Königsberger Schlossteich
The Königsberger Schlossteich ( Russian Нижний пруд or Замковый пруд ) is about 1.2 kilometers long and between 50 and 100 meters wide, a total of 9 hectares large lake in Königsberg , today's Kaliningrad , and got its name from the Königsberg Castle to the south . The Katzbach serves as a drain.
Location and history
It is a lake in the north of the city that juts south into the city center. It receives its inflowing water from the upper pond and drains underground to the Pregel . The knights of the order had dammed the Katzbach in order to create a body of water for carp farming. In 1753 the castle pond bridge was built. It was widened twice in the 19th century. In 1869 the railing broke when a large crowd wanted to watch King Wilhelm I visit . 32 people drowned in the castle pond. During the two British air raids on Königsberg at the end of August 1944, the footbridge burned down to the stone pillars.
“According to old regulations from the founding days of the university, the masters of liberal arts here had the right to fish for their own needs, and every now and then a new doctoral student maintained this old custom for the fun of astonished curious people so that it would not be completely forgotten . "
Castle pond mentality
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Similar to the Outer Alster in Hamburg, the castle pond was of "central" importance in the social life of the Königsbergers. Especially student life took place there. The romantic love for this lake earned the people of Königsberg the reputation of a “castle pond mentality”. Many Königsberg student associations and rowing clubs had their houses on the castle pond. In the summer months people met in the Börsengarten , an inn reminiscent of Bavarian beer gardens with a large lawn on the west side of the castle pond. There were numerous cafes for the cool and rainy days. The walk around the castle pond on the so-called promenade was popular. You could also go in a boat or feed the ducks and swans. In winter you went ice-skating, in summer you got cool. The highlights of the castle pond life were night lampion rides and the May celebrations or concerts on the Münzplatz.
“The vast castle pond began near the castle, the banks of which at that time still formed gardens reaching down to the water. Here on beautiful summer evenings, especially when concerts or an Italian night were being held, in the otherwise sober city there was sometimes an almost Venetian-like hustle and bustle; the poorer people then watched from the wooden bridge that had been crossing the water since 1753, admiring the magnificent spectacle, in winter the ice skating. "
“The most beautiful history of the castle pond happened at the beginning of the 1930s: an inactive person sat in the boat on a beautiful summer day and went overboard for reasons that were not clear. The "Königsberger Allgemeine" reported on this in the local section and said that alcohol was probably involved. The inactive wrote to the newspaper that on that day he had not given up his habit of getting drunk until the late afternoon hours and asked for a corresponding correction. The newspaper actually reported. "
May celebration
The student May celebration was known far beyond Königsberg. On the evening of April 30th, students and workers met on the castle pond promenades. Finally, the students gathered on their corporation houses , rafts and gondolas in order to wait in silence for the “East Prussian Maitrank” - hot grog - for the strike of midnight from the castle tower (Königsberg) . After the last beat everyone sang May has come , Emanuel Geibel's spring song . The sometimes very long and severe winters made these celebrations very serious.
"This is a simple, but for that very reason all the more sympathetic and touching homage that the young students, who are themselves in the blooming spring, pay to the merry month moving into the country."
tour
It was not until 1937 that the horticultural director Ernst Schneider succeeded in completing the almost 3 km long promenade around the castle pond, when Adolf Hitler illegally expropriated the Masonic lodges on the northwestern bank.
