Kaliningrad 05-2017 Img02 Stock Exchange

Kaliningrad ( ; rus, Калининград, p=kəlʲɪnʲɪnˈɡrat, links=y), until 1946 known as Königsberg (; rus, Кёнигсберг, Kyonigsberg, ˈkʲɵnʲɪɡzbɛrk; rus, Короле́вец, Korolevets), is the largest city and administrative centre of Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian semi-exclave between Lithuania and Poland. The city sits about west from mainland Russia. The city is situated on the Pregolya River, at the head of the Vistula Lagoon on the Baltic Sea, and is the only ice-free port of Russia and the Baltic states on the Baltic Sea. Its population in 2020 was 489,359, with up to 800,000 residents in the urban agglomeration. Kaliningrad is the second-largest city in the Northwestern Federal District, after Saint Petersburg, the third-largest city in the Baltic region, and the seventh-largest city on the Baltic Sea.

The settlement of modern-day Kaliningrad was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was named ''Königsberg'' in honor of King Ottokar II of Bohemia. A Baltic port city, it successively became the capital of the State of the Teutonic Order, the Duchy of Prussia (1525–1701) and East Prussia. Königsberg remained the coronation city of the Prussian monarchy, though the capital was moved to Berlin in 1701. From 1454 to 1455 the city under the name of ''Królewiec'' belonged to the Kingdom of Poland, and from 1466 to 1657 it was a Polish fief. Königsberg was the easternmost large city in Germany until World War II. The city was heavily damaged by Allied bombing in 1944 and during the Battle of Königsberg in 1945; it was then captured by the Soviet Union on 9 April 1945. The Potsdam Agreement of 1945 placed it under Soviet administration. The city was renamed ''Kaliningrad'' in 1946 in honor of Soviet revolutionary Mikhail Kalinin. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, it has been governed as the administrative centre of Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast, the westernmost oblast of Russia.

As a major transport hub, with sea and river ports, the city is home to the headquarters of the Baltic Fleet of the Russian Navy, and is one of the largest industrial centres in Russia. It was deemed the best city in Russia in 2012, 2013, and 2014 in Kommersant's magazine '' The Firm's Secret'', the best city in Russia for business in 2013 according to '' Forbes'', and was ranked fifth in the Urban Environment Quality Index published by Minstroy in 2019. Kaliningrad has been a major internal migration attraction in Russia over the past two decades, and was one of the host cities of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

History

The history of the city may be divided into four periods: the Old Prussian settlement known as ''Twangste'' before 1255; the Polish city of ''Królewiec'' from 1454 to 1455 and then fief of Poland from 1456–1657; the German city of ''Königsberg'' from 1657 to 1945; and the Russian city of ''Kaliningrad'' from 1945 to present.

Twangste

Königsberg was preceded by a Sambian ( Old Prussian tribe) fort called ''Twangste'' (also spelt ''Tuwangste'' or ''Tvankste''), meaning 'Oak Forest'. During the conquest of the Sambians by the Teutonic Knights in 1255, Twangste was destroyed and replaced by a new fortress named ''Königsberg'' in the honor of Bohemian king Ottokar II. The declining Old Prussian culture finally became extinct around the early 18th century with the Great Plague,Roqueplo O: La Russie & son miroir d'Extrême-Occident, HAL, 2018 and the surviving Old Prussians were integrated through assimilation.

Königsberg

The settlement on the site of present-day Kaliningrad was founded as a military fortress in 1255 after the Prussian Crusade by the Teutonic Knights against Baltic Prussians. The new settlement was named in honor of the Bohemian (Czech) King Ottokar II. The crusade was followed by a settlement of Germans and the surrounding area became predominantly German, with Polish, Lithuanian and Latvian minorities.

In 1454, the city integrated within borders of Poland for a year thanks to King Kazimierz Jagiellończyk and became a fiefdom under the Polish king from 1466. As a symbol of its dependence, the black Prussian eagle had a crown gracefully around its neck bearing the letter "S" from the Latinized name of the king, "Sigismundus." After the secularization of the Teutonic Order in 1525, Königsberg became the capital of the Duchy of Prussia. In 1618 the Duchy of Prussia fell under the control of the Electors of Brandenburg and in 1657 it became controlled in personal union with Brandenburg (sometimes referred to as Brandenberg-Prussia). From 1701, Brandenberg-Prussia became a Kingdom and the entire area was referred to as the Kingdom of Prussia. While the Brandenberg portion was a part of the Holy Roman Empire and later the German Confederation, Prussia (later called East Prussia) was not included within those territorial boundaries.

