Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 33. Chapters: Kaliningrad, Chernyakhovsk,
Königsberg, Baltiysk, Kaliningrad Zoo, Sovetsk, Kaliningrad Oblast,
Yantar, Kaliningrad, Bagrationovsk, Krusenstern, Gvardeysk,
Pravdinsk, Gusev, Neman, Kaliningrad State Technical University,
Arctic Bridge, Curonian Lagoon, Khrabrovo Airport, Krasnoznamensk,
Kaliningrad Oblast, Guryevsk, Kaliningrad Oblast, Immanuel Kant
State University of Russia, Zelenogradsk, Svetlogorsk, Kaliningrad
Oblast, Nesterov, Lower Pond, Mamonovo, Kaliningrad Amber Museum,
Victory Square, Kaliningrad, Polessk, Kaliningrad Devau Airport,
Pionersky, Kaliningrad Oblast, Ozyorsk, Kaliningrad Oblast, Svetly,
Kaliningrad Oblast, Ladushkin, Slavsk. Excerpt: Königsberg ·)
(Lithuanian: ; Low German: Königsbarg; Polish: ; the Latinised name
of the city is Regimontium Prussorum; see also other names) was the
capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945. It
was founded by the Teutonic Knights just south of the Sambian
peninsula in 1255 during the Northern Crusades and named in honour
of King (German:König) Ottokar II of Bohemia (the German-language
name Königsberg literally means "King's mountain").
The city successively became the capital of their monastic state,
the Duchy of Prussia, and East Prussia. The Baltic port developed
into a German cultural center, being the residence of, among
others, Richard Wagner, Immanuel Kant, E. T. A. Hoffmann, and David
Hilbert. Königsberg was heavily damaged by Allied bombing in 1944
during World War II and was subsequently conquered by the Red Army
after the Battle of Königsberg in 1945. The city was annexed by the
Soviet Union according to the Potsdam Agreement and largely
repopulated with Russians. Briefly Russified as ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿
(Kyonigsberg), it was renamed Kaliningrad in 1946 after Soviet
leader Mikhail Kalinin. The city is now the capital of Russia's
Kaliningrad Oblast. The later location of Königsberg was preceded
by an Old Prussian fort known as Twangste (Tuwangste, Tvankste) as
well as several Prussian settlements. During the conquest of the
Prussian Sambians by the Teutonic Knights in 1255, Twangste was
destroyed and replaced with a new fortress known as Conigsberg.
This name meant "King's Mountain" (Latin: ), honoring
King Ottokar II of Bohemia, who paid for the erection of the first
fortress there during the Prussian Crusade. Near this new
Königsberg Castle arose the towns of Altstadt (Old Town), Kneiphof,
and Löbenicht along the Pregel River, roughly 4.5 miles from the
Vistula Lagoon. Altstadt was founded in 1256 on the Steindamm (now
Leninprospekt), while Kneiphof developed on an island of the same
name (now Kant Island) in the Pregel. To the east of the ot
