Mühlhausen is first mentioned in 1350 in connection with the construction of the church. The settlement probably arose in the first half of the 14th century. In 1372 a mill on the Basleide River (Rezvaya) is mentioned. In 1414 Mühlhausen appears in the Order's documents as a "small town". During the Thirteen Years' War (1454–66) Mühlhausen was badly devastated. In 1468 it was given as a hereditary estate to Daniel von Kunheim (d. 1507) for his military services to the Order. His son Georg von Kunheim (1480–1543) was Duke Albrecht's adviser on political affairs and district governor (Amtshauptmann) in Tapiau (Gvardeysk). Daniel von Kunheim's grandson, Georg Wilhelm von Kunheim (1532–1611), was married (from 1555) to Margarete Luther (1534–1570), the daughter of the reformer Martin Luther; after her death she was buried in the crypt of Mühlhausen church.
In 1492 the church in Mühlhausen was rebuilt on its former site.
From 1560 to 1589 the pastor of the church in Mühlhausen was Caspar Hennenberger (1529–1600). In 1576 he published a map of the Duchy of Prussia on a scale of 1:400,000, which was included in many European atlases. In 1584 his "Brief and True Description of Prussia, including the Grand Masters of the Teutonic Order" appeared, and in 1594 his "Explanation of the Geographical Map of Prussia", which gave an alphabetical list of all the localities, rivers, lakes, sights and the most important events in the history of Prussia. In addition, Hennenberger was the spiritual mentor of Margarete von Kunheim, Luther's daughter.
In 1647 the village passed from the Kunheim family to the Kalckstein family, whose best-known member was Christian Ludwig von Kalckstein (1627–72), who opposed the "Great Elector" Frederick William in his attempts to strengthen centralised power in Prussia. Christian Ludwig von Kalckstein fled to Poland, but was caught and beheaded in Memel.
In 1693–95 the altar of Mühlhausen church was made by the carver Isaak Riga.
Portraits of Martin Luther and his daughter by Lucas Cranach, which once adorned the walls of Mühlhausen church.
From 1800 Mühlhausen passed down the female line from one to another of the ladies of the noble Prussian families of Danckelmann, Rothkirch, Nollendorf, Wulffen and Boddien. The last patroness of St Anne's Church was Gottliebe von Boddien (1856–1942).
In 1754 an organ was installed in the church. In 1793–94 three bells were cast in Königsberg for Mühlhausen church.
In the 19th century Mühlhausen was a village forming a rural community in the Landkreis Preußisch Eylau (Bagrationovsk). The church in Mühlhausen was the parish church for nine communities and estates. In 1874 the Mühlhausen community was included in the newly established Amtsbezirk Knauten (Prudki; from 1936 the Amtsbezirk Mühlhausen, Gvardeyskoye). The first head of the Amtsbezirk, in 1874, was the leaseholder of the Mühlhausen mill, named Krause. At the time it was renamed Mühlhausen, the Amtsbezirk consisted of two rural communities: Mühlhausen (Gvardeyskoye) and Vierzighuben (Tambovskoye). On 1 January 1936 the Knauten community, consisting of the village of Knauten itself (Prudki) and the estates of Louisenthal (Bruski) and Perkuinen (Solntsevo), was incorporated into the Mühlhausen community. Before the war Mühlhausen had a school, a dairy, a mill, two inns, several shops and craft businesses.
On 25–27 January 1945 Mühlhausen was taken by troops of the 159th Rifle Division of the 5th Army.
On 17 June 1947 Mühlhausen was renamed the settlement of Gvardeyskoye. The Gvardeyskoye Village Council was created at the same time. In 1955 the settlement had 53 houses. In 1991 the church building in Gvardeyskoye was handed over to the Lutheran congregation. In 1993–99 its exterior was repaired. A school operated in Gvardeyskoye until the end of the 1990s.
Coordinates of the settlement: 54°29'14'' N 20°38'09'' E
Sights: St Anne's Church (1490s, active, under restoration), the grave of Martin Luther's daughter Margarete von Kunheim.
Population change: 1984 – 410, 2002 – 580 inhabitants.
Population change of the Mühlhausen community: 1910 – 585, 1933 – 968, 1939 – 941 inhabitants.
Modern photos by Mikhail Ogorodnikov.
Translated from Russian with the help of AI (Claude, Anthropic), October 2026.