The Münzplatz, where the tour began, was on the northeast corner of the Königsberg Castle, at the Haberturm . The conically widening square, which was adorned by two obelisks and two lights and bordered by buildings with uniformly designed facades, slowly sloped down into an open staircase leading to the castle pond. On the eastern side, the promenade led along numerous student fraternity houses, the course of which was only interrupted by the Café Imperial. On the promenade there was the statue “The Arch Spanner”, which offered the opportunity to rest on a bench. Now the castle pond bridge spanned the water. It connected the Café Metropol, the Pelikan-Klause and the Miramar-Lichtspiele on the east side with the Hotel and Café Bellevue on the west side. The promenade now gave way to Bürger-Ressource, a large beer garden that brought Bavarian flair to Germany's easternmost city. The Börsengarten followed , where Hanns Hopp's Park Hotel still stands today. None of the lodge houses - Drei-Kronen-Lodge (known from Johann Georg Scheffner ), Zum Todtenkopf and Phoenix and Lodge Immanuel - have survived. This was followed by the Royal Wilhelms-Gymnasium , a small Baptist church and an outdoor swimming pool. In the north, the inlet of the Oberteich was framed with cascades. The way back to the castle on the eastern side began with the City Hospital on Roßgarten, the Königsberg General Command and finally the City Hall . It served as a concert and event hall and is still preserved today as a historical museum. Behind the Bellevue café was the Burgkirche , a small, classicist church building. Café Schwermer, located directly on the Schlossteich not far from Münzplatz, had a confectionery that specialized in the production of Königsberg marzipan .
Castle pond bridge
The old castle pond bridge in the southern area of the pond was destroyed in the Second World War and later replaced by a new crossing at the old location. Later two more bridges were built north of this over the castle pond.
New castle pond bridge
Status
During the battle for Königsberg in April 1945, the center of the city was largely destroyed. Nevertheless, the northern part of the castle pond with the cascade inlets has been preserved quite well. The southern part reaching into the center has been completely destroyed. Neither the castle nor the promenade cafés nor the churches have been preserved. The box houses and the stock exchange garden survived the war. The previously wooden castle pond bridge was rebuilt as a prestressed concrete bridge . The former town hall can be used as an orientation. Even boating is no longer possible today. The present condition is like for sewage discharges a green veralgten cloaca . However, the city administration is trying to improve the situation. Wilhelm Matull wrote:
“In the last days of August 1944, I stared in disbelief from Schlossteichstrasse at the stumps of the Schlossteichbrücke that had burned down in the hail of bombs. There you had stood in front of the Haffke bookstore, in front of the Teichert art shop or in front of the Jüterbock music shop, looked out over the castle pond and the castle church from the terrace of the Schwermer pastry shop and waved friendly over the walls of the castle. "
literature
- Robert Albinus: Königsberg Lexicon. City and surroundings. Special edition, Flechsig, Würzburg 2002, ISBN 3-88189-441-1 .
- Richard Armstedt: history of the royal. Capital and residence city of Königsberg in Prussia. Hobbing & Büchle, Stuttgart 1899. (= German Land and Life in Individual Descriptions, Volume 2, City Stories.)
- as reprint : Melchior-Verlag, Wolfenbüttel 2006, ISBN 3-939102-70-9 . (= Historical library .)
- Fritz Gause : The history of the city of Königsberg in Prussia. 3 volumes. 2nd / 3rd supplemented edition, Böhlau, Cologne et al. 1996, ISBN 3-412-08896-X .
- Baldur Köster: Königsberg. Architecture from the German era. Husum Druck, Husum 2000, ISBN 3-88042-923-5 .
- Jürgen Manthey : Königsberg. History of a world citizenship republic. Hanser, Munich et al. 2005, ISBN 3-446-20619-1 .
- Herbert Meinhard Mühlpfordt : History of the castle pond at Königsberg. In: Acta Prussica. Treatises on the history of East and West Prussia. Fritz Gause on his 75th birthday. Holzner, Würzburg 1968, pp. 95–114 (= Yearbook of the Albertus University, Königsberg / Pr. , Supplement 29.) (= Der Göttinger Arbeitskreis , 372, ISSN 0075-2185 ).
- Gunnar Strunz: Discover Königsberg. On the way between Memel and Haff. Trescher, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-89794-071-X (= Trescher series of trips .)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Robert Albinus: Königsberg Lexicon . Würzburg 2002, ISBN 3-88189-441-1 .
- ↑ a b Wilhelm Matull: Dear old Königsberg , p. 78
- ^ Robert Albinus: Königsberg Lexicon . Würzburg 2002, p. 45
- ↑ after Fritz Gause: Königsberg, as it was , p. 63
Coordinates: 54 ° 42 ′ 56 ″ N , 20 ° 31 ′ 6 ″ E