In the context of the Seven Year War, all of East Prussia was conquered and annexed by the Russian Empire (1758–1762).Roqueplo O. La Russie et son miroir d'Extrême-Occident, HAL, 2018 Immanuel Kant is famous for having sworn allegiance to Empress Elizabeth of Russia.

In the ensuing two centuries the city, first as part of the Kingdom of Prussia, then from 1866 as part of the North German Confederation, and then from 1871 as part of the German Empire, continued to flourish and many iconic landmarks of Königsberg were built. The city had around 370,000 inhabitants and was a cultural and administrative center of Prussia and the German Empire. Immanuel Kant and E. T. A. Hoffmann, notable sons of the city, were born during this time.

World War II

In World War II the city of Königsberg was heavily damaged by a British bombing attack in 1944 and the massive Soviet siege in spring 1945. At the end of World War II in 1945, the city became part of the Soviet Union (as part of the Russian SFSR).

Soviet Union

At the Potsdam Conference in 1945 the Allies and the Soviet Government agreed on the settlement:

The Conference has agreed in principle to the proposal of the Soviet Government concerning the ultimate transfer to the Soviet Union of the City of Koenigsberg and the area adjacent to it as described above subject to expert examination of the actual frontier.

The U.S. President Harry Truman and the British Prime Minister Clement Attlee declared that they would support the proposal of the Conference at the forthcoming peace settlement.

On 4 July 1946 the Soviet authorities renamed Königsberg to KaliningradDecree of July 4, 1946 following the death on 3 June 1946 of the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (titular head of state) of the USSR, Mikhail Kalinin, one of the original Bolsheviks. The remaining German population of Königsberg was forcibly moved to Germany in 1946–1949, and the city was repopulated with Soviet citizens (as a part of the agreement between the Allies and the Soviet Government). The city's language of administration was changed from German to Russian.

The city was rebuilt, and as the westernmost territory of the USSR, the Kaliningrad Oblast became a strategically important area during the Cold War. The Soviet Baltic Fleet was headquartered in the city in the 1950s. Because of its strategic importance, Kaliningrad Oblast was closed to foreign visitors.

In 1957 an agreement was signed and later came into force which delimited the border between Poland and the Soviet Union.

Russian Federation

The town of Baltiysk, just outside Kaliningrad, is the only Russian Baltic Sea port said to be "ice-free" all year round, and the region hence plays an important role in maintenance of the Baltic Fleet.

Kaliningrad Oblast was an exclave of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 it became separated from the rest of Russia by independent countries. This isolation from the rest of Russia became even more pronounced politically when Poland and Lithuania became members of NATO and subsequently the European Union in 2004. All military and civilian land links between the region and the rest of Russia have to pass through members of NATO and the EU. Special travel arrangements for the territory's inhabitants have been made through the ''Facilitated Transit Document (FTD)'' and ''Facilitated Rail Transit Document (FRTD)''.

While in the 1990s many Soviet-era city names commemorating Communist leaders were changed (e.g., Leningrad reverting to Saint Petersburg and Kalinin, also named after Mikhail Kalinin, reverting to Tver), Kaliningrad remains named as it was, though the city is sometimes colloquially referred to as ''König'' or ''Kyonig'' (russian: Кёниг). The question of the name of the city has been raised multiple times; in 2009, the head of the city administration, Felix Lapin, said he personally supported the return of the historical name of the city, and in 2011, the governor of Kaliningrad Oblast, Nikolay Tsukanov, suggested a referendum could be held to resolve the issue, but stated that he was against renaming.

Since the early 1990s, the Kaliningrad oblast has been a Free Economic Zone (FEZ Yantar). In 2005 the city celebrated its 750th anniversary. In July 2007 Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov declared that if US-controlled missile defence systems were deployed in Poland, then nuclear weapons might be deployed in Kaliningrad. On 5 November 2008 Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said that installing missiles in Kaliningrad was almost a certainty. These plans were suspended, however, in January 2009.

