum treasures have always been concentrated there. Why did Roda organize such a deception? To hide valuables? So that they do not fall into the hands of the Soviet expedition? For whom did he save them and where did he disappear?

Such a contradiction alone should have attracted increased attention to excavations in the castle area. But, surprisingly, they were carried out superficially. Having examined only part of the dungeons of the first tier, Bryusov’s commission found more than 1000 museum exhibits stolen by the Nazis from museums in Leningrad and Moscow. These were priceless works of silver, bronze, porcelain, paintings and furniture. Perhaps if the excavations had been continued and carried out more thoroughly, more valuables would have been recovered?
Also in the archive, the researcher was able to find records of testimonies of former Soviet and foreign military personnel who were related to Koenigsberg, the competent authorities regarding the burial of cultural property by the Nazis.

Warsaw prison inmate A. Vitek said the following: during the war he was sent to forced labor in Konigsberg. From the work camp where Vitek was located, the Germans took people to work every day. The interrogated person was part of a group that removed equipment from houses and institutions and took it to Wilhelm Castle (Royal Castle - author's note) on Kaiser Wilhelm Strasse. There things were sorted for subsequent shipment to Germany.

The prisoner helped pack the requisitioned equipment into boxes. He testified that he saw a large number of boxes marked with the same number. These boxes were located in the right wing of the castle. The boxes were strictly guarded. Their safety was checked by Gauleiter Erich Koch himself. After this, the prisoner saw how bricks were brought into the castle palace and masons were called. The prisoner testified that the boxes had disappeared, but Vitek did not remember that the boxes were removed from the castle grounds. He suspects that the boxes were hidden in the castle's cellars.

Professor G. Klumbis, a colleague and former ally of Dr. Rohde, recalled that not far from the wine cellar of the palace there was an old mine. It is closed and has not been used for several centuries. There were no signs of its existence, but Dr. Rohde knew about its presence in the indicated place. In his opinion, the mine is the best place to hide various valuables in wartime. If necessary, their transportation could be quickly carried out with small forces and unnoticed. It was on this that his assumption was based that the basements of the castle contained cultural values ​​exported from the USSR.
This point of view is also shared by the former chief architect of the city of Kaliningrad D. Navalikhin. He believes deeper mines are possible. He himself went down into the dungeons of the castle and saw a shaft inclined at approximately 45 degrees. This event took place in 1948.

In 1973, researchers came across yet another confirmation of the existence of dungeons under the Royal Castle. It consists in the fact that during the construction work, which consisted of constructing the pile foundations of the House of Soviets, four piles up to 11 meters long were sunk underground to the full depth. No more than 4 centimeters of the pile was visible above the surface. Based on this, construction workers believed that there might be a bunker or underground passage under this building. They accepted the possibility that the Amber Room or other valuables stolen by the Nazis could be stored in this bunker.

But a strange reaction followed to the memo by S. Kuleshov, who noted this fact. The piles were ordered to be removed, their holes filled with concrete, and construction work to be carried out in another place.

It seemed to the researcher that these facts were enough to trust the words of Ivan Koltsov. The existence of dungeons can be considered proven. But do they contain the same valuables that the Nazis took from the occupied territories? The results of Bryusov's expedition provide sufficient grounds to consider this true. But the presence of the main Nazi warehouse of stolen valuables in these basements and the location of the Amber Room there still remains a mystery.

Ivan Koltsov gives a fairly clear answer to this question. According to him, special equipment can determine what is underground - water, oil, ore or metals. And in this case, he believes, the equipment was not mistaken. Even now he is ready to show several entrances to the dungeons of the Royal Castle and places in which, according to him, there are warehouses with mothballed equipment, cars, commissary property. Then it is surprising the persistent inaction of the authorities to this information and the cessation of any work related with exploration of the dungeons of the Royal Castle in Konigsberg. Perhaps the legendary treasures of the Third Reich are still hiding there, waiting in the wings.