Igor Alexandrovich Odintsov

Igor Alexandrowitsch Odintsow ( Russian Игорь Александрович Одинцов ; born March 27, 1937 in Simferopol , Crimea ) is a Russian officer and civil engineer . He initiated and leads the reconstruction of the Königsberg Cathedral .

Military architect and master builder

As a soldier (most recently a colonel ) in the Soviet Army , Odintsov built sanatoriums , a bread factory and, above all, barracks , always using socialist prefabricated panels . After perestroika , in the summer of 1992, Yuri Matotschkin , the governor of Kaliningrad Oblast , signed ukase 122: The war-damaged cathedral was to be rebuilt as the city's “cultural and musical center”.

Without any prior knowledge of monument preservation and brick Gothic , without any equipment or money, Odintsov applied for the license, founded the Kafedralnyj Sobor company with a few enthusiasts - and won the bid. Kaliningrad war veterans scolded Odintsov as a traitor who was rebuilding a symbol of fascism . German art historians called him a dilettante . Nevertheless, the reconstruction turned into a German-Russian joint effort. Countless donations, initially mainly from former Königsbergers, then more and more from Russians and their President Putin , made the “Miracle of Königsberg” possible. When a helicopter of the Baltic Fleet put on the tower hood in 1994, the images went around the world.

Kaliningrad Cathedral in 1993 at the start of reconstruction

“When we started back then, it was almost only the voices of the critics that could be heard loudly. We hardly had any help, only our idealism. The cathedral was the hardest, but also the most beautiful thing I was allowed to do in my life. "

- Igor Odintsov

Odintsov's company is still responsible for the reconstruction of the cathedral. Odintsov also built the rotunda for the famous Duke Albrecht monument . As head of the Königsberg Cathedral cultural monument, Odintsov restored the coat of arms windows and Duke Albrecht's grave. He also promoted the construction of the Schuke organ based on the model of the Erfurt Cathedral , which Putin supported with personal funds.

See also : Alexander Schuke Potsdam organ building

On Kant's birthday on April 22, 2012, Odintsov and Gerfried Horst, chairman of the Friends of Kant and Königsberg , unveiled a plaque in the cathedral - the former university church - with the names of 32 famous German scholars from Albertus University in Königsberg , and afterwards too a plaque with deceased professors of the Russian Immanuel Kant University , the Kaliningrad successor university .

According to Odintsov, an annual Wagner festival is to take place in the cathedral.

Honors

• Koenigsberg Citizen Medal
• Honorary Citizen of Kaliningrad
• Europa Nostra (2008)
• Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon (April 28, 2011)

literature

• Manfred Gerner, Igor A. Odinzow: The Königsberg Cathedral . Center for Handicrafts and Monument Preservation, Kaliningrad, Fulda 1998, ISBN 3-931991-21-0

Web links

• Ksobor (German homepage)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Cultural bridge to the Atlantis of the Enlightenment (Kaliningrad current)
2. ↑ Königsberg Foundation ( Memento of the original from May 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ Richard Wagner Association Leipzig ( Memento of the original from October 18, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 99 kB)