🖼 Königsberg Cathedral

ул. Канта, 1

A 14th-century Gothic cathedral on Kant Island: inside are a museum of the philosopher and an organ hall, and outside by the wall is his grave.

Work on the cathedral on Kneiphof island began after 1327, and its “birthday” is taken to be 13 September 1333 — its first mention in documents.
It is Baltic brick Gothic — one of the few Gothic buildings in Russia.
Immanuel Kant was buried by the cathedral in 1804: he was the last to be laid in the professors’ vault of the Albertina University.
The colonnaded portico “Stoa Kantiana” over the philosopher’s grave was built by the architect Friedrich Lahrs for his 200th anniversary in 1924.
From 1650 the Wallenrodt Library was kept in the south tower; its interior was restored in 2005.
In August 1944 British bombers destroyed the centre of Königsberg; the cathedral ruins were not demolished in Soviet times — Kant is buried by its walls.
Restoration of the cathedral began in 1992; in 1994 the tower spire was set in place by a Baltic Fleet helicopter.
There are no services in the cathedral now: it holds the Kant museum, an organ hall and two chapels — a Lutheran and an Orthodox one.