During late 2011, a long range Voronezh radar was commissioned to monitor missile launches within about . It is situated in the settlement of Pionersky (formerly German ''Neukuhren'') in Kaliningrad Oblast.

Kaliningrad was one of the host cities for the 2018 FIFA World Cup held in Russia.

Geography

Kaliningrad is at the mouth of the navigable Pregolya River, which empties into the Vistula Lagoon, an inlet of the Baltic Sea.

Sea vessels can access Gdańsk Bay/Bay of Danzig and the Baltic Sea by way of the Vistula Lagoon and the Strait of Baltiysk.

Until around 1900, ships drawing more than of water could not pass the bar and use the city's docks; larger vessels had to anchor at Pillau (now Baltiysk), where cargo was transferred to smaller vessels. In 1901, a ship canal between Königsberg and Pillau, completed at a cost of 13 million German marks, enabled vessels of a draught to moor alongside the town (see also Ports of the Baltic Sea).

File:Kaliningrad 05-2017 img41 Reichsbahn Bridge.jpg, The Pregolya River in Kaliningrad
File:Kaliningrad 05-2017 img07 Fishery Village.jpg, The pseudo-historic "Fishermen's village"
File:Свято-Никольский собор в Калининграде (Юдиттен-кирха Кёнигсберга).JPG, 13th century Juditten Church

Climate

Kaliningrad has an oceanic climate (''Cfb'', depending on the isotherm chosen for class ''C'' climates) or a humid continental climate (''Dfb'', depending on the isotherm chosen for class ''D'' climates), with cold, cloudy, (though moderate compared to most of Russia) winters and mild summers with frequent showers and thunderstorms. Average temperatures range from and rainfall varies from /month to /month. In general, it has maritime influences and therefore damp, variable and mild, with vast temperature differences between July and January.

The seasons are clearly differentiated. Spring starts in March and is initially cold and windy, later becoming pleasantly warm and often very sunny. Summer, which begins in June, is predominantly warm but hot at times (with temperature reaching as high as at least once per year) with plenty of sunshine interspersed with heavy showers. The average annual hours of sunshine for Kaliningrad is 1,700, similar to other northern cities. Autumn comes in September and is at first warm and usually sunny, turning cold, damp and foggy in November. Winter includes periods of snow. January and February are the coldest months with the temperature sometimes dropping as low as .

Demographics

The original German population fled or was expelled after the end of World War II, when the territory was annexed by the Soviet Union, and in the following few years. In October 1945, only about 5,000 Soviet civilians lived in the territory. Between October 1947 and October 1948 approximately 100,000 Germans were forcibly moved to Germany, and by 1948 about 400,000 Soviet civilians had arrived in the Oblast.

Today the overwhelming majority of Kaliningrad's residents are Russians settled after 1945, and their descendants. A minority of the population are from other Slavic ethnic groups, including Belarusians and Ukrainians. Kaliningrad today is also home to small communities of Tatars, Germans, Armenians, Poles, and Lithuanians.

Ethnic composition, Russian 2010 census:

Cityscape

Architecture

The pre-war city center (Altstadt and Kneiphof) consists of parks, broad avenues, a square on the site of the former Königsberg Castle, and two buildings: the House of Soviets ("Dom Sovyetov"), roughly on the site of the former castle, and the restored Königsberg Cathedral on the Kneiphof island (now "Kant island"). Immanuel Kant's grave is situated next to the cathedral. Many German-era buildings in the historic city centre have been preserved and even rebuilt, including the reconstruction of the Königsberg Synagogue. The new city centre is concentrated around Victory Square. The Cathedral of Christ the Savior, consecrated in 2005, is located on that square.

The oldest building in Kaliningrad is the Juditten Church (built before 1288). Also worth seeing are the former Stock Exchange, the surviving churches, and the remaining city gates. In counter-clockwise order these gates are: the Sackheim Gate, King's Gate, Rossgarten Gate, Attack Gate (german: Ausfallstor, or Sally Port), Railway Gate (''Eisenbahntor''), Brandenburg Gate, and Friedland Gate ('). Apart from the Dohna Tower, which houses the Amber Museum, the Wrangel Tower also remains as a reminder of the former Königsberg city walls. Only the gate of the former Fort Friedrichsburg remains.

