Königsberg Cathedral
Encyclopedia
Brick Gothic
Brick Gothic is a specific style of Gothic architecture common in Northern Europe, especially in Northern Germany and the regions around the Baltic Sea that do not have natural rock resources. The buildings are essentially built from bricks...
style building in Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad is a seaport and the administrative center of Kaliningrad Oblast, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea...
(formerly Königsberg
Königsberg
Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...
) on an island in the Pregel (Pregolya). The island was called Kneiphof
Kneiphof
Kneiphof was one of three towns in the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights that became the city of Königsberg . Kneiphof was originally Knypabe , meaning 'area flushed by water' in Old Prussian.As other members of the Prussian Confederation, Kneiphof rebelled against the Teutonic Knights in...
in German times.
14th Century to World War II
The cathedral was built to replace a smaller cathedral, after Johann Clare, bishop of SambiaSambia
Sambia or Samland is a peninsula in the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, on the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea. The Curonian Lagoon and the Vistula Lagoon demarcate the peninsula. Prior to 1945 it formed an important part of East Prussia.-Names:Sambia is named after the Sambians, an extinct...
, insisted on the construction of a bigger building. The smaller cathedral, situated in Altstadt, was subsequently demolished and materials from it were used to build the new cathedral on Kneiphof.
The construction of the cathedral on Kneiphof is considered to have begun in 1333. The soil on which the cathedral was built was marshy, and so hundreds of oak poles were put into the ground before the actual construction could begin. After the relatively short period of almost 50 years, the cathedral was largely completed by 1380. Work on the interior frescoes lasted until the end of 14th century.
The choir contained murals from the 14th and 15th Centuries, late Gothic
Gothic art
Gothic art was a Medieval art movement that developed in France out of Romanesque art in the mid-12th century, led by the concurrent development of Gothic architecture. It spread to all of Western Europe, but took over art more completely north of the Alps, never quite effacing more classical...
wood carvings and medieval monuments in the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
style, the chief of which was a statue of Albert, Duke of Prussia, carved by Cornelis Floris de Vriendt
Cornelis Floris de Vriendt
Cornelis Floris de Vriendt was a Flemish Renaissance architect and sculptor. He played an important role in the building of the Antwerp City Hall. His brother was Frans Floris, for whom he designed a house in Antwerp.-External links:...
in 1570.
The cathedral originally had two spires. The spires (one north and one south) overlooked the entrance (west side) of the cathedral. But in 1544 the two spires were destroyed by fire. The south spire was rebuilt, but the north spire was replaced by a simple gable roof. In 1640 a clock was built underneath the rebuilt spire, and from 1650 the famous Wallenrodt Library, donated by Martin von Wallenrodt, was situated underneath the gable roof.
In 1695, an organ was installed in the cathedral. In the 19th century, the organ was restored and then renewed.
On 27 September 1523, Johann Briesmann gave the first Lutheran sermon in the cathedral. From then on, until 1945, the cathedral remained Protestant.
Albert, Duke of Prussia, and some of his relatives, as well as other dignitaries, were buried in the cathedral.
World War II
In late August 1944, British bombers carried out two night raids on Königsberg. The first raid, on 26/27 August, largely missed the city, but the second raid, on 29/30, destroyed most of the old part of Königsberg (including Kneiphof), and the cathedral was hit. Amongst many others in the city, about a hundred people, mostly children, who had gathered inside the part of the cathedral directly underneath the spire to find safety from the air raid, were killed.Post World War II
After the war, the cathedral remained a burnt out shell and Kneiphof was made into a park with no other buildings. Before the war, Kneiphof had many buildings. One of the buildings was the first Albertina University building, where Immanuel Kant taught, which was situated next to the east side of the cathedral.Shortly after Kaliningrad was opened to foreigners in the early 1990s, work began to reconstruct the cathedral. In 1994 a new spire was put in place using a helicopter. In 1995 a new clock was put in place. The clock has four bells (1,180 kg, 700 kg, 500 kg & 200 kg), all cast in 1995. The clock chimes every quarter of an hour. On the hour, the clock chimes by playing the first notes of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5
Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven)
The Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, was written by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1804–08. This symphony is one of the most popular and best-known compositions in all of classical music, and one of the most often played symphonies. It comprises four movements: an opening sonata, an andante, and a fast...
, followed by monotonic chiming to indicate the hour. Between 1996 and 1998, work was done to construct the roof. Work was also done to put in stained glass windows.
One problem during the reconstruction was the subsidence of the cathedral which had happened over time. Even during German times, the subsidence had been evident.
Today, the cathedral has two chapels, one Lutheran
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
, the other Russian Orthodox
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
, as well as a museum. The Lutheran chapel is where the people under the spire died during the second air raid of August 1944. The cathedral is also used for concerts.
Kant's Tomb
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....
, the "Sage of Königsberg", is today in a mausoleum adjoining the northeast corner of the cathedral. The mausoleum was constructed by the architect Friedrich Lahrs and was finished in 1924 in time for the bicentenary of Kant's birth. Originally, Kant was buried inside the cathedral, but in 1880 his remains were moved outside and placed in a neo-Gothic chapel adjoining the northeast corner of the cathedral. Over the years, the chapel became dilapidated before it was demolished to make way for the mausoleum, which was built on the same spot, where it is today.
Other burials
- Heinrich Reuß von PlauenHeinrich Reuß von PlauenHeinrich Reuß von Plauen was the 32nd Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, serving from 1467 to 1470. He was the nephew of the previous Grand Master, Ludwig von Erlichshausen, and a distant relative to the 27th Grand Master, Heinrich von Plauen.-Biography:Reuß von Plauen came from the Reuss family...
- Johann von TiefenJohann von TiefenJohann von Tiefen was the 35th Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, serving from 1489 to 1497.Von Tiefen's date of birth is unknown, although it is believed he hailed from Switzerland. His beginnings in the Teutonic Order start in Elbing, where he was the right hand man of the Grand Hospitaller,...
- Martin Truchseß von Wetzhausen
- Stanislovas RapalionisStanislovas RapalionisStanislovas Rapalionis was a founder of the first Lithuanian language school in Vilnius, a professor of theology in Königsberg Albertina University, and the first translator of the Bible into Lithuanian, although this translation has not survived....
- Luther von BraunschweigLuther von BraunschweigLuther von Braunschweig was the 18th Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, serving from 1331-35....