The Protestant church was built in 1727 by King Frederick William I after the area had been settled by colonists from Switzerland and Germany.
The church was of plastered brick, 33.6 x 16.6 m, with three aisles. The wooden tower fell during a hurricane in 1818. A new one was built in 1848. In 1878–79 the tower was completely restored. On the roof stood a turret with a galvanised spire and a copper ball with a sheet-metal eagle. The central nave was divided into three bays with plank cross vaults. Both side aisles had flat wooden ceilings. The doors were set in round arches with two columns. The windows were in flat arches. The organ dated from 1804. Three bells.
In the 1740s Immanuel Kant worked as a private tutor in the house of the Reformed pastor Andersch.
After 1945 the church was virtually intact. Then it stood unused, occasionally serving farm purposes. In the 1980s it was dismantled by the military.
Photos on this page: Bildarchiv Ostpreußen, bildarchiv-ostpreussen.de.
Translated from Russian with the help of AI (Claude, Anthropic), October 2026.