Monuments

Notable monuments include the statue of Immanuel Kant in front of the Immanuel Kant State University of Russia. The statue was made by notable sculptor Christian Daniel Rauch and unveiled in 1864. The statue was destroyed in 1945, but was remoulded in 1992 on the initiative of Marion Dönhoff, a native East Prussian who became prominent in the West. Also worth seeing is the Cosmonaut monument, which honours the Kaliningrad cosmonauts Alexey Leonov, Yuri Romanenko and Aleksandr Viktorenko. Other statues and monuments include the statue for Duke Albert, the statue for Friedrich Schiller, the statue for Tsar Peter the Great, Vladimir Vysotsky, the "Mother Russia" monument, and the Monument for the 1200 Guardsmen, remembering the Battle of Königsberg.

Parks

Kaliningrad is a "green" city with many parks and areas with many trees and lawns. Parks range from tiny city squares to massive parks.

The Youth Recreation Park is one of the most popular parks in the city. The park was established in the 1920s–1930s in the English style. It reopened its doors post-war and was popular among citizens in the 1980s–1990s with its boat house and tennis courts, as well as merry-go-rounds. The park had a massive reconstruction in 2004 adding a cafe, carting, and various modern entertainments. It is located in the quiet area of the city, in Leningradsky area, and is connected to the Lower Pond. Youth Recreation Park provides entertainment for all age groups. There is also Interpersonal Communications Development Central located in the park.

The Kaliningrad Zoo was opened as the Königsberg Zoo in 1896. The collection, which extends over 16.5 ha (40 acres), comprises 315 species with a total of 2,264 individual animals (). The Kaliningrad Zoo is also an arboretum.

Ponds

Centrally located in the city is Lower Pond, an artificial lake. Lower Pond is surrounded by a promenade and is an area for recreation especially in summer. North of the Lower Pond is the larger Upper Pond in northern Kaliningrad.

Bridges

Leonhard Euler's 1736 paper on the puzzle of the Seven Bridges of Königsberg was a seminal work in the fields of graph theory and topology. Only two of the structures from his era survive.

Kaliningrad Stadium

In 2018, the Kaliningrad Stadium, located on Oktyabrsky Island, near the embankment of the Staraya Pregolya River, was opened. The stadium has a seating capacity of 35,000.

Culture

Museums in Kaliningrad

There are many museums in Kaliningrad.

*Museum of the World Ocean
*Kaliningrad Regional History and Art Museum
*Kaliningrad Regional Amber Museum
* Kaliningrad State Art Gallery
*Friedland Gate Museum
The Kaliningrad Regional Museum of History and Arts is the oldest museum in Kaliningrad, founded in 1946. In addition to the main building, the museum has four branches in Kaliningrad (including "Blindage" and "Fort No. 5") and two elsewhere in the region.

In 1979, the Kaliningrad Regional Amber Museum was opened in the building of the Don, a former defensive tower. Initially, it was a branch of the Historical and Art Museum, but since 2004 it has operated independently.

The Kaliningrad State Art Gallery, which opened on November 24, 1988, is one of the youngest and fastest-growing museums in Russia, known both domestically and abroad. Up to 40 exhibitions of domestic and foreign art are held annually in eight exhibition halls with a total exhibition area of more than 3,000 square metres (¾ acre).

At the beginning of the 21st century, the Museum of the World Ocean, which was unique in Russia at the time, was gradually created, and now offers exhibitions and six museum vessels:

*Research ship-museum " Vityaz"
*Submarine B-413
*Space communication vessel "Cosmonaut Viktor Patsaev"
*Fishing boat-museum "SRT-129"
*Floating lighthouse "Irbensky"
*Icebreaker " Krassin" - moored in St. Petersburg.

The branches of the museum are the King's Gate and the preserved gate of Fort Friedrichsburg.

A museum of ancient archaeological finds has been created. It is located at the Friedland Gate, which itself is a monument of antiquity.

In 2009, the Museum of E. T. A. Hoffmann, a famous writer born in this city, was created. The museum is located in the building of the former Leningrad Cinema; now this building houses a regional music school named after Hoffman.

On 5 June 2016 the Einstein Museum of Entertaining Sciences was opened on the first floor of the Mega-Market shopping centre, which offers interactive exhibits that illustrate various fields of science and demonstrate the manifestation of their laws.

Kaliningrad's museums were visited by roughly 920,000 people in 2013. In terms of museum attendance, the region of Kaliningrad ranks seventh among the regions of Russia.

