The Rossgarten Gate is one of seven surviving city gates of old 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...

 (today's Kaliningrad

Kaliningrad

Kaliningrad is a seaport and the administrative center of Kaliningrad Oblast, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea...

). It is located at the intersection of Chernyakhovskogo street and Alexander Nevsky street, near the Vasilevskiy square and the Kaliningrad Amber Museum

Kaliningrad Amber Museum

The Kaliningrad Amber Museum is a museum located in the Russian city of Kaliningrad devoted to housing and displaying amber artworks. It is located in the city center, on the shore of Lake Verkhneye....

.

History

The current gate replaced a previous version of the gate from the beginning of the 17th century. It was constructed between 1852-1855 under the supervision of Wilhelm Ludwig Stürmer. The gate was damaged after the war, but restored afterwards and currently houses a café-restaurant called Solnetsnyy Kamen ("Solar Stone").

Architecture

The gate consists of only one passage of about four meters wide. On both sides of the passage three casemates are located, so the gate in total has seven openings. On top of the facade of the gate can be found a series of merlon

Merlon

In architecture, a merlon forms the solid part of an embattled parapet, sometimes pierced by embrasures. The space between two merlons is usually called a crenel, although those later designed and used for cannons were called embrasures.-Etymology:...

s, divided into two parts by the central elevated part of the gate. The gate itself has two high octagonal turrets. Above the main arch of the gate a lookout area is situated, again equipped with merlons. Reliefs of the Prussian generals Gerhard von Scharnhorst

Gerhard von Scharnhorst

Gerhard Johann David Waitz von Scharnhorst was a general in Prussian service, Chief of the Prussian General Staff, noted for both his writings, his reforms of the Prussian army, and his leadership during the Napoleonic Wars....

 and August Neidhardt von Gneisenau decorate the main arch. While the city side of the gate is a highly decorated, the outer side does not have any decorative ornaments.