Brandenburg Gate description and photos - Russia - Baltics: Kaliningrad (Topic)

Brandenburg Gate description and photos - Russia - Baltics: Kaliningrad. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photos and a map showing the nearest significant objects.

Photo and description

The only one of the seven preserved city gates of the old Konigsberg (now Kaliningrad) is used today for its intended purpose - the Brandenburg Gate.

In 1657 in the south-west The first rampart fortification, on the road connecting Konigsberg and Brandenburg Castle (nowadays - the village of Ushakovo), the Brandenburg Gate was built. Until the middle of the eighteenth century, the gates were wooden. Over time, the building decayed and at the end of the eighteenth century, by order of the Prussian king Frederick II, it was replaced by a massive brick fortification in the Gothic style with high arched openings and side casemates. In 1843, during the restoration, the gate was decorated with decorative pointed pediments, stylized leaves, cruciform flowers, medallions and coats of arms. Also on the Brandenburg Gate appeared sculptural portraits of the war minister-reformer Field Marshal Hermann von Boyen and one of the authors of the massive fortification of Konigsberg - Ernst von Aster, who served as chief of the engineering corps. The author of the facade renovation was the architect F.A. Stuhler. Later, the side casemates, originally serving as sentry booths, were converted into pedestrian gates. In Soviet times, the aisles were covered with brickwork and there were shops in the building.

Today, the restored Brandenburg Gate is considered an architectural monument of the eighteenth century and is protected by the state. Tram lines and a road paved with cobblestones pass through the gate. On the outside of the building, relief images of two Prussian eagles " - the foundations of the coats of arms of Germany and Prussia, and from the side of the city - portrait medallions.

From the buildings of the old Konigsberg, the Brandenburg Gate stands out for its especially pronounced Gothic motives: arrow-shaped gables that give height to a small building, and richly decorated decorative elements.

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Topic: Brandenburg Gate description and photos - Russia - Baltics: Kaliningrad.