Theaters and concert halls

There are several theaters in the city:

*Kaliningrad Regional Drama Theater
*Kaliningrad Regional Musical Theater
* Kaliningrad Regional Puppet Theater
*The organ hall of the Kaliningrad Regional Philharmonic is located in the historic building of the former Catholic Church of the Holy Family.
*A large concert hall with two organs located in the Königsberg Cathedral.
*The Variety Theater, located in the House of Arts.
The musical life of the city is rich and diverse. Annual music festivals of various styles and trends are held throughout the year. Under the patronage of the Kaliningrad Regional Philharmonic Society, international festivals and competitions of classical, jazz, organ music (dedicated to Johann Sebastian Bach and Mikael Tariverdiev) are held. Since 2006, the Don Cento Jazz International Jazz Festival has been held in the summer. The city also hosts two major rock festivals: the Night Wolves bike show (July) and Kaliningrad In Rock (August). The Baltic Seasons art festival is held annually.

In 2013, Kaliningrad's theaters were visited by almost 345,000 people.

Libraries

*Kaliningrad Regional Scientific Library
*Central City Library. A.P. Chekhov
*Kaliningrad Regional Youth Library. V. Mayakovsky
*Kaliningrad Regional Children's Library. A.P. Gaidar
*Kaliningrad Regional Specialized Library for the Blind
Also, there are 20 municipal city libraries in the city. As of 2015, more than 100 thousand residents of Kaliningrad regularly visit the city's libraries.

Music

The modern city of Kaliningrad is home to the Kaliningrad Regional Philharmonic and Symphony Orchestra, the Lik male chamber choir and the Garmonika Russian music ensemble, as well as the Kaliningrad Chamber Orchestra.

Cuisine

Kaliningrad has its own vodka and beer brands, ''Stari Königsberg'' and ''Ostmark'' respectively. Since the early 1990s many new restaurants have opened in the city. These restaurants offer culinary specialities of former East Prussia, like Königsberger Klopse, and also fish and salad dishes, pizza and sushi. Königsberger Fleck, a bovine tripe soup and yet another culinary specialty from former Königsberg, no longer belongs to the culinary culture of Kaliningrad.

The people of Kaliningrad generally imported their respective culinary traditions to the region when they settled in the area after 1945. Borscht and okroshka may be served as in the rest of Russia. Many Italian and Asian restaurants (or fusions of both traditions) are in operation all over the city. Pizza and sushi are among the most popular dishes today. Fast food is widely available from various chains, including those of foreign origin. Shawarma is also gaining considerable prominence.

Sports

The Russian football club FC Baltika Kaliningrad is based in Kaliningrad and plays in the Russian Football National League. The home stadium is the Kaliningrad Stadium, built for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

During 2006 to 2013, the Dynamo-Yantar men's volleyball club played in the Russian men's volleyball Championship. They played their home games at the Yantarny Sports Palace, which can accommodate over 7,000 spectators. From 2010, Yantarny had regularly hosted matches of the Russian men's national volleyball team in the FIVB Volleyball World League and the FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix.

In the past, the city was also represented by the football clubs of West, Baltika-2 and FC Baltika-Tarko Kaliningrad, as well as the rugby club West Zvezda (winner of the 1994 Russian Cup, prize winner of the 1994 and 1995 Russian championships). The football club ''Volna Kaliningrad'' took part in the third tier of the 2000 Lithuanian championship, LF II Lyga, and won in the western zone (22 games: 20 wins, 2 draws, goal difference 101–9).

Since November 2013, the city has had an American football team called Amber Hawks. In 2015, the Amber Hawks reached the semifinals of the Polish League 8x8. In 2016, Amber Hawks took the silver medal of the prestigious Eastern League of American Football (VLAF).

In June 2014 the Kaliningrad Regional Hockey League (KRHL) was created. League competition is the official championship of the Kaliningrad region of hockey.

In 2018 Kaliningrad hosted some games of the World Cup.

On 9 April 2018 the creation of a women's volleyball team, the "Lokomotiv Kaliningrad Region" was announced. At the end of the 2018–2019 season the club took the second place in the Russian Championship, losing one point to the leader team, the WVC Dynamo Moscow.

Administrative and municipal status

Kaliningrad is the administrative centre