/ Kaliningrad

Königsberg, the Fortress City

Königsberg, the Fortress City

In medieval Europe every town was a fortress. Königsberg was no exception. We will see the place where the castle founded by the crusaders in the 13th century once stood. From there we will drive to the surviving fragment of the city's fortress wall near the King's Gate. To finish, one of the fifteen forts awaits us, originally built as fixed artillery positions about five kilometres from the centre.

Duration: 8 hours.

Group size: up to 4 people.

Guide: Mikhail.

Car: Škoda Roomster.

Phone: 8(906)217-39-69.


Route map



The ruins of Königsberg Castle

Sadly, Königsberg Castle has not survived to the present day. It was badly damaged by the British bombing raids of August 1944. In the spring of 1945, during the storming of the city, the castle suffered again. The fate of the ancient fortress was sealed by Soviet party officials who, in the 1960s, against the opinion of Kaliningrad's cultural community, took the final decision to demolish it. A park is planned on the site where the ruins towered half a century ago, but for now part of the area is taken up by a car park.


Ruins of KönigsbergThe ruins of Königsberg after the Second World War.

We will look at photographs and at what remains of the castle — a small fragment of the southern terrace.

Rossgarten GateThe Rossgarten Gate.


The Brandenburg, Friedland, Sackheim and King's Gates

Today the gates serve as museums and public spaces. First we will look into the Brandenburg Gate, which houses the Marzipan Museum (admission free). You can have a coffee here. Next comes the Friedland Gate with its local history museum, a visit to which we will postpone until next time. Then we drive up to the pair formed by the Sackheim and King's Gates. The Sackheim Gate serves as an exhibition hall for local artists. The King's Gate currently houses a branch of the Museum of the World Ocean. We will view it from the outside and pay tribute to the outstanding Prussian statesmen whose sculptures adorn the King's Gate on the city side;


Litovsky Val, the fortress wall of Königsberg

No introduction to the fortifications of Königsberg can be considered complete without a visit to the best-preserved fragment of the fortress wall along Litovsky Val.


Kronprinz BarracksThe Kronprinz Barracks.

Here too are the "Grolman" bastion and the "Kronprinz" defensive barracks.

Fort DönhoffThe main entrance to Fort No. 11 Dönhoff.


Fort No. 1 Stein / Fort No. 11 Dönhoff

At present only three of Königsberg's fifteen forts have been turned into good-quality visitor attractions. We will visit one of them. Two, if you are really keen.

Photos by Mikhail Ogorodnikov.


Translated from Russian with the help of AI (Claude, Anthropic), October 2026.